George Romney built things. George Romney served his community. Governor, you're no George Romney.
In Presidential elections, every candidate has their defining moment. The defining moment of the 2012 campaign carries echoes of 1988 - and 1968.
First, 1988. Before there was
Sarah Palin, there was Dan Quayle.
An epic moment of political theater, in
an election fast on the way to taking its place among the annals of
great Democratic Party defeats. The last election prior to the party's co-opting
by its neoliberal
center – though many considered Sen. Lloyd
Bentsen of Texas to be the party's first grand concession
in that direction. The Hail Mary heave by a flagging Dukakis campaign to pry Texas' 38 elecoral votes away from resident George H.W. Bush.
Quayle is the man who decided to enter politics after viewing Mike Ritchie's prescient The Candidate
- and comparing himself favorably
with the Robert Redford character. A movie he completely missed the
point of theatlanticwire.com
Bentsen's riposte has long outlasted the memory of the campaign during which it was delivered.
Flash forward to campaign 2012. Gaffes are said to occur when a
politician says what they feel. Citizen Romney fractures America into
the portions he doesn't care about, ignoring the portion whose votes
he needs, while acknowledging the tiny portion he represents.
The Citizen tells a roomful of high-flying donors that he's not out
to win the vote of the 47%, who he says don't pay taxes, don't care
about their lives, and feel entitled to housing and healthcare from
the government. Establishment media, sensing a game change, pounce.
The divide and conquer strategic remark is alleged to be revealing,
but as noted by some, it's business as usual.
Whether the bootlegged candor serves to deter the candidate's voters
remains to be seen.
The son of former Michigan governor George Romney thus openly and inadvertently admits his war on the poor –
many of whom work. Or worked their whole life and are now retired, living on social
security. The remark - also inadvertently - suggests a contempt for those
in states whose electoral votes the Citizen takes for grantedbusinessinsider
The candidate's telling choice of words harkens back to an intimate, familiar historical moment for the candidate.
George
Romney is indelibly associated with his home state of
Michigan and the city of Detroit. His business acumen saved a company
and created jobs within the community. Buildings are named after him
for the public service he provided.
And it must now be concluded, George Romney was everything his brazen
son is not. Except in this one aspect : both men's campaigns are now marked by their
inability to filter their comments before an unforgiving public.
However there are profound differences in the comments, as there are between the men . George Romney doomed his own candidacy with a
true “off the cuff” remark - one which reflected a personal
re-evaluation of the human cost of the Vietnam War.
His 1968 campaign to win the Republican nomination ends when he says he was “brain-washed” on a 1965 fact-finding mission by US
diplomats and military advisers into supporting the war. Romney would quickly bow out of the campaign, admitting that it
hurts to be “too right too soon.”
(Senator
Eugene
McCarthy noted that, in Romney's case, "a light rinse would
have been sufficient." )
Romney was a take charge, no doubt brash businessman accustomed to
speaking candidly. Tired from campaigning, he did not
adequately weigh the impact of his words.
His lapse stands in sharp contrast to the deliberate, strategic comments
made by his son - in order to curry favor and secure contributions from a roomful of
billionaires.
His wayward son chastises the 47 percent - while obscuring his own tax picture, hiding the myriad loopholes he and his firm
have taken advantage of to enrich themselves. To avoid the uncomfortable reality that his soaring investments are taxed at a far lesser rate than the paychecks of the working class he berates. Cbsnews
George Romney viewed mid-20th century American manufacturing as the
engine to lift workers up – similar to a man he admired greatly,
Henry Ford. He was a rugged individualist and unabashed capitalist. He did not believe government had the answer to all
society's ills. He did not always agree with organized labor nor was
he violently opposed to them (as Ford was). He did not believe in
Right to Work, unlike his son. He did not endorse the idea of runaway
CEO pay and hiring workers for as low as you could get them, before
firing them without a second thought. (below)
Unlike
his son, who roamed the economic landscape as a predator, snatching
up companies and loading them with debt – to cover his own firm's
astronomical fees and investment returns – George Romney built a
single company – American Motors - using innovation, grit, and
determination to create jobs in his community. As a Republican, he
stood at the front of his party on key controversial social issues of
the day. He served as the Head of
Affordable Housing where he sought “housing
production increases for the poor, and for open housing to
desegregate suburbs.”
In the face of business and economic crises, George Romney assumed
responsibility; leadership then came to him. He at times took
politically unpopular positions, risking the wrath of
his own party to do what his personal experience told him was right.
In some of his last public remarks he noted “popularity is no
indicator of truth.” (below)