Watching Mitt Romney address NALEO (the National Association
of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials) last week was like watching one
uncle trying to explain to his nephew how the gift he was going to give him was better than the one he just got from
the other uncle. Ralph Kramden sounded more
convincing stuttering, “humina, humina humina.”
President Obama’s executive order to suspend deportation of
approximately 800,000 Hispanics under the age of 30 who were brought here
illegally, not only was a brilliant stroke of genius by an Administration that admittedly
needs all the help it can get between now and November, it took the wind out of
the sails of hope for the Republicans – and more particularly their
presidential nominee, Mittens – who were desperately trying to shore up badly-needed
support within the Latino community. As
things stand now, about the only group Romney is sure to secure a majority of
votes from are white men, notably older white men. In every other category – African Americans,
Hispanics, women – he is trailing, and by some counts badly.
Of course the issue for Romney is actually quite complex and
problematic. On the one hand he knows
that he just can’t count on his base to get him elected. They’ve done the math at the RNC. Barring a complete collapse of the economy,
Romney needs to improve his numbers with the above groups if he is
going to beat Obama. That was one of the
reasons Marco Rubio was seriously being considered as a running mate.
On the other hand Romney’s base is his biggest anchor. He can’t afford to piss them off, not when he
will need every single one of them to vote for him in November. And, among this lot, talk of immigration
reform his akin to selling secrets to the Soviets during the Cold War. Remember these were the people who cheered over
the prospect of an electrified fence between the U.S. and Mexico. Talk about a catch-22.
So there was the used car salesman from hell on the podium
trying to extricate himself from the box that his own party placed him in, “answering”
the question about what he would do regarding Obama’s order should he get elected
president. His “answer” was precious.
Some people have asked
if I will let stand the President’s executive order. The answer is I will put
in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the
President’s temporary measure. As
President, I won’t settle for stop-gap measures. I’ll work with Republicans and
Democrats to build a long-term solution.
In other words a President Romney actually won’t repeal the
order but put in place his own version of it.
Of course just what that means is anybody’s guess. He’ll work with Republicans and
Democrats. Sure he will, and when he
gets fifty-five senators to pass the legislation that he wants – just as
President Obama did – and the other party threatens a filibuster to keep it
from getting to his desk, then what?
Oh well, I guess that’s not part of the plan then. It never is over at the Romney campaign. Come to think of it, the “plan” is pretty
simple. Share as little as possible
about the hows and whys lest some might not like what they hear. Remember how popular Ross Perot was until he
stood up one day and told reporters just what he’d do if he got elected? And then there was that debate where Rick Perry said he was going to eliminate those departments in the government that he couldn't quite remember the names of. His popularity sank faster than the Titanic.
I’ll say this for the Mittster: he’s a quick study. If the Devil is indeed in the details than
the former Massachusetts governor must be sportin’ one hell of a tail under
that suit. So far as I’ve been able to
ascertain the whole Romney platform comes down to this: I’m better than Obama;
I just can’t say how.
He’ll balance the budget, reduce unemployment to 4%, grow
the economy at 6%, cut taxes for everyone (especially his buddies), “reform”
immigration and bomb Iran. How he proposes
to do all this is anybody’s guess, because when you ask the man from Michigan
what his plan is to accomplish all this, he refers you to his 59 point plan on
his website, which also is somewhat vague about little things like implementation
[one of his advisers called it “a starting point”], or he simply refuses to
answer the question altogether. He “endorses”
the Ryan plan, yet won’t commit to saying he would sign it into law as
president. And for good reason: the
moment he does, Florida goes out the window.
Let’s see, Bain Capital is off limits with him; so is his
term as governor of Massachusetts; and he won’t get specific about how he would
fix the economy. The man has been
running for president for five years, yet can’t or won’t answer direct questions
about policy.
Basically what the Romney campaign is banking on is that
enough voters will vote for their guy out of sheer frustration with Obama
without actually asking what it is he would do and how he would do it. And while that might have worked during the
primaries and may work with some voters in the general, I doubt it will work
with a majority of them. At the end of the
day, Romney will have to reveal at least some specifics about how he plans on turning
the economy around.
In my line of work – sales – you can count on a few
disgruntled customers to buy from you, but at the end of the day, if you want
to succeed, you have to differentiate yourself from your competition. In 2004, the Kerry campaign tried to cash in
on voter dissatisfaction with George Bush.
The Iraq War wasn’t going as advertised and it turned out those weapons
of mass destruction were nothing but a figment of the Administration’s
imagination. “Vote for us, we’re not
Bush” didn’t go over too well. While
voters conceded the point that Kerry was in deed not Bush, the simple truth is
that Kerry didn’t close the deal with them.
He lost.
Saying the other guy sucks only gets your foot in the door. Sooner or later, if you want to get the rest
of your body in, you have to start talking about yourself. For Mitt Romney, that day should prove most
illuminating.
Links: http://www.whatthefolly.com/2012/06/23/transcript-mitt-romneys-remarks-on-immigration-reform-at-the-2012-naleo-conference/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-04-29/romney-economic-plan-evolves/54632552/1
Comments