Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
The takeaway I had from the past few days in South Carolina - besides falling in love with Charleston all over again - was that Mitt Romney's stump speech is really, really dull. It is completely divorced from local issues, and could be given by any candidate, from any party, in any state. It also has imagery and callbacks that manage to be patriotic without being interesting. Romney's delivery has improved since 2008, but his words simply haven't. They might even have gotten worse.
Today, Mark Steyn unleashes on the speech:
Why is the stump speech so awful? “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.” Mitt paid some guy to write this insipid pap. And he paid others to approve it. Not only is it bland and generic, it’s lethal to him in a way that it wouldn’t be to Gingrich or Perry or Bachmann or Paul because it plays to his caricature — as a synthetic, stage-managed hollow man of no fixed beliefs. And, when Ron Paul’s going on about “fiat money” and Newt’s brimming with specifics on everything (he was great on the pipeline last night), Mitt’s generalities are awfully condescending: The finely calibrated inoffensiveness is kind of offensive.
And what’s with the wind up? The “shining city on the hill”? That’s another guy’s line — a guy with whom you have had hitherto little connection other than your public repudiation of him back in the Nineties. Can’t any of his highly paid honchos write him a campaign slogan that’s his own and doesn’t sound in his mouth so cheesily anodyne, as if some guy ran a focus-group and this phrase came up with the lowest negatives?
And where, among all the dough he’s handing out, is the rapid-response team? Newt’s “spontaneous” indignation at John King was carefully crafted by Gingrich himself. By contrast, Mitt has a ton of consultants, and not one of them thought he needed a credible answer on Bain or taxes? For a guy running as a chief exec applying proven private-sector solutions, his campaign looks awfully like an unreformable government bureaucracy: big, bloated, overstaffed, burning money, slow to react, and all but impossible to change.
I'm not sure Romney's people will change this speech in Florida - they seem thoroughly invested in it, even to the point that he just used a variant of it on South Carolina's election night - but they really ought to for Mitt 4.5.
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Comments :
May '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Say, Mark Steyn; if we can get you off of Hugh Hewitt for a while, will you continue to think on your own and return to this calibre of critique?
HHIIOHH and it shows.
Jan '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
If you need to look for an explanation of why Romney is who he is, you've missed the obvious. Romney is a virtual man. He's no better at being an innately valid man than is Obama. Both have a cadre of advisers, prompters and string-pullers to help them configure themselves into what the moment calls for. To Romney's credit, he does it without teleprompters. To his deficit, he doesn't use teleprompters.
Six of one...
Feb '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Why is Romney's stump speech so bad?
Because he thinks the voters are stupid, that's why.
From that, he concludes Ronald Reagan was popular simply because he demonstrated a mindless sunny optimism, and he seeks to emulate it.
Or to be more charitable, perhaps his high-priced consultants merely convinced him that's what wins elections.
Neither option makes me think well of his political judgement.
May '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
"And where, among all the dough he’s handing out, is the rapid-response team? Newt’s “spontaneous” indignation at John King was carefully crafted by Gingrich himself. By contrast, Mitt has a ton of consultants, and not one of them thought he needed a credible answer on Bain or taxes? For a guy running as a chief exec applying proven private-sector solutions, his campaign looks awfully like an unreformable government bureaucracy: big, bloated, overstaffed, burning money, slow to react, and all but impossible to change."
This makes one suspect that the "brains" behind Bain was someone else and that Mittens was the figurehead. Do you think Obama's team is looking into it? Should Newt's?
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
The story you tell is the story I heard from my colleagues about Romney's address at the Hillsdale College graduation in the lead-up to the 2008 Presidential election. It ignored the occasion, and it was almost robotic. He was outclassed by the undergraduate valedictorian. I was told the same story about the National Review banquet that took place at a bout the same time by the man who introduced Romney and inadvertently upstaged him.
This is old news, and Romney has not adjusted. He may simply be too uptight, too programmed, and too timid to make the sale. It is a shame that a man of his talents so lacks the common touch.
May '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
It is a shame that a party of such amazing times has selected a man of such talents. Very well; we shall have to defeat them individually in order to save us all. Some will scoff, but from Joe Dugan's spreadsheets to Adelson's millions, the Anybody But Romney coalition is packing a mighty wallop.
And we had none of this in 2010.
Nov '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Watching Romney after the SC primary it clicked with me that when he talks about not being a politician, he's actually telling the truth. (He should still drop the talking point -- it doesn't work). He doesn't have a politician's instinctive sense of timing or emotion, and he doesn't eat up the adulation of the crowd the way some do. I suspect he feels as awkward as he looks sometimes. In a strange way it actually made me like the man better. I'm deeply cynical of Newt Gingrich's theatrics or of the "feel your pain" populism of Clinton and Blair. But I have to admit it helps win elections.
Jun '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Judging from the speed with which he rushes through it I suspect that even Mitt is bored by the Romney stump speech.
Nov '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Paul A. Rahe:
This is old news, and Romney has not adjusted. He may simply be too uptight, too programmed, and too timid to make the sale. It is a shame that a man of his talents so lacks the common touch. · 48 minutes ago
He also doesn't have the really good politician's sense of history and purpose. He is not a leader in the political sense. If this were just about being "uptight" and "timid," there might be a solution, but it goes way beyond that.
May '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
See?
May '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
We need EJHill to redo the classic National Lampoon cover..."Force Paul Ryan to run for president, or we'll kill this dog."
May '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
I hate to say it, but Mark Steyn is absolutely correct here describing Mitt, just as he is absolutely correct here describing Newt. Money quote:
"I’m not saying that the presidential debates will end with Gingrich offering to pen a new foreword to Dreams from My Father, only that anyone banking on Newt to clobber Obama is flying on blind faith."
We are doomed.
Jul '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Duane Oyen: I hate to say it, but Mark Steyn is absolutely correct here describing Mitt, just as he is absolutely correct here describing Newt. Money quote:
"I’m not saying that the presidential debates will end with Gingrich offering to pen a new foreword to Dreams from My Father, only that anyone banking on Newt to clobber Obama is flying on blind faith."
We are doomed. · 4 minutes ago
Steyn would do well to stop bloating (his books are awful) and start looking at data.
May '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
No offense intended to anyone, but I'll take 3 paragraphs from Mark Steyn against 300 paragraphs from any other Ricochet contributor. The man knows how to pack lots of content into a tight space.
Mar '11
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Mr Romney's stump speech is so bad because he is not speaking from the heart. He is not a true conservative (compare with Rush).
Mr Cain was. As was Mrs Palin. Is, I should say.
And I think Newt is, also - he doesn't need a speechwriter (sorry, Peter and Troy).
Edited on Jan 23 at 1:03pmDec '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Mark Steyn: Why is the stump speech so awful? “I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.”
I think Mark exaggerates a bit, but as a fellow exPat Brummie with Canadian ties, I can forgive him, because I can clearly imagine Romney saying just that, just that way.
Edward R. Murrow is credited with saying of Winston Churchill: "He mobilized the English Language and sent it into battle."
I think that's what people respond to in Newt. He sounds as if he believes what he's saying (not judging whether or not that's actually true). He sounds as if he's proud of what he's done. He sounds as if he'll draw a line in the sand.
Some on Ricochet have said that it was a mistake for Newt to attack Romney's ties to Bain Capital. I agree.
But Romney should have been able to respond and hit the ball out of the park (am I using that sports analogy correctly?)
Why didn't/couldn't he do so?
That's the question.
Dec '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Mark Steyn focused on the "shining city on a hill" quote, but he should have taken Romney's entire closing paragraph as an example of stump speechifying by the numbers and not from the heart.
Sep '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
This all reminds me of a story I heard (as told by either Peter Robinson or Thomas Sowell I believe on UK) about Romney visiting the Hoover Institute during the '08 election. Many members of Hoover walked away unimpressed because many of Romney's answers to questions were to the effect, "I will surround myself with the best experts" to solve this problem and that. This is the impression I get in watching and listening to Mitt. It's one thing to delegate to subordinates in any organization, including a campaign or in the White House. Romney sometimes gives this impression on the stump that he has outsourced his campaign to experts and doesn't involve enough of him.
May '10
Re: Why is Romney's Stump Speech So Bad?
Romney's a loser, and Obama will mop the floor with him in the general.