THE DAILY BLADE: Early Republican Field Is Like “The Hunger Games”
Some worried Repbulicans say the early Republican field is from Hungersville, but “The Hunger Games” is a better description, with those who had no fight in them, those who overplayed their hand and those who were undisciplined already out of contention before the battle began. Mitt Romney - a stronger, well-fed combatant - is eager to enter the arena. Alarmed by the alacrity with which at least half a dozen contenders fell by the wayside, some well-heeled spectators are rushing to support him even before they have a chance to size up the other combatants – some of whom are in stealth mode, waiting for more casualties to occur so that their own odds of survival improve.
Warning that “Republicans risk snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,” Washington Times columnist Jeffrey Kuhner notes that while the former MA governor is “telegenic, articulate, smart, independently wealthy and possesses a formidable fundraising machine,” the GOP establishment is “wrong” to think that “only Mr. Romney can stop the Obama juggernaut”:
He has changed positions in the past to suit his political interests. … his greatest problem remains Romneycare. …
The 2012 election will focus heavily on Obamacare. Americans don't want it. It is a multitrillion-dollar entitlement program, which the United States can no longer afford. It will push America over the fiscal cliff. For Mr. Obama, it is not just a policy disaster but a political albatross. A Romney candidacy, however, will take away the GOP's decisive advantage.
And Romney isn’t a crowd pleaser, either. He may have the support of the elites, but he doesn’t have the love of the masses, The Associated Press reports:
Mitt Romney has all the trappings of a GOP presidential front-runner except for one important thing: enthusiasm from party activists.
Romney raised a remarkable $10.25 million on Monday; Republican officials from across the nation meeting the next day in Dallas mostly shrugged. In nearly two dozen interviews at the Republican National Committee's spring meeting, no one fully embraced Romney, and several said they'd like to see other candidates enter the race. …
"Polls show Romney has to be considered the front-runner now," said New Hampshire state GOP chairman Jack Kimball, whose state plans to hold the first primary in early 2012. "But you'll see others gaining ground."
Kimball said Donald Trump's short but attention-grabbing presidential overture proved that "the American people want to see passion, want to see the gloves come off." Romney and others need to learn that lesson, he said.
It's debatable whether Romney can be considered a frontrunner yet, as one poll has “undecided” beating him out for the Republican nomination.
In this Daily Beast commentary Matt Latimer, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, argues that the utter predictability of “Governor Rombot” (“he of the perfect family, perfect teeth, and perfect hair”) is as fatal to his chances of victory as RomneyCare:
Romney undoubtedly is a smart, well-meaning person, but he still comes off as the candidate who refuses to blow his nose until it has been sketched out days earlier with overpaid consultants, put before three separate focus groups, and only tended to by tissue paper made in Iowa or New Hampshire. …
Romney will prove so predictable, so calculated, so filled with everything money can buy but ideas that the White House can already plot out his every utterance - all the way from his love of ethanol in Iowa to his gauzy Reagan-invoking ads in New Hampshire to his selection of Huckabee as a running mate to his short, gracious concession speech on election night, his hair immobile in the gentle Massachusetts wind. …
Romney will prove so predictable, so calculated, so filled with everything money can buy but ideas that the White House can already plot out his every utterance.
And that’s why a scrappy, scrawny underdog with spunk to spare can surprise the elites and climb over Romney to win the Hunger Games, defeat President Snow Obama and free us from statism and centralized government.
Editorial Note: Links imbedded in this post were adjusted to reflect announcements by Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) and Herman Cain over the weekend.
Same Thing, Only Different: Part VIII
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