More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Peter Robinson ·
July 7, 2012 at 1:30am
Romney may shrink from attacking Obama as relentlessly as he should, it occurs to me, because he confuses fighting with shrillness or nastiness. In re which, I offer a picture and a video.
The picture: A shot of ObamaCare as the legislation looked when it went to the White House for President Obama's signature.
The video: President Reagan's 1988 State of the Union Address. Take a look at the passage that runs from 16:32 to 18:56.
See? A politician who knows what he's doing can simultaneously prove gentle, warm, likeable, humorous--and utterly devastating.
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Jun '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
I think it was Reagan that said, "down here on Earth, the only thing that has eternal life is a temporary government program."
Apr '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Mr. Robinson, I feel we have gone through this many times. Mitt Romney isn't Ronald Reagan. I would love it if he was. I just can not picture Mitt giving that kind of speech. I think if you want that kind of showmanship you need some one like Christie. Though Christie probably would be less genial than Reagan.
Why torture ourselves with how Mitt is not like Ronald Reagan? Must we become like Democrats always looking for a new Kennedy or FDR?
Edited on July 7, 2012 at 6:39amMay '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
"Congress shouldn't send another one of these."
Color me cynical. The prolonged applause for Reagan's statement does not warm my heart, but rather makes me curse every Congressman who passed those bills before applauding.
May '12
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Seriously? We need to expect our politicians to be Ronald Reagan or else they're not good enough for us? I don't think you're being very realistic or fair, Peter.
Feb '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
I’m watching the speech. He says that congress shouldn’t send another nonsense bill:
“If you do, I will not sign it.”
But it was 1988.
Some threat.
May '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
I just don't get this perception that Romney is not attacking Obama. I was at a campaign event in Brunswick OH a couple weeks back, and his entire stump speech was an attack on Obama. The whole doggone thing.
Here's the thing: I was there with my mom, the quintessential apprehensive, squishy center/center-right voter who votes Republican, but just barely (and I'm not entirely sure she did last time, to be honest), and, no joke, her unsolicited evaluation of Romney's performance was "What I liked most was that he attacked Obama, but he wasn't mean or shrill about it." Mom was smitten.
Romney is doing exactly what he should be doing.
Edited on July 7, 2012 at 3:30amMar '12
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Reagan spent a career as an actor, a profession for which he had to demonstrate considerable innate ability to emote. Romney is not that guy, indeed no Republican in the future will be that guy (although I fully expect to see a Democrat from Hollywood compete for the White House in my lifetime.)
I think Romney is good enough, i.e., he won't be the miserable candidate that McCain proved. I don't expect him to show Reagan's level of game. I also trust that he is keeping his powder dry, saving the main campaign themes for post-Labor Day (as well as his demonstrated ability to go negative.)
Jun '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Romney's chance to do something like this will only come in the debates. He should up the steady drumbeat and keep Eric F. away from the press. In fact, Fehrnstrom appears to share some key gene sequences with Steve Schmidt and Bob Shrum...albatross, I believe.Look, as much as I'd like to see an early KO of our Dear Leader it ain't happening.
Aug '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
I dunno. I kind of see Romney as a Percy Blakeney kind of character. He appears aloof and distant from the fray to those who are passionately opposed to the "Revolutionaries" while all the time he and his allies are fighting desperately to preserve freedom and resist tyranny.
He's got his "foppish" front, but I think moments like his Solyndra speech show that he is quite capable of taking it to his Robespierre.
Nov '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
The reason Romney does not fight is because he lacks principles to fight for.
For Romney, everything is negotiable. It can all be managed. It's all about what's practical. It's all about getting the deal done. Insistence upon principles gets in the way of getting the deal done. Principles are for ideologues.
Romney is embarrassingly uncomfortable talking about anything touching core defining principles. When he tries to fight, he says things that come across as insipid, even if they aren't, because his argument is not grounded in principle.
By "grounded," I mean convictions that are so impressed into one's second nature that intuition enlivens understanding.
Yes, Romney can make a dead dry reasoned chain of argument, but he can't inspire others to believe in what he's saying because he does not really believe in it himself.
Romney wants this election to be about who is the best manager.
Romney is our Dukakis. What will be his tank moment?
Obama has core political principles.
Romney doesn't.
Obama has core political principles he's willing to fight for tooth and nail.
Romney doesn't.
Guess who wins that fight?
Edited on July 7, 2012 at 7:44amMay '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
OK, I give up. Who wins that fight? (Obama will win by hammering home core leftwing rhetoric, never compromising, etc.? Hey, you might be right -- who knows? -- but if so, it would be unprecedented.)
Aug '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
There seems to be a whole lot of armchair quarterbacking going on by people who to my knowledge have never won an election - Bill Crystal, Laura Ingraham, Rupert Murdoch, the WSJ editors and yes, Peter Robinson.
It's going to be a long summer if people keep freaking out every time there's a lull in the campaign. Laura Ingraham criticized Romney for taking a vacation - this from a woman who is gone from her show every other week! Give me a break...
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Valiuth: Why torture ourselves with how Mitt is not like Ronald Reagan? 5 hours ago
Edited 47 minutes ago
Good Lord. I suggest, very politely, that Romney might learn a technique or two from Ronald Reagan...and I get this? Obviously Romney is no Ronald Reagan--nor did I suggest that he should be. What I said--what I actually put in print--was that Romney might want to note that attacks can take the form of humor and gentleness but still prove effective.
Some seem see any criticism of Romney whatsoever as somehow subversive of the Republic. Jeepers. That's a standard I refuse to accept.
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Am encouraged to hear about that stump speech, Scott, but you really and truly don't get the perception that Romney's failing to go on the attack? He did okay earlier today, saying, when we learned of yet another disappointing jobs report, "It doesn't have to be this way." But between the Supreme Court ruling on June 28 and today more than a week slid by--without, as far as I could tell, a single effective or memorable sally by the Romney campaign.
Who knows? Maybe Romney was merely taking a long Fourth of July weekend with his family to rest up for the rigors of the campaign ahead. But it sure looked as though he and his campaign felt uncertain and confused about pressing the case against Obama on health care.
Let's hope for more of what you got Brunswick and less of the slackness on display this past week at Lake Winnipesaukee.
Nov '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Yes, Obama will do:
-class warfare (the rich versus "the rest of us," Romney takes care of the rich, who don't pay their fair share, and he doesn't care about the "overworked middle class," who can be such stupid suckers for that well-worn piece of demagoguery).
-race card (to keep his base inflamed).
-war on women and the battle of the sexes (to keep single women hot and bothered and to drain the enthusiasm from male voters who will feel fatigued and emasculated by it all).
-government will take care of you (Obamacare, infrastructure programs for blue collar jobs, student loans, etc.).
-capitalism isn't fair ("we tried it and it didn't work," a subtle attack, because he can't quite say it outright, but the message will get through and people will believe it).
It's not unprecedented. It's a winning combination.
Meanwhile, Romney says to shrinking bored crowds, "Obama isn't working. I'm a better manager."
Edited on July 7, 2012 at 8:07amDec '10
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
I'm not overly concerned that Romney fails to be Reagan. I am, however, concerned that he could succeed at being Dewey. Jeffrey Lord explains.
Nov '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Okay, but if you ever say Jeepers again, we'll have to revoke your honorary Texas citizenship.
Aug '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Why not write him a short speech, Peter, as a taster of what you have to offer that would improve him.
May '12
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Peter Robinson
I suggest, very politely, that Romney might learn a technique or two from Ronald Reagan...and I getthis?
With respect, Peter, thats not what you did. You pointed out that Reagan could deploy an attack and still be "gentle, warm, likeable, humorous". Gentleness, warmness, likeableness, and humor are not "techniques", theyre personal qualities that Reagan possessed in uncommon abundance, which allowed him to communicate in ways that very few leaders ever have been able. So, I stand by the belief youre holding Romney to a standard he, and virtually no other politician, can live up to.
Romney will have to win this race by being himself, exploiting the strengths he possesses. That wont make it a graceful, charismatic, or overly inspiring fight. But it will be calculated, efficient, disciplined, organized, and ruthless when it needs to be. We all wish we could have a candidate that makes us fall in love. We're going to have to settle for a good provider who's dependable, however boring that seems. And we'll have to hope America has learned that choosing a candidate based on romantic appeal can be much worse than going with the guy who seems safe.
Edited on July 7, 2012 at 1:44pmNov '11
Re: More Re: Romney Needs to Fight
Peter Robinson
Am encouraged to hear about that stump speech, Scott, but you really and truly don't get the perception that Romney's failing to go on the attack?
I loved seeing the video and I share your concern, Peter, and the concerns of those who commented on Romney's general inability to express the conservative viewpoint, but I also think that there is an argument to be made that in a long race like this one, especially one that follows a long, long, primary season, one ought to start at a moderate pace and save the big guns for when one is a bit closer to the home stretch. This pace also has the potential to catch the press flat-footed. Meanwhile continuing bad economic news is doing some of Romney's work for him.