Romney Campaign Gets That Sinking Feeling

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Sept 22, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

                When former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney accepted the GOP nomination Aug. 30 his campaign was already in freefall.  Picking 42-year-old House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) Aug. 12 was the beginning of the end to Mitt’s campaign.  Following in Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) shoes four years ago, the GOP proved it doesn’t profit from past experience.  McCain’s 2008 presidential hopes sunk when he picked former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate Aug. 29, 2008.  What joins Palin and Ryan at the hip are their extreme right wing views, showing the kind of inflexibility that doesn’t work in national politics.  Palin at least had a pugnacious sense of humor, with Ryan, for the most part, as serious as a heart attack.  Both torpedoed McCain and now Romney’s electability by shifting too far to the right for mainstream voters.

            McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012 had the potential of running competitive campaigns until their Faustian bargains pandered to their Party’s right wing.  Had McCain picked former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani or had Romney picked New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie they would have had a fighting chance.  Both made the mistake of letting today’s right wing elements of the GOP pick their running mates.  McCain to this day insists Palin is the future of the GOP.  Romney no doubt will say the same thing about Ryan.  If the election winds up another blowout reelecting President Barack Obama, the GOP will talk of the same soul-searching it did in ‘08.  Giving some wise advice, former President George H.W. Bush, who ran with the more conservative Ronald Reagan in 1980, begged the Party to show more flexibility on taxes and come back to the center.

            With all the gaffes on the campaign stump, it’s easy for the GOP to loose sight of the big picture:  Most Americans fall in the quiet forgotten middle.  Extremists on both sides make the most noise but when it comes to voting, moderate Democrats, Republicans and independents pick presidents.   Romney faces hurricane-type headwinds in the battleground Midwest, where money talks and bullpucky walks.  Midwesterners now working again because of Barack’s Feb. 17, 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler paid rich dividends for his reelection.  While Mitt and Ryan talk of creating 12 million new private sector jobs in their first term, Obama has delivered thousands of automotive-related jobs in the Midwest.  Romney and Ryan have gone on record opposing Barack’s Detroit bailout.  Ohioans and Iowans look ready to repay Obama for restoring the auto industry.

               Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) noted Sept. 5 that preserving Medicare and Social Security has now tilted the election toward Obama.  Ryan’s zealotry about reforming the nation’s two biggest entitlement programs has scared off seniors and Baby Boomers approaching retirement age.  Ryan said he welcomed the Medicare and Social Security debate Aug. 12, the day Mitt picked him as his running mate.  Getting practically booed off the stage Sept. 20 at the American Association of Retired People, Ryan found out the hard way how out-of-touch his message is with mainstream voters.  His plans to privatize Medicare and Social Security send shockwaves through otherwise conservative Republicans who don’t like to be called “government-dependent” because they rely on both entitlement programs.  Unable to muzzle Ryan, Romney has shot himself in the foot.

            Romney and Ryan have floated every possible attack against Barack, all now backfiring.  When anti-American rioting broke out in the Middle East, Romney blamed Obama’s “weak” foreign policy.  It didn’t take long to see how politicizing U.S. foreign policy backfired.  Romney and Ryan implied rioting would not take place under a GOP administration.  They’d take a tougher stance, reminding voters about the “bring ‘em on” foreign policy of former President George W. Bush.  Weary of war, voters don’t like the implications of another saber rattling U.S. foreign policy.  Obama has struck the right balance between defending U.S. national security and not starting new preemptive wars.  When their foreign policy attacks backfired, Romney and Ryan returned to economy only to find the National Association of Realtors confirming a steady recovery in the U.S. housing industry.

            Blaming Obama for everything but the kitchen sink hasn’t worked.  When the GOP ticket doesn’t have the humility—or class—to give the president credit for directing the courageous raid to get Osama bin Laden May 1, 2011or his relentless pursuit of terrorists since taking office Jan. 20, 2009, then it’s no wonder they’ve lost credibility with voters.  Romney’s chief strategist Stuart Stevens got it wrong that creating any narrative works with voters.  Narratives that don’t match reality turn quickly into fiction, revealing more smoke-blowing than honesty.  “Why do we send presidents to the White House in the first place?” asked Ryan.  “We send presidents to change and fix the mess in Washington, and if this president has admitted that he can’t change Washington, the you know what, we need to change presidents.”  Ryan knows that he leads GOP’s efforts in Congress to obstruct all of Obama’s initiatives.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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