Posted by
Glen Albrethsen on Monday, February 04, 2008 7:50:58 PM
Uh...
After more than a month of making my case for Mitt Romney over John McCain as the Republican nominee, this is probably going to sound kind of weird, but let's not get too hasty here.
All of this anti-McCain sentiment is fine and all--based on substance, merit and record--but it does set up Romney in the unenviable position of managing expectations. That's if the movement taking place now in California, Georgia and elsewhere is enough to keep him in serious contention after tomorrow.
I've written in a previous post that there's no reason to vote for Romney other than because you think he's the best candidate out there. He might not have been your first choice, but now that your candidate is not in the race, he's looking like the best of who's left.
While you can argue that it's the same--vote for Romney for Romney, or vote for Romney against McCain--I'd say it is, except for the expectation game. There's enough to live up to as it is, without setting the bar so incredibly high that no one, including an overachiever extraordinaire like Romney, could ever measure up. He'll try his best, let me assure you, but good grief, we could use some reality here.
As it is, the odds are not in his favor (something which he seems to excel at, anyway), but in an election, a lot is out of your hands. I guess I'm among the minority of voters who just connects with the guy. While he's not been the most perfect campaigner, and doesn't always say the right things, and finds himself being hunted down by the Youtube police every time he says something, and lacks the ability to pull off a joke like Mike Huckabee, I just like what he's done. Business, Olympics, and governor.
He's just tireless. The guy just has a hard time stopping. He's got to be doing something. Things he was able to accomplish in Massachusetts are amazing--even if they don't measure up to the rest of the country. Taxachusetts doesn't come by the nickname lightly. And, I would contend, that part of the problem Massachusetts has before and after Mitt Romney has less to do with him as it has to do with a) an incredibly liberal legislature and b) the social/communist atmosphere they bring to the state.
If it were not a requirement that the president be the front man, Romney would be the president you never see or hear from, because he'd be too busy getting things done. I'm betting there's plenty to do without getting Congress involved, and he'd be good at taking things to the American people and working that way. Ronald Reagan did it. Worked out well for him. Since it would take some incredible shifting towards Romney in the general election for him to have any kind of mandate, and given how close the last two presidential elections have been, unless conservatives really rock the vote, there's not likely to be a clear mandate.
And while we don't need to change our principles to play nice with the liberals, we don't need to go out of our way to tick them off, either. That'll happen on its own. Better to have decorum and civility on our end, rather than endless infighting as well as partisan bickering.
Someone needs to come up with a Contract for America II--some kind of agenda that can rally the troops. When you're sent to a do a job with a clear criteria ahead of you, it's easier to get the people behind you. It becomes more of a cause than just rallying around a candidate who the majority only feel is the best alternative to another.
Romney's tried to tell people what he would do once he was in office, but because he's picked a very long list of things, people aren't buying it, or believing it's possible. Given what Congress has done since the Democrats took over, it's no wonder, but that's not Romney's fault.
So, I'm not trying to dial down expectations or anything, and I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from voting for Romney, regardless of their reasoning, but let's be real. The president of the United States is not superman, and he does not operate in a vacuum.
Take Romney for who he is--the most complete conservative still in the race--and let the other chips fall where they may.