Romney, The Product
October 15th, 2012 12:00 am E. J. Dionne
WASHINGTON — As he tries to engineer a comeback in this week’s presidential debate, President Obama needs to recognize two things. First, when it comes to politics, Mitt Romney treats himself as a product, not a person. Second, Republicans cannot defend their proposals in terms that are acceptable to a majority of voters.
You can imagine Romney someday saying: “Politicians are products, my friend.” There’s no other way to explain why a candidate would seem to believe he can alter what he stands for at will. His campaign has been an exercise in identifying which piece of the electorate he needs at any given moment and adjusting his views, sometimes radically, to suit this requirement.
In that respect, Romney does Richard Nixon one better. When Nixon was looking to revive his career in the 1968 campaign, the terribly scarred veteran of so many political wars realized his old persona wouldn’t sell. And so he created what came to be known as the “New Nixon” — thoughtful, statesmanlike and tempered. The operation worked until Nixon’s old self got him into trouble.
But manufacturing the New Nixon took years of painstaking effort. New Romneys appear on a monthly, weekly and sometimes daily basis. Thus did Romney move far to the right on immigration last year because he needed to dispatch nomination rival Rick Perry, a moderate on that one issue. Since then, Romney has been trying to backtrack to appease Latino voters.
During the same nomination battle, Romney abruptly changed his tax policy to placate the supply-side-Wall-Street-Journal-Grover-Norquist axis in the GOP. Romney’s initial tax proposal was relatively modest. The right wasn’t happy. No problem, said Romney, and out came his new tax plan that included a 20 percent cut in income tax rates, “rate cuts” being a term of near-religious significance to supply-siders.
Romney pointedly asserted (again, in the primaries) that he wanted the tax cut to go to everyone, “including the top 1 percent.” But this doesn’t sell to swing voters now, especially after the leaked video in which Romney wrote off 47 percent of Americans as incorrigibly dependent. So in the first debate, Romney tried to pretend that he didn’t want to cut rich people’s taxes. He reassured us that “I’m not going to reduce the share of taxes paid by high-income people.” (By the way, he could cut taxes for the rich a lot and still keep their “share” of the government’s overall tax take the same.)
Continue Reading >> 1 2
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/2BK4GN6CDVOOBMXWHI3KXFAFNE douglas
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
grammyjill
-
345_719
-
dtgraham
-
montanabill
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/TX6HEUGMQZKYOG3IIFUSLF5PNA Catherine
-
montanabill
-
latebloomingrandma
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
grammyjill
-
montanabill
-
grammyjill
-
345_719
-
CPANY
-
jarheadgene
-
neece00
-
montanabill
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
montanabill
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
grammyjill
-
montanabill
-
grammyjill
-
montanabill
-
345_719
-
latebloomingrandma
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/UBA5N3KFPSDC4VJY3IIRRV4C2A Mary
-
ExPAVIC
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
trucker581
-
Edsanjuan
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
Edsanjuan
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/HFYZP2APYPP7H6PWS2ZDQRWFEQ Hillbilly
-
highpckts
-
lana ward
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
lana ward
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
345_719
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
highpckts
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
neece00
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/TSXJFRILGK4CAP34FDYCKMZYSY Regina Lighteard
-
K_O_N_G
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Celia-N-Espinosa/100000486351546 Celia N Espinosa
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
Bob Williams
-
DurdyDawg
-
http://www.facebook.com/brenda.sherman.71 Brenda Sherman
-
highpckts
-
jimmab52
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/TSXJFRILGK4CAP34FDYCKMZYSY Regina Lighteard
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/TSXJFRILGK4CAP34FDYCKMZYSY Regina Lighteard
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork
-
dalnb
-
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KOPKDFAUQPIIRAFI3HEXNMSHLQ Ed
-
metrognome3830
-
grammyjill
-
grammyjill
-
dalnb
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-OLeary/100000387073519 Steve O’Leary
-
alboy5
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-OLeary/100000387073519 Steve O’Leary
-
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAT6GEIDI5HWY2H6KOUAJXKLY4 AliciaSolis
-
Edsanjuan
-
BDC_57
-
Edsanjuan
-
BDC_57
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
old_blu
-
alboy5
-
old_blu
-
neece00
-
alboy5
-
neece00
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
alboy5
-
grammyjill
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Kenneth-Morgan/1366502336 Kenneth Morgan
-
BDC_57
-
old_blu
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
neece00
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
grammyjill
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
bcarreiro
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://twitter.com/GClyatt Gerri Gallo Clyatt
-
Edsanjuan
-
neece00
-
Edsanjuan
-
old_blu
-
Edsanjuan
-
old_blu
-
metrognome3830
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
old_blu
-
grammyjill
-
neece00
-
K_O_N_G
-
BDC_57
-
Edsanjuan
-
BDC_57
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
metrognome3830
-
old_blu
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
neece00
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
atc333
-
William Deutschlander
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/NPJLVBZ26RIVHXWGLIEW6NJ7QA Fran
-
AnnMarieCad
-
jarheadgene
-
Gerry1211
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
neece00
-
lana ward
-
nobsartist
-
lana ward
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Myers/100001512942781 Jim Myers
-
MrFreeman122
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
howa4x
-
lana ward
-
metrognome3830
-
lana ward
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TJNSZD4HIXUCOAKXMQZCIUST34 JOEL K
-
DirkVanden
-
mormonwiki
-
DirkVanden
-
DirkVanden
-
Boniface Emeka Nnakwe
-
CPANY
-
http://www.facebook.com/dianrib Diane Ribbentrop
-
DirkVanden
-
neece00
-
DirkVanden
-
neece00
-
grammyjill
-
http://www.facebook.com/blake.faulkner.7 Blake Faulkner
-
DirkVanden
-
smartdee
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
nobsartist
-
rockcut
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
grammyjill
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
grammyjill
-
nobsartist
-
emadis41
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
FAREED511
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
elw
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/PPHJQFXFPE564LFJPGF3SLP57M orangeman65
-
notafoxfan
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
widollar
-
irishtap
-
Tallboy52
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Onofre-J-Escobar-Rivera/100000299746833 Onofre J. Escobar Rivera
-
ayayaboy
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
ayayaboy
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Myers/100001512942781 Jim Myers
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
grammyjill
-
http://www.facebook.com/people/Danny-Ballard/100001517702452 Danny Ballard
-
mbm
-
http://twitter.com/LostAnarchist S-3
-
http://www.facebook.com/snowedin37 Larry Pratt
-
Gammaanya
-
http://www.facebook.com/snowedin37 Larry Pratt
-
blueclouds123
-
http://www.facebook.com/maggie.croft.92 Maggie Croft
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
mormonwiki
-
mormonwiki
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
blueclouds123
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/43ZQGGZPH4XAL3T4CNK5A2DTYE Bill
-
alboy5
-
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4HKCTSVHCQJCJUU2VYCERLWWDE Richie T
-
ridemybroom
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/EUSNSESOYFALVQ4MFHKWPKS3TE Fred
-
http://www.facebook.com/galvanralph Ralph Galvan
-
dranyamelknur
-
paule33
-
msrita
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000624404633 James Curran
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
ALLLLAMERICAN
-
dalnb
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert
-
karinursula
-
dtgraham
-
karinursula
-
Joe Narusiewicz
-
http://profile.yahoo.com/X2KKGDYW2F5T5XUT6233KBNWSI robert
-
WillNeverVoteRepublican
-
threejmarine
-
threejmarine
-
threejmarine

