Posted on 03/30/2012 6:09:03 AM PDT by Josh Painter
Being in the media, I have no friends, as it should be. If I did, however, 3 of 10 Republicans would surely take offense to this column, since it points out what is increasingly obvious to everyone but Mitt Romney’s 30 percent base of support: Mitt won’t beat Barack Obama.
Should Romney become the GOP nominee - likely, but not certain - he will have a difficult time unseating the President. Can he win? Given the stagnant economy, high unemployment, and skyrocketing gas prices, yes. But will he? No.
Since many Republicans are calling this election the most important in history, it’s worth a look at why Romney will fall short:
1) He cannot relate. Nominating Romney would be par for the course for a GOP that likes to elevate stiff, out-of-touch pols who can’t relate to most Americans. John McCain, Bob Dole, and George Bush I (after he acted like he had better things to do than campaign for reelection) are prime examples.
Of course, it is rare for an incumbent president to lose, which occurred only four times in the 20th century. But in those instances, sitting presidents lost to charismatic leaders articulating bold visions. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton achieved success over Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush, because, more than anything, they were extremely effective communicators, speaking from the heart rather than a script. There was a widespread perception among Americans that these candidates were talking directly to them - that they were leaders who innately understood what the problems were, and how to solve them.
On a scale of one to 10, Romney’s ability in this regard is zero. Not only is he unable to relate, but when he tries, things gets worse...
(Excerpt) Read more at delcotimes.com ...
I would have agreed before this whole Trayvon Martin thing fired up.
This stuff is sending white voters running away from the Democrats in droves. It’s the same dynamic that drove Richard Nixon to two national landslide victories.
Few candidates were less engaging or appealing than Nixon.
Yet with the cities on fire, legions of white voters turned to him as the safe alternative.
Well then enjoy your new Marxist Totalitarian, permanent State, where there will soon be a bounty on all of us who claim to be conservative.
“Hate speech” will take on a whole new meaning in this new world you will help create. (Look at Florida, it has already begun.)
I suspect the spelling is derived from his last name, which is not “Friend”.
Intrade is predicting Obama will win. Lots of pundits follow Intrade. No matter who the GOP candidate is I will vote for him as a vote against the O.
It will be the same result, in the slim chance that Romney wins, anyway......and even if Romney wins, that blows our chances to field a decent candidate in 2016 to run against Romney for the nomination.
Right... I meant outside FR.. I haven't heard that from anywhere. The best reaction Romney garners is, "Well, I guess."
Romney only chance to defeat Obama is that the gas prices would remain high by elections day. Other than that Obama would utterly defeat Romney using one strategy “Bain Capital & the Class Warfare”.
Or advice :-)
Obama is a Marxist. I'm pretty sure Romney is not.
Obama clearly detests free enterprise and American exceptionalism, and wants to redistribute our wealth to other countries. Romney obviously does not.
Obama pursues policies than intentionally increase the cost of fossil fuel products, while reducing their availability. Romney would certainly encourage domestic energy production instead.
Obama routinely takes the side of America's adversaries in foreign disputes. I cannot picture Romney ever doing so.
Obama repeatedly and intentionally provokes division between groups and then tries to capitalize politically on the resultant strife. Romney seems like he would rather duct-tape his own mouth shut than say a bad word about anyone (personally, not politically, that is).
Obama wants the government to control your health care decisions. Romney... oh, yeah, well, he sort of does, too. Crap.
And then there are the issues of border security and illegal aliens, gay "marriage", gun rights, Federal spending and growing national debt... where one is hard-pressed to find significant differences between what Obama has done and what Romney might do instead.
And that's why so many of us are all struggling to find a reason to vote for the guy, even against a Marxist quisling like Obama.
That's what I'm hearing also. There are plenty of people who prefer someone other than Romney as the Republican nominee, but for them ABO is preferred to Obama.
I refuse to identify myself as a Republican. I think I am an independent as I have nothing but disgust for the way the ‘establishment’ has chosen our losers over the years.
But my only goal for this election is to defeat Obama....this we must do even if the GOP gives us Howdy Doody.
But $4-5/gallon gas, 8%+ unemployment (perhaps really more than 10%), trillion plus deficits, overly aggressive regulation, and overplaying the race card may seal Obama's fate even if Romney is less than stellar. Unlike Dole and McCain, or for that matter, Kerry and Dukakis, he does not have a day job to fall back on. Romney seems far more goal driven than any of the past losers, and has very strong financial backing. Independents and upper middle income whites are slipping away from Obama, as are non-black youth and Hispanics. The relative strength of Paul's campaign this year (usually 3rd or 4th, but roughly doubling his popular vote from 2008 levels) is evidence of Generation Y and younger Generation X voters' disenchantment with the President. Obama's support of Trayvon Martin vs. the part-Hispanic, and Latin American appearing, George Zimmerman, will not play well with that voter bloc. It may be as big a strategic mistake as was the 2000 deporation of Elian Gonzales,
The key for Romney is to nominate a strong and articulate movement conservative (and young, no Dick Cheney or Joe Biden) for the VP slot, keep Ron Paul and his crowd from actively supporting the Libertarians, and play hardball in states like NC, FL, OH, MO, and PA, to lessen the impact of Democrat ballot box dirty tricks.
If it were up to me I would have 10 primary dates set in stone with 5 geographically diverse states voting in each on a rotating system. I would also require that delegate allocation rules be firmly in place 6 months before the primary elections so we don’t have after the vote rule changes like Michigan.
Nobody is excited about Romney. Even Romney knows this. His support comes almost entirely from people who believe that if nothing else, he stands the best chance of defeating Obama.
Like I’m going to vote for Ubama?
Bumping your excellent post, Wallace.
Just wait till he shakes off his “far right” views after winning the nomination.
You all seem so very proud of yourselves to be contributing to a second Obama term. I hope you are just as proud come January 20, 2013.
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