The biggest\u00a0disappointment for me this year wasn’t that Barack Obama is a “socialist” (we knew that, sort of), or that Mr. Obama plays\u00a0viscous, hard-ball politics (we knew that too)\u00a0\u00a0or that he can be devious (also known.) No, the biggest disspointment was how easy it was for the Obama team to make Mitt Romney look like a jackass.<\/p>\n
By all accounts Mr. Romney is very smart, hardworking, and an exceptionally gifted manager. \u00a0He has a family to which has he has maintained an exemplary level of faith and fidelity. \u00a0Everything I’ve read indicates that people who know him admire him, and the people who work for him or with him are loyal to him. \u00a0And yet for all that he has utterly failed to keep his head above water as a\u00a0presidential\u00a0candidate.<\/p>\n
First, when the press ran the story about how he raced down the highway on a road trip with his dog on top of his car<\/a>, he offered up that the dog enjoyed it, and it wasn’t so bad. \u00a0OK\u00a0fine, it was dumb thing to do but I think giving him the benefit of the doubt here would have sufficed.<\/p>\n But next, when confronted with the story about how he led a gang of his high school buddies to track down some unsuspecting kid, terrorize him and cut off his hair<\/a>, Mr.\u00a0Romney\u00a0seemed not to remember the incident (and yet the people who were there remembered it, and were troubled by it<\/a>.) \u00a0Instead of being contrite, apologizing and\u00a0admitting\u00a0it was not his best moment and he wished it hadn’t happened, he offers a very weak,\u00a0defensive explanation<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the press ran stories about his relationship with Bain, he gets mad. \u00a0The facts don’t seem to be in\u00a0dispute: Mr. Romney was\u00a0president, C.E.O., chairman of the board and 100 percent owner of Bain Capital until 2002<\/a>. \u00a0He filed SEC documents affirming this. \u00a0But he says he had nothing to do with Bain after 1999, and offered up the explanation that it took a long time to figure out how to\u00a0transfer\u00a0ownership.<\/p>\n I find the explanation a bit confusing — if he wasn’t in charge, who was<\/a>? \u00a0Apparently a “management team.” \u00a0But that begs the question. \u00a0What is the reason for filling out SEC forms attesting to\u00a0ownership\u00a0and executive management at Bain in the first place? Is it not to\u00a0ascertain who is actually\u00a0responsible\u00a0for the company? \u00a0Is it not misleading to claim to be the executive in charge on the one hand and on the other claim not to be? \u00a0The explanation that the business relationships were tricky to sort out has some credibility, but the way it’s been handled robs it of honesty,\u00a0and it leaves me thinking there is way more to the story.<\/p>\n In any case the correct strategy ought to have been to calmly explain that the situation was complicated, and showcase Mr. Romney’s ability to manage sensitive, complicated\u00a0endeavors. \u00a0And it doesn’t matter how many times the Obama team raises the question — each time it’s an opportunity for Mr. Romney to showcase his talent, and at the same time accuse Mr. Obama of attempting to misdirect the public’s attention.<\/p>\n Next, it appears that his IRA is valued at millions of dollars (20-100 million.) \u00a0The limit for IRA contributions is $5000 per year. \u00a0The only way to get to $20 million is to pack your IRA with investments that have a really low value and hope the return is huge<\/a>. \u00a0But let’s assume what Mr. Romney did was completely legal. \u00a0Then why doesn’t he want to release is tax records?<\/a>\u00a0 It’s another\u00a0instance\u00a0where Mr.\u00a0Romney looks like he has something to hide<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s not only\u00a0aggravating\u00a0to see this kind of behavior in a candidate, it raises some real doubts about his credibility and his conscience. \u00a0It’s not at all about Mr. Romney being rich, or whether “vulture capitalism” is the source of the money, or how many horse’s his wife has. \u00a0It’s about whether Mr. Romney is really who he says he is.<\/p>\n To put this in perspective, I think that had Mitt Romney run as a ultra conservative Democrat in 2008, he would probably be President today. \u00a0He could be the next President had he run as a moderate, pragmatic Republican (as he apparently was as Governor of Massachusetts.) \u00a0My sense of American politics right now is that the only way we can pull the electorate together is for a moderate Republican to create a really bi-partisan majority. I don’t think a\u00a0Democrat\u00a0can do it.<\/p>\n Instead, we have Mitt Romney going against a man who took on the two best politicians \u00a0in the US — Hilary and Bill Clinton — and beat them. \u00a0No small feat. \u00a0And the Romney team’s response? \u00a0Petulance, clumsiness, a lack of focus, defensiveness, and a lack of transparency. \u00a0Oh well. \u00a0Maybe 2016 will be better.<\/p>\n Cheers?<\/p>\n