Back in secondary school (high school to Americans), I made a real effort to be Mr Everybody. I tried not to hang-out with a certain crowd and made every effort to be approachable to my fellow students. I really didn’t have any hidden agenda…apart from I liked being liked. But I soon found out not only was I not liked by everybody, but some sections of the student body flat-out hated my guts, including my future fiancée. The reason for this?
Let me quote my lovely soon to be wife: “you were just too plastic”.
In short, my girl and her friends believed I would do and say anything to get their affections. The more I tried, the more they hated me and the more I was aware they hated me, the more I got upset and the more I got upset, the more I just decided to let the real Dalitso out. The moral to this story is, when I started being myself, I won over the love of my life.
In my very short time observing American politics, I haven’t seen a candidate want to be elected President as bad as Mitt Romney. Romney is me in secondary school. He’s trying to get all of the students at the GOP school to like him and his slowly finding out that the majority of them hate his guts.
He has spent a considerable amount of his personal wealth to take residency in the famous white building as well as change his policy position to an almost laughable extent. My first introduction to the phrase “flip-flopper” was during the 2004 Presidential elections when the term was used to describe John Kerry. I was never convinced that the tag suited him, but for Mitt Romney it fits like a glove.
Again, Mitt is quickly finding out what I experienced all those years ago, if you try to please everyone, you will please no one.
You only have to look at the recent rises and fall of Rick Perry, Herman Cain and now Newt Gingrich to get an idea of how much conservatives do not like Mitt. Think about it, Mitt Romney is now having to face a real challenge from a candidate who is as much of a flip-flopper as he is. Whatever Mitt Romney is selling, Conservatives are not buying and if 2004 told us anything about Presidential election it’s that the “flip-flop” tag is lethal and if your base is not behind your candidacy, no matter how beatable the incumbent President, you are in trouble.
I still believe that President Obama is formidable candidate for the best of Republicans, but for Romney and Newt, he will eat them for breakfast. In my view the GOP has to hope for three scenarios: 1) John Huntsman surprises everyone in New Hampshire and wins the nomination; 2) Another candidate enters the race and wins the nomination; 3) the economy tanks further and voters totally turn on President Obama.
I do have real sympathy for Mitt Romney. I hated the feeling of rejection. No one likes to be rejected at the best of times, so it must hurt even more when he is being rejected so publically. But it’s time for Republicans to abandon the “Inevitable Mitt Romney” because he’s no longer the sure bet he once was.
Photo via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com
Just a normal everyday bloke writing about films.