The primary results in New Hampshire Tuesday night point toward the general election campaign. Romney will be the (uninspiring) Republican candidate. As he runs against “Obama’s failed presidency,” many conservatives will wonder whether there really is a choice. Ron Paul will probably not run as an independent libertarian, but his supporters will have to judge, in their terms, whether a big government Republican is really preferable to a big government Democrat. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum will dutifully follow the leader, but working class Republicans, or as they used to be called Reagan Democrats, will harbor their doubts concerning the representation of their economic or moral interests. Republican unity, if not enthusiasm, will focus on the negative, the rejection of Barack Obama, but the 2010 Republican emotional advantage, which is very important in politics, as Jim Jasper has explored here, is finished.
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The day Republicans go back to loving their country more than they hate Barack Obama, there will be something to talk about in US politics. This year, it will only happen in the unlikely event that Huntsman is nominated – he is the one Republican candidate one can disagree with. The rest are not worth commenting, IMHO.
Mitt Romney in his New Hampshire victory speech laid out what is most likely going to be the Republican themes that are going to be used in the Presidential campaign. He criticized President Obama on policy issues. That is to be expected. President Obama will criticize the Republican nominee.
While Romney’s critique of President Obama is harsh, and in the eyes of many, the points that he raised are unjustifiable, I did not detect hatred in the words he offered. I think that it is mistake to ignore the issues he raised. It is much better to understand the opposition than to ignore the opposition. Romney’s speech is by no means the final one which will be used after the conventions, but my guess is that the speech captures many of the points that will be stressed. I tried to distil some of the points he raised. Some of you might find them useful. I suspect that President Obama’s team has probably scrutinized every word; at least I hope they have.
On a more general level, Romney raised a number of concerns: the crushing of the middle class; the number of people that are unemployed (I’m sure at some point that the U-6 rate will be raised which is substantially higher); the 10% drop in median incomes; unemployment prospects for returning veterans; the Federal debt level; families and retirees needing to get by on less; and a feeling of hopelessness. Romney put forward that we know we can do better, and we need to believe and strive for a better future. As might be expected, he suggested that free enterprise was on trial, and division and envy was hurting the country. He then went on to draw a contrast between what he portrayed as President Obama’s view for what needed to be done and his.
I won’t try to summarize how Romney views the destiny of America if President Obama’s path is followed. It will just irritate most readers, and perhaps keep them from becoming aware of the opposing destiny offered. I would encourage anyone that is interested to become informed in detail about Romney’s portrayal of the destiny offered by President Obama. It is much easier to deal with the portrayal if people know what Romney’s version of it is.
These are the major points offered in Romney’s destiny: a restoration of America’s founding principles; remaining a free and prosperous land of opportunity; looking for American solutions to American problems; making the federal government simpler and smaller; reducing and capping government spending while balancing the budget; the elimination of regulations which kill job growth; the restoration of America’s credit rating; focusing on employment creation; being a strong leader internationally; maintaining a strong military; being loyal to allies (including Israel); engendering pride in America; the protection of freedom and opportunity; respecting the Constitution; being hopeful and excited about the future; feeling more comfortable with the future; growing retirement accounts; finding ways to control energy costs; restoring belief in America and the opportunities it offers; and being an exemplar for freedom. Indirectly, he suggested controlling energy costs; less emphasis on government provided benefits; and starting on dealing with health care (he promised the repeal of current legislation). I suspect than many of these will become more refined as time goes by. Romney avoided being specific about how health care could be revised, and how he intended to deal with finding solutions to the energy (near term and long term) problems, and entitlement programs. It was a short speech.
The Romney speech was a trail of sorts to see how these themes play. They will change over time. I think that it is better to be aware of them than to ignore them.
I agree with Felipe. And to add to that, the day they give up their jingoism for a sensible foreign policy is the day they might actually start to get a smaller government. If smaller government is what they really want, rather than an endless repetition of mindless slogans to that effect, then they should vote for Ron Paul. For now though it seems they love war more than they love their country.
My point was not that Romney is peddling hatred (Gingrich seems to specialize it that approach), but that the only thing that unites libertarians, social conservatives, and Main Street and Wall Street conservatives together is a hatred of Obama and liberals. The form of Romney’s rhetoric and his policy switches, it seems to me, confirm this, as does the less than enthusiastic support for his candidacy. That said, I agree that we should take Romney seriously and consider carefully what he proposes, both the way he proposes to lead and the course he suggests we should take. Michael list of his positions doesn’t simply add up, doesn’t explain much to me. But I welcome a coherent explanation.
I happened onto this old post more than a year later. The list of major points offered by Romney seem melancholically amusing after we had a chance of hearing the candidate himself present them to candid tape recorders.