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‘But no one running is more impressive than Mitt Romney’ according to an opinion piece by Mona Charen. So what you say? The reason for her statement was the ‘Faith in America’ speech and prior to the speech she viewed him as something of a carefully packaged and marketed Presidential candidate. There are plenty of reactions to the Romney speech on religion in America with criticism based on a comparison to the JFK speech years earlier or positive comments drawing on the complaint that the Mormon question is unfair and largely presented or supported by rivals or those who support other candidates. Certainly the subjective argument about religion can attribute the Huckabee approach as an attempt to draw support from those viewing his faith as superior.

Charen begins her commentary with a brief review of the candidate pool in past elections as well as specific ‘props’ to the relative merits of the campaigns of Thompson, McCain and Giuliani before describing Romney as the most impressive. There are some interesting notes including no presence of the religion question for either Mo Udall or George Romney, both Mormons who also ran for President. And her reference to no discussion of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Mormon faith connects with an earlier post here indicating the vast array of faiths represented in Congress that receive no special attention. That includes the Mormon faith of not only Harry Reid but Michael Crapo, Gordon Smith, Robert Bennett and Orrin Hatch. There are about 30 different faiths represented with none getting the scrutiny to which Romney has been subjected. Charen suggests the doctrine or history of Mormon faith as more a matter of scholarly interest.

A Second Look at Romney
Mona Charen
Dec 14, 2007

When Mitt Romney took office as governor of Massachusetts, the state had a $1.2 billion deficit. Four years later it was in surplus. He boasts that fourth and eighth graders in Massachusetts achieved the highest scores in the nation in reading and math, though they were doing so before he became governor as well. But his program of assessment, merit pay for good teachers, English immersion and a focus on math and science may have helped keep them at the top.

It is difficult to find any significant weakness in Romney. He is refreshingly articulate, exceedingly well prepared and self-disciplined, clearly an excellent manager with both private and government experience, happily married with a large, supportive family, and well within the mainstream of conservatism on every major issue. His nomination would not divide the base.

He is just the sort of candidate people complain that they never get.

Much earlier in this long campaign season there were reports that the hot button issues of the war in Iraq and all things related to terrorism like national security, border control and illegal immigration as well as health care and other issues would be surpassed by economic concerns as the top issue before election day. There is reference now to an ABC poll suggesting just such a change in top elections issues. If this information stands and the voting public turns to more personal and practical considerations who better to accomplish the task than Mitt Romney? All the discussion on topics of principle or other ideals or ethical and moral considerations are fine but in the final analysis voter concerns about their wallets may override philosophical pursuits when entering the voting booth.

Not to suggest a scathing indictment of the human condition in America but let’s be honest. We may all have an interest in addressing moral considerations on issues in public affairs and politics but nothing gets attention like economic survival. And no one has a resume’ like Mitt Romney for solving those problems. Could it be that all the fuss over other questions raised in the campaign are merely designed to avoid the question of which candidate has the best record of solving economic issues and financial crisis in the public and private sectors?

A report from AP suggests that a statement in the recent GOP debate by Mike Huckabee was a subtle shot at Mitt Romney’s wealthy status.

“Our founding fathers had a brilliant, really revolutionary idea that the people elected would not represent the elite, but would represent the ordinary,” Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said at a debate in Iowa this week, a subtle poke at the former Massachusetts governor.

Perhaps Mike Huckabee felt a need to criticize the very proof that Mitt Romney has a history demonstrating his skill and effectiveness in solving economic and financial problems that the former Arkansas governor does not. And since most of the candidates financial disclosures indicate each one having wealth that exceeds the level of most Americans, Fred Thompson’s humorous quip while less subtle than Huckabee’s was no doubt intended to target Romney’s success.

Thompson, a lawyer, actor and former senator from Tennessee, was more direct, saying: “My goal is to get into Mitt Romney’s situation, where I don’t have to worry about taxes anymore.”

While one of Thompson’s disclosures lists his assets between $2 and $8 million and is certainly far below that of Mitt Romney, the source of his income is largely from acting, lobbying and perhaps fees for speaking engagements of which one was for six figures. If the statement that the wealthiest 5% of Americans pay about half the nation’s taxes is accurate then even if Thompson does not have the same after tax income of Mitt Romney it is likely that Fred Thompson’s tax worries are no where close to that of ordinary Americans.

This blog supports Mitt Romney for President. But this particular blog post is not intended as a criticism of either Mike Huckabee or Fred Thompson. It was presented to address comments of other GOP candidates that may be intended as criticism of Mitt Romney. This was not a criticism of Huckabee or Thompson as candidates only their statements directed at Romney. Criticism by others about Thompson suggesting he is lazy or not really interested in being President are as meaningless and trivial as the criticism of Romney’s success or faith. The same is true of criticism of others toward Mike Huckabee if that criticism does not address his qualifications as a candidate for President. Obviously one of the many candidates for President will become exactly that….President of the United States and we should avoid being distracted by campaign tactics designed to redefine an opponent’s strength as a weakness.

With the crushing debt and wasteful spending that has been a Washington characteristic long before George W. Bush became President, selecting Mitt Romney to lead this country could easily prove that his ability to fix such problems wold allow us to then seriously attend to the other great issues facing this nation. With the suggestion by the ABC poll mentioned earlier that the economy is once again becoming the top issue, Mitt Romney’s record of success in matters of economics and finance may be the key to moving this country to the success and respectability everyone wants. The criticism of Romney’s success also mentioned earlier in this post may indicate his competitors are also aware of his superior leadership skills and ability to perform as Commander and Chief.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Money Matters, wordpress, Politics, campaign, election, conservative, America, United States, romney, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.