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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robert Schlesinger
Romney should offer thanks for the weak 2012 GOP field and Barack Obama should be grateful for Romney
Thanksgiving came early to the Schlesinger household this year. It came in the form of a cunning, crying, cooing little boy named Alex, who joined us earlier this month. The new mother, father, and older brother are all feeling thankful. So you will bear with me if I spring the annual giving thanks column a week early this year.
We can start with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who should wake up every morning giving thanks for the quality of the opponents he has drawn in the race for the 2012
Romney has faced a procession of shooting stars (emphasis decidedly not on "stars"), from Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann to Texas Gov. Rick Perry to inspirational speaker Herman Cain. Not only have these three (and the even less impressive supporting cast rounding out the field) proven incapable of presenting a serious challenge to Romney, but they have proven to be useful foils, helping him present himself in the best light.
Take Perry, the most credibly hyped of the not-Mitts: His fumbling, somnambulant debate performances ("Oops.") helped sink him, but by questioning the constitutionality of
When Perry's moment passed, he was replaced as Romney's chief rival by the half-baked (even before his campaign was consumed by his dazzlingly inept response to charges of sexual harassment) Herman Cain. The former pizza magnate's foreign policy incoherence ("Okay, Libya.") makes Romney look like a savvy elder statesman.
Indeed, the field's greatest collective accomplishment in their never-ending debates has been to make Romney look maximally presidential. As the not-Romneys have risen and imploded, he has contentedly skirted by on the edge of the spotlight, becoming more inevitable. Especially with the
In fact, Republicans should fall down on their knees and give thanks that a plausible candidate has emerged among their presidential contenders -- not that they are, but more on that in a moment.
The party is facing an incumbent whose approval ratings have remained under 50 percent while unemployment remains apparently intractably stuck in the kind of territory ordinarily toxic to incumbents. Under these circumstances, the party out of power needs to take a political Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm.
While robotic and transparently inauthentic, Romney is the kind of inoffensive candidate suited for such an election. He may not electrify but he also won't scare, a quality the ineptitude of the
For a party that has touted long and loud the lessons of 2010, the
But the
Of course, Republicans aren't the only ones who should be thankful for Romney. Democrats can celebrate that while he is the strongest GOPer, it doesn't mean he is strong. Romney may get the nomination, but it will be grudgingly, from a party that exhausted every alternative before settling. Consider the good luck the
And while Obama is rapped for lacking the common political touch, Romney has a special combination of poor interpersonal skills and a tin political ear (see his comment that corporations are people too or his defense of foreclosures). While people believe Obama has his heart in the right place, the location of Romney's heart remains a mystery. His biggest weakness remains his elusive core beliefs, a weakness underscored by the report last week that in 2002 gubernatorial candidate Romney argued to abortion-rights activists that "you need someone like me in Washington."
Someone like whom, exactly? That's a question the
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Why the GOP (and Democrats) Should Be Thankful for Mitt Romney | Politics
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