The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finds himself, at long last, with a clear path to the Republican nomination for president. The ugliness of the primary season, the viciousness and venom still sting but the flesh wounds have begun to heal.
President Romney would, without question, be a better chief executive than President Obama. Rather than the feckless, rudderless equivocations about foreign policy or economic recovery de rigeur in the Obama Administration, the American people could feel safe and confident again. There is a responsibility for the Commander in Chief to be strong, confident and communicate clearly.
President Obama's leadership has been marked by arrogance, a characteristic he and his defenders routinely confuse with strength. Being a name-calling schoolyard bully that wins fights via intimidation isn't a strategy. It's weakness, ignorance and cloying. Everyone knows that the biggest bullies have a glass jaw.
Mitt Romney is the kid on the school playground who shatters the glass jaw, defeats the bully then marches back to class and answers each question deliberately and correctly. His success looks effortless but that placid demeanor masks the real reason behind it. Dedication.
The world we live in is not safe. We need a president who leads, who will stand up for us and the world's most vulnerable during G8 and G20 meetings. The United States is a beacon of freedom, and our president should not be ashamed of it or apologize for it. He, or she, should be proud to represent our nation and our values.
Romney has assembled an excellent team of professionals, people with an undstanding of how governance works. A leviathan awaits. Reversing Obama doctrine will require skilled staff, patience and a desire to do the job well. Every president sets the tone and agenda, and recognizing Romney will repair relations with the conservative wing of the Republican party, folks must learn how to separate their personal animus from doing what is best for the country.
The Romney presidency, if half as successful as his tenure at the Olympics or at Bain, would be a triumph for the United States. Defeating President Obama will require patience. Obama wants to win at any cost. Our job is to remind the American people the only entitlement spending Obama actually cares about are his own campaign coffers. Romney cares about fulfilling the American dream, and while he may not be a knight in shining armor, he has a demonstrated ability to lead, achieve success, and rise from the electoral ashes.
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May '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
"The economy, according to the CBO, shuts down at 2027 on this path." —Congressman Paul Ryan
That's a mere 15 years from now. President Romney would have to face a hell of a lot more than Obamacare to keep America afloat, let alone to keep America strong.
I hope he's up for it.
May '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Elizabeth Blackney, Guest Contributor:
President Obama's leadership has been marked by arrogance, a characteristic he and his defenders routinely confuse with strength.
This is in contrast with President Bush. Particularly on foreign policy, Bush's opponents witnessed strength but perceived it as arrogance. At least they are consistent in their confusion.
Oct '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Elizabeth Blackney, Guest Contributor:
The world we live in is not safe. We need a president who leads, who will stand up for us and the world's most vulnerable during G8 and G20 meetings. The United States is a beacon of freedom, and our president should not be ashamed of it or apologize for it. He, or she, should be proud to represent our nation and our values.
Oh, please. The United States do not need a president “who leads”—that is for lesser societies who look toward an atavistic tribal head-man rather than a magistrate elected to faithfully execute the laws enacted by the peoples' representatives.
Let us hope Team Romney's vast resources provide better copy editing than this plea for his candidacy.
Mar '11
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
This whole piece comes off as a Romney campaign ad. It completely ignores his duplicitous history. Fine, we're stuck with him as the nominee. "Love the one you're with?". Silly pop cultural references aside, I don't even trust the guy.
Jul '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Romney did way more than his share to make the primary season ugly and vicious. His candidacy has been divisive and dishonest, and misrepresented his staunch liberal credentials, failed governorship, and legislative legacy as laudable rather than a more accurate laughable to tragic.
Echoing the hypocrisy of Romney's entire campaign is an appropriate touch to approaching the topic of his imminent triumph.
At least he's not Ron Paul. Best of luck in the general.
Jul '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
John Walker
Oh, please. The United States do not need a president “who leads”—that is for lesser societies who look toward an atavistic tribal head-man rather than a magistrate elected to faithfully execute the laws enacted by the peoples' representatives.
Uh huh. Laws are executed through (among other things) leadership. Unless the President must do it all himself directly, which wasn't too plausible (or intended) for Washington, let alone now.
Apr '11
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Is he "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"? That's what I want to know.
Or will he contribute to the recent GOP record of adding more pages to the Federal Register and any previous president, initiate new federal programs like a carbon tax, and introduce America to the VAT?
May '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Great. Now we have purported conservatives mocking leadership...
Code of Conduct precludes me from writing anything more.
Apr '11
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
We do need a leader. We do not need a ruler.
Feb '12
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
In 2008 a whole bunch of people read into Obama what they wanted to see--hope and change, whatever that meant. So here we are again, hoping Romney is what we've been waiting for. OK I'm in. Not because I have delusions about him, but because I am scared speechless of a second Obama term. I'm scared speechless of the prospect of an Obama supreme court. So will I get behind Romney? Oh yeah big time. Criticisms against him pale compared to the damage I see a reelected and unfettered Obama inflicting on our country.
Dec '11
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
The Romney presidency, if half as successful as his tenure at the Olympics or at Bain, would be a triumph for the United States.
Oh my goodness, Ms. Blackney, would you agree to another guest appearance? Please?!
Edited on April 15, 2012 at 12:33amMay '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Cynicism and snarky digs at our nominee are easy and common and, by now, tiresome. Cheers to Elizabeth Blackney for embracing the tougher and more noble task: rallying the troops in a good cause.
Dec '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
The country will be led by Americans, if we manage to excise the mestatisizing tumor of the Current Occupant. It would be nice if we had an even better alternative, but I say the same to myself about my fiancee. Or rather, of her, about me.
All I can do is try to be better for her. So that's our job.
May '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Leaders inspire leaders. Leading as President means leading the House And Senate to fiscal and other forms of sanity so that citizens aren't thwarted in leadership in their own lives, businesses, communities, etc.
Jul '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Love the one I'm with? No thanks.
I'm not into abusive relationships (first McCain, now Romney).
If this is the direction the GOP wants to go, then they can go "love" themselves.
Edited on April 15, 2012 at 2:32amRe: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Romney isn't a perfect candidate, no candidate would meet the impossible standards laid out by some amorphous 'conservative' ideal. What I know is this: this nation cannot afford another four years of President Obama. To not get out there, help Romney, etc is to actively and knowingly assist reelecting Obama. Breitbart made that distinction, and it is worth remembering.
Jul '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
"To not get out there, help Obama, etc is to actively and knowingly assist electing Romney."
So, what's an apathetic person to do? Whose side are they on? If someone ain't voting, are they actually voting for both candidates?
May '10
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Limited, local government. It's not complicated. Republicans of every stripe at least agree on that much.
Whoever is willing to take a sledgehammer to federal power and spending wins.
It's not that Romney hasn't promised such reform. It's that we don't believe him.
Edited on April 15, 2012 at 4:19amApr '11
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
No use crying!, but crying just keeps going on anyway. It starts to sound like my son when he was two, he was not amiable to logic, and I'm afraid a lot of adults on Ricochet are a lot like my two year old! I know that I'd prefer someone else than Romney, but guess what, my candidate(s) didn't run. Romneys not the best candidate for most conservatives, I know that, but he's a damn site better than Obama! So unless your petulant, certainly not an adult behavior, I'd suggest that we all suck it up and vote for Romney, who knows he might surprise us.
Jun '11
Re: The Nominee: Love the One You're With
Time to fall in line. Romney won't bow to Saudi royalty and give credence to the Muslim world's ridiculous phantom grievances by apologizing abroad. But in Elizabeth's post, I don't see Romney defeating the bully unless he contracts it out.
Yes, leadership matters in the presidency. Our enemies are on the move. This president is a terrible manager and leader. He is a rookie who doesn't belong in the big leagues. He is an American mistake. He will be remembered as an aberration. He has to go.