Keywords: Presumptive
Nominee Mitt Romney; Rick Santorum; Newt Gingrich; Acrimonious competition; “Fuffy-duddy
rich; Rob-my-back-I-rob-your-back Party; Money; Flip-flopper; Middle Income Earners; Political Favors; and Campaign debt retirement.
For Republicans, the nomination process is about to eclipse.
The brutal campaign among the Republican aspirants that involved a lot of mudslinging and uncharitable comments among opponents or contestants in the Republican nomination
process is now effectively over. Really? Well, so we think, if we are going
by what is in the Press; Newt Gingrich has chosen to completely suspend his campaign
for the Republican Party nomination on the first Wednesday in the month of May,
2012. The first cherished maître among Republicans: say no evil, see no evil, or
hear no evil about another Republican, that was once shamelessly ignored during
the feisty and acrimonious competition among the Republican candidates, is once
again about to be burnished and caressed for the whole nation to see. I imagine, Ronald Reagan was turning in his grave during the 2012
Republican Nomination Contest!
For those who forgot, here is a laundry list of what
Republicans called each other in their individual effort to outclass the next
Republican in the nomination process. As a precaution to the reader, these are just a few in the list. In addition, for lack of space and self-indulgence, I
document here only three candidates' utterances, each with at least, 100 delegates in the
Republican nomination process and race:
Rick Santorum on Mitt Romney
A) “Romney will be the Worst Candidate to Race Obama”; B)
After a decisive victory in Louisiana State, Rick said: “Voters still want to
see someone, who they can trust, someone, who is not running an Etch-A Sketch
campaign but one that, you know, has the principles written on their heart, not
on an erasable tablet; C) Louisiana overwhelmingly rejected Mitt Romney’s push
to press reset button because they know [Republicans] need a clear contrast to
President Obama; and D) "Romney is not conservative enough for our Party."
Mitt Romney on Newt Gingrich
A) “Nominating Zany Gingrich is not what we need in a
President”; B) "Zany is great in a campaign. It’s great on talk radio. It’s
great in print, it makes for fun reading. But in terms of President, we need a
leader and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together.” C) "People are taking a closer look at Speaker Gingrich. And like other
[Republicans] who bumped up in the polls in this last year, as they take a
closer look, some are happy with what they see and some would like to see
something else and recognize that they may not be exactly what they wanted”; D)
“Gingrich comes with a lot of baggage.”
Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney
A) “Mitt Romney is not in touch with Reality”; B) “If Mitt
Romney cannot win in any of the early primary states with more than 25% of the
vote, Romney will be the weakest front-runner”; C) “Mitt Romney is a liar”; D) "The most anti-immigrant candidate"; E) I don't know of any president who has had a Swiss bank account; F) "Why should we expect [Romney] to level about anything if he is President?" H) Comparing himself to a bold Reagan Conservative, Newt Gingrich labeled Mitt
Romney, a timid Massachusetts moderate.
The trend in all these utterances is the fact that Mitt
Romney is perceived as either the worst or the weakest candidate to go against
President Obama; or rather, the weakest Republican to go against a Democrat in a general election in two decades.
For the records, the presumptive Republican nominee is perceived
by his competitors for the nomination as very imperfect, if not outright,
unacceptable for the November 6, 2012 competition. There is the trepidation that
Republicans are going to loose the contest, because they have chosen to field, probably
the least conservative and the most unlike candidate, even among Republicans,
as the party’s flag bearer. Now, the question is: how come Mitt Romney was able
to maneuver his competitors in this race? The answer simply will be: Money and a broader national campaign organization that has taken close to four years to build, if
you ask the Tea Party members. For this right wing group, Mitt Romney is
either not conservative enough, or ineffectually unrepresentative of their
position, even though he is the presumptive nominee. This group may not want to
fester evil within the party, however, each of them find Mitt Romney, very distasteful.
Probably this is why Herman Cain, a one time Republican
aspirant and somewhat of a favorite of the Tea Party members, who lost his credibility after the exposure that he is a womanizer, held his endorsement of Mitt Romney till now.
Herman Cain was, or is, a darling of the Tea Party Group and would have done
well with their support, if only for a while, before it was found out or alleged that he
harasses women for cheap sex, when at the top! Funnily, this same Mr. Cain, this past week, endorsed the presumptive Republican Nominee, Mitt Romney, for the November 6th contest against Democrats. For prudent observers of the Republican race, by his endorsement of Mitt Romney, Herman Cain just threw Newt Gingrich under the bus in a bid to line up behind the
presumptive nominee, after initially throwing his support behind him. Godfather Pizza former CEO uttered an interesting
comment as he jumped ship: “There is a need to keep an eye on the mission of
getting control of the United States Senate, maintaining control of the House
of Representatives and defeating President Obama.” This kind of inconsistency
and willingness to roll as the wind blows has made the new Republican Party, a
house that is turned against itself. No wonder, one finds Rick Santorum, not
enthusiastically willing to endorse Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, less
skittish than Rick Santorum; but ready to play ball as long as Romney is ready
to help him pay off some of his campaign debts. Now, we have a
rob-my-back-I-rob-your-back Party, with probably the weakest candidate to bear
the Republican flag in half a century, go against an articulate, confident,
intelligent and probably, humorous and even keel President in a decade.
Considering all these new developments in the Republican Party, who could blame President Obama for mocking the presumptive
Republican nominee before the Annual White House Correspondence Association’s
dinner this weekend as: “Fuffy-duddy rich guy who travels with his dog in a
cage strapped to the roof of the family car.” Making a comical statement like
this along with visuals, showing Mitt Romney on the steps of Air-Force One, with his dog strapped to the roof top is somewhat forgivable, considering it was made in jest; or, considering that Republican aspirants did worse to each other in the bid to
become the Party’s flag bearer. The incident of Mitt Romney tying his family dog to the roof of his family car while on an holiday travel, creates an image of
an animal abuser; and, probably someone insensitive to the welfare of domestic
animals. The presumptive nominee has not made his case better during the bitter campaign or nomination process with comments
like, I love to fire people, I don’t care about the poor and I will shrink the
U.S. Department of Education, if not completely eradicate the agency.
When a politician seems to be least invested in the concerns
of voters, even within his Party, how is it feasible for him to win against
another party’s flag bearer. When a politician engages in mudslinging and
excessive character assignation of fellow contestant in a race for the
nomination, how can the nation expect a different behavior against the President
of United States, in Mitt Romney’s bid to attempt to unseat him? Mitt Romney
will likely step up his attack of the President and his policies, the way he undermined
Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to win the Republican nomination process. The
troubling behavior about Mitt Romney, is that he has shown himself not only as
a flip flopper as many critics labeled him, he has added to his accolades, a
man with a mission to destroy opponents at all cost; and, someone who pretends
to be an animal and or people lover, but will gladly trash both when push come
to shove.
Whenever a republican nominee can labeled his opponent as
someone with a lot of baggage, how can anyone consider him as presidential? The
infighting among the Republican aspirants for the 2012 nomination has not only exposed Mitt Romney as UN-Presidential, it has shown that he can perpetrate some
nefarious acts and remain disengaged from the populace, once he wins the White
House. This is someone, who hardly finds it difficult to fire people who work
for him, often ready to dismantle companies without caring about what suffering
his decision will wroth on family members of fired Americans working for the
company. This is someone who is more inclined to see human welfare in terms of
dollars and cents, rather than, with empathy and the love of human to better
self. This is someone, who once said, the 12 or more million Mexicans, with children,
brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents will self-depot, once he gets into
office. Like the old fellow down the street said: By their fruits, we shall
know them!
Yes, Mitt Romney will help Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich pay down part, if not all their political debts; however, he is unlikely to stand up to ameliorate all the problems the middle-income earners have been going through during the sluggish economy. Between what we know regarding Mitt Romney style of campaign annihilation during the Republican Party nomination exercise and the willing and dealing that will ensue between Mitt Romney and each of the remaining Republican Party outgoing candidate, we will likely find out what the presumptive Republic nominee is willing to trade off to buy favor or support from people. We will find out what he is willing to trade-off to get the support of the Tea Party members and other conservative Republicans in order to fend off any other opposition to his candidacy within the Republican Party. We will find out how aggressively he is willing to trade off important variables to the voters' welfare when it concerns winning the White House; and, know a little bit more of the nature of the man who wants to be President from the Mormon Church.
Seeking to be engaged with the concerns of the led is a
responsible characteristic of a good leader; and, a reasonable expectation of those to be led. Encouraging programs and public
policy that addresses the concerns of the led, is not only a sign of a
reflective leader, it admonishes the person in the position of authority, as
reflective. Possibility that 'President' Mitt Romney will be proactive in dealing
with the needs of the middle income earners is debatable, as long as he
continues to push Paul Ryan’s budget. Those middle income earners, who have
suffered tremendously during the down turn in American economy, are being told
to hold off, that ‘President’ Mitt Romney is bringing a new day to them! This
is probably too optimistic considering that the same person is receiving ten
million dollars yearly from Bain Capital, a corporation that builds its wealth
on downsizing and re-organizing American companies for profit. No one needs be
told, that CEO Mitt Romney is here to re-organize America and downsize her
government to the extent that, the nation will begin to hemorrhage jobs and
money again, just as in the past under the Republican Party’s custody of the
White House. Those who have advanced Mitt Romney’s executive management skills
as the maître solution of what is wrong with America economy should think again:
Do we want to jump from frying pan to fire, once again?