If a majority of voters elect Mitt Romney president next Tuesday, I believe many will very soon feel a strong sense of having been fooled by his campaign rhetoric — soon feel a profound remorse about their voting choice. Indeed, I think it likely that many voters already do.
This is because many voted early in key states. And these votes were cast after President Obama’s abysmal showing in the first presidential debate, and during a period when Governor Romney’s ‘don’t pay attention to that man behind the curtain’ strategy was playing out so successfully — the man behind that curtain being one who ran a Wall Street vulture fund, the one who sounded so perfectly in sync with Tea Party ideas during the primaries.
In some ways and in some places early voting is working quite well for Democrats and Mr. Obama. But a combination of circumstances may mean this time around it proves the key factor in a Republican and Romney victory.
So much of life’s disappointments are the result of acting too soon when waiting a bit longer would have paid big dividends: ‘I should have held on to my Apple stock’; ‘I should have waited for that better job offer’; ‘I shouldn’t have hooked up so quickly with that guy/gal before certain things were revealed about him/her’.
That’s individual early action remorse. Hopefully, a national early action remorse doesn’t prove disastrous this election season.