Has the new and old media been incorrect and is what we’re seeing about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a nice way to inject drama into Republican primary coverage, but not accurately reflecting what’s going on?
Writing in The Daily Beast, Lee Siegel, author of Is Harvard Burning, tells everyone to take a deep breath because Romney is doing what he needs to win the primaries:
By performing his aloofness from and contempt for the radical right, even as he fakes solidarity with it, Romney is doing exactly what he needs to do. He is keeping the radical right close to him for the general election by seeming to bow to its power, even as he is signaling to everyone else that he knows how miserably inadequate the support of the radical right will be in the general election.
So let’s all calm down and stop getting so excited about a deadlocked convention, and a dark-horse nominee introduced at the last minute, and an imploded Republican opposition. Beyond Super Tuesday lie delegate-rich states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California that are not top heavy with Tea Partiers and evangelicals and that will almost certainly enable Romney to arrive at the convention with a strong hand. And beyond that are the party elites, who were content to use the radical right-wingers but who never liked them, and who tremble at the thought of Candidate Santorum. Finally there are the Tea Partiers and evangelicals who, though hostile to Romney at present, would rather vote for a golden retriever than give Obama another four years in the White House.
What seems like a circus now is serious business, so let us look beyond the circus instead of exaggerating it. The election will come down to Romney and Obama, and it will be decided on the economy and on race. On the economy, if it keeps improving, what Obama has to do is be direct with the American people and forcefully demonstrate to them why, without government, they would not have safety, security, or a viable old age. They either buy that or they don’t. On race, well, all you can do is cross your fingers and hold your breath.
Agreed. People forget how in 2008 the talk show hosts first blasted Romney, but when it seemed as if he was the only one standing who was talking the conservative talk, they turned on a dime and supported him. Suddenly a lot of the demonization talk was set aisde or totally swept under the rug. The new enemy became Arizona Sen. John McCain who some hosts hinted they would not support, he was a RINO, not liked in Congress. Etc.
But when McCain got the nomination what did you see? GOPers closed ranks. That’s likely to happen again this year.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.