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Jewish World Review June 8, 2005 / 1 Sivan, 5765 Romney juggles his hot potatoes By Froma Harrop
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It's not every month that a Massachusetts politician stars on
the covers of two leading conservative publications. Both The Weekly
Standard and National Review feature Republican Gov. Mitt Romney as a
potential presidential candidate. Romney is now out testing the waters for
2008, and what an interesting adventure it's been.
Here's the big mystery: How will Romney square what he says he
believes before a national audience with what he's said in Massachusetts? I
can assure you, the two groups don't want the same story.
Romney has recently been trying to impress conservatives in
South Carolina, Michigan, Missouri and Utah. One unlovely tactic is to speak
ill of the people back home in Massachusetts.
He says that his political life in a liberal region has been
something of a trial. "Being the only red dot in Massachusetts is a little
difficult and sometimes high stress," he complains.
The claim to red-dot loneliness is highly exaggerated. The three
Massachusetts governors before Romney were all Republicans. And three of his
five fellow New England governors are also Republicans.
Romney's best applause line is that "being a conservative
Republican in Massachusetts is a bit like being a cattle rancher at a
vegetarian convention." Thing is, Romney is not a conservative Republican in
Massachusetts. He is a moderate.
Romney ran for governor on a sensible pro-business,
pro-environment platform. He was also pro-gay rights, if not
pro-gay-marriage. As for abortion, he was "personally opposed," but wanted
it to be "safe and legal in this country." New York's former Gov. Mario
Cuomo, a liberal Democrat, said the exact same thing.
Anti-abortion activists have not responded warmly to these fine
tunings. Michigan is an early primary state where the Romney name means
something. Mitt is son of that state's late Gov. George Romney. But when he
turned up at a state Republican fund-raiser, the American Family Association
of Michigan condemned his position on abortion. The group also panned his
stance on gay marriage, whatever it is.
Massachusetts is the only state that permits same-sex marriage.
Back in Massachusetts, Romney says he wants to replace gay marriage with
civil unions. In conservative states, he's against both.
"If the choice is between marriage and civil unions, I support
civil unions," Romney told reporters in Michigan. "But my preference is
neither civil unions nor marriage." Expect that kind of complexity in the
months to come.
Between now and 2008 comes 2006, when Romney would face
re-election for governor. He confronts three scenarios, one unattractive and
two very unattractive.
The unattractive one is that he doesn't run for re-election.
That means he could enter the presidential race as holder of no office. The
good part is he could better put Massachusetts behind him.
The very unattractive scenarios involve another run for
governor. In one, he loses — good odds given how unamusing the folks back
home find his Bay State bashing. That would make him damaged political
goods. The other very unattractive scenario is he wins. Then he'd have to
run for president denying everything he had just said to get re-elected in
Massachusetts.
A Romney who's real would not have to defend his Mormon
background. Most Christian churches take great issue with the Mormon
explanation of G-d and the creation. Many evangelicals will especially want
to delve into his religious convictions. It is impossible to reconcile
Mormon beliefs with those of most Christian conservatives.
But abandoning his beliefs would not earn Romney much admiration
from anyone. It would be no prettier than his current habit of dismissing
the Massachusetts voters who put him in office. Disloyalty is a trait that
few people want to reward.
Romney is in a tight spot, all right. My guess is that he'll
enjoy the national attention, skip the governor's race, and then take his
Harvard law and business degrees back to Boston. That's where he started a
successful venture-capital company. There's something nicely straightforward
about venture capital.
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© 2005 Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
