Mitt Romney 2016 isn't crazy
Why another Romney campaign in 2016 isn't crazy
Romney? Again? Really? The man who gave 11 consecutive 'no's' when asked if he would run again, is now telling people that he is "almost certainly" tossing his hat in the ring in 2016.
My colleagues Ryu Spaeth and Jim Antle have pointed out that the rationale for the campaign is pretty straightforward. We do not know if Jeb Bush can win the Republican nomination. But we do know Mitt Romney can unite his party. By the end of his 2008 campaign, he was the conservative alternative to John McCain. In 2012, he became the establishment’s alternative to a number of conservatives. The hints dropped by Romney's people about Jeb’s weaknesses, particuarly that his signature issues of education and immigration put him too much at odds with the primary electorate, are persuasive. Romney made Rick Perry, who seemed generally more conservative than Romney, pay dearly for being to Romney’s left on immigration.
But there’s more. A Romney 2016 campaign will be even further removed from the late Bush years, which were a disaster and an electoral albatross for the GOP. The further Republicans get away from the heart palpitations of the Dow's collapse, the better they will do.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
And Hillary Clinton is beatable. She will be a stellar fundraiser, and she’ll command partisan loyalties. But it is easy to see her falling short of Obama with downscale voters and the left. She’s a softer target than Obama and makes more mistakes on the hustings. It’s also possible that her coziness with moneyed interests will attract a more formidable, third-party challenger from the left who can bring the energies of the Occupy movement to bear on 2016.
Is Romney the one to take her on? He seems like a man who senses a heavy burden of destiny on him. The scene in the extremely sympathetic documentary Mitt in which he says he has done little in comparison with his father showed an eye-watering humility. “He’s the real deal,” Romney says, while talking down his own achievements in a way that discomfited his own sons.
It’s easy to imagine the man from that scene framing his loss in 2012 as the kind of purifying humiliation that prepares him for the awesome responsibility of the White House. It’s possible Romney wants not just personal redemption, but vindication for the legacy of his father, as well as recognition for the contributions of his beloved church to American life.
If that is Romney’s view of himself, others share it. People that get to know Romney can become overawed with his personal virtues. Look at Hugh Hewitt or even Paul Ryan. Little details in Mitt — the way Romney interacted with his family, the way he tidied up his own hotel room in the moments just prior to a debate — communicated something that was absent from the campaign.
Which gets us to his problems as a campaigner. Romney treats the electorate the way a private equity consultant conducts a pitch meeting. He tells those in the room what they demand to hear, then makes the best plan for them after the contract is signed, whether they like it or not. This means he appears to pander more intensely (or shamelessly) than other candidates, in his effort to communicate that he understands his clients.
Examples: Romney almost certainly overstated his commitment to legal abortion when running against Ted Kennedy for Senate in 1994 in Massachusetts. Likewise, he oversold his right-wing credentials as a “severely conservative” governor when running in the GOP primary in 2012. But Romney knows that the pitch meeting isn’t a contract for deliverables, and that no president since James K. Polk has met, or even had the chance to meet, every “campaign promise.”
Instead Romney and his supporters believe he can save the nation from Hillary Clinton. They offer his expertise to the electorate. As the economy rebounds and the war on terror becomes a long-term but lower-grade commitment, it is easy to imagine a Romney presidency translating into a consultants’s role for the federal government — making the delivery of its services cheaper, more efficient, and more sustainable for the long term.
In an era less turbulent than the decade after Sept. 11th, that would be a successful presidency indeed.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A flooded island, a ballistic missile, and more
By Anahi Valenzuela, The Week US Published
-
Who actually needs life insurance?
The Explainer If you have kids or are worried about passing on debt, the added security may be worth it
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Sexual wellness trends to know, from products and therapies to retreats and hotels
The Week Recommends Talking about pleasure and sexual health is becoming less taboo
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published