Why does not Mitt Romney trust Americans? Or, does he think that they, Americans, do not respect his right to privacy, and so he will do anything and everything to conceal his true identity from them.
His appearance on one of Sunday TV programs; and it is the one, which many think is the most popular, that happens to be the venue, where he is given the chance to tell viewers who he is and what he stands for, politically, socially and, of course, economically.
On the first and second categories, he chose to say nothing or answered the questions that were put to him, each in a sporadic manner or not in satisfactory detail; and he seemed confused at times.
In other words, he was not very clear with his responses on conservative principles; whereas on the third one, he condemned the other candidates, who were running in the Republican Party race with him as mediocre or low level economic candidates.
"They have spent their lives in Washington politics, and they have no experience, when it comes to a strong economic policy." he said. "I have spent my life in the corporate world, and so I have what it takes," he added. (Paraphrasing Romney).
He happened to be the "giant" economic strategists among his colleagues, and therefore the nomination was just some sort of a formality, as he would get it anyway.
"I intend to win; I intend to be the nominee," he said that repeatedly.
Apart from that, the segment was bland, lifeless to a point and uneventful, as he kept being as repetitive as he has been on the campaign trail and saying nothing to sway one opinion or another to specifically indicate where he stood on it or the other. He did the same on issue after issue.
He was almost caught flip-flopping on Education, when the interviewer, Bret Baier of Fox News Special Report, asked that his rival Nick Santorum was critical of his philosophy on a Bush law known as "No child left behind". "What is your response?" Baier asked.
"I support that program; and I have supported it from its inception; but what I am concerned about is how the program is being manipulated. Teachers' unions are using their power to undermine the authority of parents in the educational system, and that is what I disagree with, regarding the program" he answered among others things.
Baier, however, was not as aggressive as Chris Wallace, the usual Fox News Sunday talk show host, and he missed several opportunities to question Romney about Usama Bin Laden, and how President Barack Obama has commanded the operations of the Navy Seal Unit, "Seal Team 6", which was responsible for locating him, and his eventual demise in a compound in Pakistan near a military base.
Could the president's handling of the situation from the White House be described as impressive?
Or, the contribution of the president to the Libyan insurgency and the final ouster of Gadhafi by the United States and its NATO allies, in which there was not a single American military casualty. What was his (Romney's) comment on that?
Those were the type of questions that would have set Romney thinking.
Back at home, he was hitting on Obama's energy policy; and said that the price of gas was going up, showing that such a policy, if there was any, was almost non-existent.
"People, especially women, driving their children to school, and others going to and from work were feeling the pinch of gasoline prices; and that is unacceptable," he emphasized.
He, Romney, might have hinted or given the impression that he had an energy plan; and there too, he avoided elaborating on it.
Like his political party cohorts, such as Gingrich, who has been harping on gas prices, and would bring the price of unleaded gas down to $2.50 a gallon, he (Romney) would not suggest any such ideas, but he hardly mentioned or blamed any of the big oil companies, but "OBAMA".
He always brought the name Obama in to check his own presence of mind. One could not start to think on a television studio set; but that was what Romney was doing all the time, or so it seemed.
What he specifically failed to do, as he has refused in all his campaign speeches, was to be open about himself as a person. Many knew about his business connections, even more so than about his family; and how its members took patriotism, either seriously or as a matter of course. For none of his three sons has done any stretch of military service; and he himself has not boasted of any such experience. Incredible.
He had the chance to make known what he could do as president, instead of just being critical of Obama. On the whole, he did not go over as a person, who though leading in the delegation count in his party's nomination race, could be a viable and as knowledgeable a candidate as his campaign was portraying him to be.
To topple Obama, he needed more than his own personal fortune to back him up, or the PACs (Political Action Committees) that were supporting his candidacy and spending millions of dollars on media advertisement to push him to be the Republican Party nominee for the 2012 presidential election. He has to present himself as someone, who could really connect with people, both emotionally and physically.
He could be that person, but somehow, he did not appear to do so on the screen.
As such, his opponent, president Obama, if he Romney should win his party's nomination, would be farther away in the polls for him (Romney) to be any real threat to his (Obama's) presidency.
At the present moment the national poll figures stood at 50% to 44%, in favor of Obama; and that went to show that Romney has a lesser chance in November, if that trend continued. He would not be able to cause any kind of upset in the general election, as that could not occur in the slightest possible way, if he should trail behind that much.
To unseat the present occupant of the Oval Office would take a great deal of effort. However, no; not with his (Romney's) low key performance on the media yesterday; Sunday, March 18, 2021.
Perhaps, it was prudent of him to be cagey, as party echelon and establishment were looking in to make sure that he was not cocky or impatient to pour on his accomplishments as a Wall Street executive, and also flaunting his 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics role.
They have heard him repeat that ever so often; and so has the whole country, and people were becoming immune to those statements.
He would have sounded too monotonous, and they (party chiefs) would have hated that; and so would potential voters and sympathizers, who have heard him tout those achievements too many times on every occasion the opportunity offered itself.
His rivals in the party's nomination race would change their statements from time to time, and why did he not do just that as well.
In a nutshell, Romney was not all that impressive; at least, not as far as many viewers were concerned. They visualized that a president, or even an aspiring one, should speak with much conviction; and he should resemble a president always, and not even just for most of the time.
That was not what they saw happening yesterday, Sunday, on Fox News channel.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment