This weekend former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won a straw poll of Republican Party officials in New Hampshire meant to gauge his support in the 2012 Republican primary. Now keep in mind only about two-hundred people participated in this poll, the election is two years away and on its own this doesn’t mean too much. Still it is one of many recent polls in several sates and nationally that show Romney is in the lead for 2012.
Here is the problem, Romney is the wrong choice for America. First and foremost he is by no means a social conservative. In 2008 he took a very hard right turn on issues like abortion and immigration, switching his stances to provide an alternative to McCain. He lost. Since then he has once again softened his stance and returned to a more blue-state mentality.
He might still tout himself as a fiscal conservative but in 2008 while he was moving right on social issues he was still moving left on his signature failure, Romneycare, which he saw as a perfect fit for the nation.
Romneycare has been a failure, leading to higher prices and lower service for the people of Massachusetts. Loaded with state mandates and job killing costs he still hasn’t come up with a worthy explanation to explain his support away. All he has come up with is “my plan was for a state, Obamacare is federal.” Yes, true, but you ran on bringing your state plan to the federal government. So… yeah.
His main vision of the world follows the idea that private sector management can revolutionize government. So in the end it isn’t what you spend or how you limit government, just manage it well. This was the same mentality of President Herbert Hoover, that didn’t work out too well.
The Tea Party has been a movement toward ending the myth that big government and Keynsian economics can work, it just needs to be managed better. Speaking of which, Romney seems to have no interest in the Tea Party.
My hope is that it is far too early and candidates like Romney, Newt and Mike “big government is good” Huckabee only have game because they have recognizeable names. Still, I worry we will have a failure moderate repeat of John McCain or a consensus “whatever” candidate like Bob Dole circa 1996 on our hands in 2012.
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Tags: Election 2012, Mitt Romney
