The Republican Primaries Slog On: It’s Not the Spending but the Policies, Mr. Romney
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Mr. Romney needs to soil his hands with the “Vision Thing”
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This past Tuesday’s Republican primary results in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri not only re-affirmed an otherwise splintered, if not cranky, Republican electorate but also foreshadowed what will not just be the costliest Presidential general election campaigns, but one that could well be devoid of real debate over the direction of this country. And of all candidates to indicate such scenario, it was Mitt Romney.
After Rick Santorum ran the table Tuesday, Mr. Romney and his campaign promised to spend heavily on coming contests to regain his frontrunner status for the Republican presidential nomination.
Such a position betrays several weaknesses in Romney the candidate.
If spending were a panacea to this and any problem, federal, state and local governments would’ve placed this country into economic Nirvana several years ago, if not sooner. We’ve had a blowout in spending, Greek style, to no avail for this country, thanks to lousy policies.
So, too, does Mr. Romney face such a similar situation: he has spent heavily compared to other candidates and finds himself losing primaries. The answer, again, is the lousy (or in his case, lack of) policies. Spending more money to trumpet such will just dig the proverbial hole deeper and give aid to his primary opponents, if not President Obama.
Alternatively, Mr. Romney could, as he has done prodigiously in the past, go on a full-bore attack on his fellow Republicans. Aside from violating Ronald Reagan’s “Eleventh Commandment” of “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican,” it takes away from the real debate that should be occurring for this campaign: the size and role of government in people’s lives whether via taxes or regulation.
Since the time this campaign heated up, Mr. Romney has proven to be anything but a visionary when it comes to where this country should go. From defending his misguided Romneycare to fumbling the debate that predictably arose, after the release of his tax returns, over taxation and the beneficial place of the wealthy in our economy, Mr. Romney has led from his heels. Perhaps he thinks he is the rightful heir to the Republican nomination, having paid his dues in prior elections, and thus need not provide the kind of ideological and policy leadership, a la Reagan, during the primaries. But “vision” is a tough thing to turn on and off and, worse, if Romney has little if any (except for not being President Obama), he will be emulating that last vision-less one-term President, the befuddled George Herbert Walker Bush who infamously mocked such as “the vision thing.”
Mr. Romney is also exercising cognitive dissonance if he thinks he will be able to outspend the mega money-machine known as the Obama re-election campaign. Mr. Obama opted out of federal election spending restraints in 2008 as he had a gusher of money that overwhelmed another befuddled Republican candidate, John McCain. Despite reports that the President and his Super-PACs are having difficulty raising money, Liberals will not go down without a fight this Fall so look for the tsunami of cash to wash in under the mellifluous singing of Barbra Streisand at Democratic fundraisers.
Which leads us back to what candidate Romney, still the likely nominee for the Republicans, should do to become President Romney, and a good one at that. Discard the knee-capping approach towards Newt Gingrich and now likely Santorum. Pick up a copy of “Reagan: A Life in Letters” and read such over the weekend, along with texts of the many speeches he made over his career. Then adopt the Gipper’s positions.
Mr. Romney has never been especially warm to Mr. Reagan and his policies even though he has, in salutary manner, aligned himself with the great President. But as the country is yearning more and more for a conservative candidate who will move us away from the nanny-state that is all Mr. Obama is willing to offer, Governor Romney will need to discover, and espouse, Reagan conservatism if he doesn’t want to further distinguish himself from Mr. Reagan by giving a concession speech on election night this November.
-I.M. Windee
