Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.
Stephen Covey
Mitt Romney: “A Better America Begins Tonight”
Mitt Romney easily swept through the 5 primaries as expected tonight; the Gingrich campaign has implied this might be the end of the campaign; in fact, as I review primary results in the late evening, Romney won each contest going away, and Ron Paul finished ahead of Gingrich in all but one state (Delaware). WSJ and the Gray Lady have Romney's delegate count to 824, without a distribution yet from Pennsylvania's delegates. (We should see a revised bump in the delegates over the next day or two.) Assuming all candidates hold onto existing delegates, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have both been mathematically eliminated from the race. This explains why, given Santorum's earlier withdrawal, Romney announced victory for the nomination even though technically he is at current count just over 300 delegates away. Santorum technically isn't eliminated since Paul and Gingrich combined delegate totals wouldn't put Romney over the magic number. It looks like Santorum still won enough sympathy votes after his pullout to place second in his home state.
I actually liked Mitt's speech, which of course the mainstream media refused to cover but I embedded below. In past commentaries, I've written that Mitt Romney needed to connect his campaign to traditional American values (e.g., self-reliance, living within one's means, etc.) and to rationalize his campaign as handing over to future generations the same kind of opportunities we had as kids. And Romney does exactly that (as if he read my commentaries!). Let me spotlight a few key excerpts from the speech (my edits and reorganized text):
- "Over the last three and a half years of President, we have seen hopes and dreams of everyday Americans diminished by false promises, weak, failed leadership, and a faulty vision. President Obama and I have very different visions. Government is at the center of his vision. It dispenses the benefits, borrows what it cannot take, and consumes a greater and greater share of the economy. This President is putting us on a path where our lives will be ruled by bureaucrats and boards, commissions and czars. He’s asking us to accept that Washington knows best – and can provide all. This path erodes freedom. It deadens the entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help: Is it easier to make ends meet? Is it easier to sell your home or buy a new one? Have you saved what you needed for retirement? Are you making more in your job? Do you have a better chance to get a better job? Do you pay less at the pump? [We already can see where this faulty vision leads to in the current economic crises in Europe and elsewhere:] chronic high unemployment, crushing debt, and stagnant wages."
- "We will restore the promise of America only if we restore the principles of freedom and opportunity that made America the greatest nation on earth. In the America I see, education, hard work, and living within our means are valued and rewarded. And poverty will be defeated, not with a government check, but with respect and achievement that is taught by parents, learned in school, and practiced in the workplace. I see an America with a growing middle class, with rising standards of living. I see children even more successful than their parents – some successful even beyond their wildest dreams – and others congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it."
- "I’ll probably start out talking about my wonderful wife Ann and bore you with stories about our kids and grandkids. I’ll tell you about how much I love this country, where someone like my dad, who grew up poor and never graduated from college, could pursue his dreams and work his way up to running a great car company. Only in America could a man like my dad become governor of the state in which he once sold paint from the trunk of his car. I became successful by helping start a business that grew from 10 people to hundreds of people. You might not have heard that our business helped start other businesses, like Staples and Sports Authority and a new steel mill and a learning center called Bright Horizons. After 25 years, I know how to lead us out of this stagnant Obama economy and into a job-creating recovery!"
- "Today, the hill before us is a little steep but we have always been a nation of big steppers. Many Americans have given up on this President but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America. We’ll stop the days of apologizing for success at home and never again apologize for America abroad."
Where can I start? Romney got EVERYTHING right in this speech: he used the one word I've been stressing in my critiques: RESTORE principles; he replaces the vacuous "yes, we can" of Obama politics with the "can do" spirit of entrepreneurs. And he's not setting unrealistic expectations: a principal theme of his campaign is that it's morally unacceptable to hand off a string of trillion dollar debts to the next generations. There are no easy cuts on the way to getting our federal budget under control. He expresses an upbeat confidence, a positive vision, and the hint of a sense of humor (i.e., boring us with family stories). This Romney not only can beat Obama, but do so in a landslide. I have been writing for weeks that the Obama campaign is underestimating Romney's political skills. (By the way, I am not affiliated with the Romney campaign.)
I was planning to write another commentary addressing certain critical comments by libertarians about Romney, but I'll address those in future posts. Let me simply say that people are so accustomed to political spin that they're generalizing Romney as just another empty suit like Obama is. They couldn't be more wrong. A venture capitalist approaches problems and opportunities in fundamentally different ways. I had high expectations for George W. Bush's Ivy League MBA, but he did a lousy job in managing the Iraq occupation (at least through 2006), and he named Texas cronies to positions likely over their level of experience and expertise. Romney had to work with a Massachusetts legislature up to 90% Democrat--without Obama's hyper-political, polarizing style. While Ron Paul is closer to my own policy preferences, I think that Romney has the right leadership skills to turn around 3.5 years of mismanagement by an incompetent incumbent.
I was planning to write another commentary addressing certain critical comments by libertarians about Romney, but I'll address those in future posts. Let me simply say that people are so accustomed to political spin that they're generalizing Romney as just another empty suit like Obama is. They couldn't be more wrong. A venture capitalist approaches problems and opportunities in fundamentally different ways. I had high expectations for George W. Bush's Ivy League MBA, but he did a lousy job in managing the Iraq occupation (at least through 2006), and he named Texas cronies to positions likely over their level of experience and expertise. Romney had to work with a Massachusetts legislature up to 90% Democrat--without Obama's hyper-political, polarizing style. While Ron Paul is closer to my own policy preferences, I think that Romney has the right leadership skills to turn around 3.5 years of mismanagement by an incompetent incumbent.
A Free Market Video (Implicitly Critical Of Obama)
Goes Viral
Political Humor
Blow-up dolls are going high tech... Can they really replace the world's oldest profession? I don't think so...
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Rolling Stones, "As Tears Go By"
