Romney Runs the Table

Mitt Romney won the Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania Republican primary elections yesterday. A clean sweep or, as they say in the game of billiards, he ran the table.

On November 12, 2011, I wrote a commentary, “If Not Romney, Who?” noting that, even then, the Rasmussen polls are indicated that Romney was the candidate that voters were most comfortable with and whom they believed would be most competitive with President Obama. I said, “Yes, I think he will get the GOP nomination. Yes, I would vote for him.” It is clear that a majority of Republican voters have concluded the same thing and, in fact, have now assured Mitt Romney the party’s nomination. It is important to keep in mind that these were individual votes cast by men and women who were not persuaded by all the arguments leveled against Romney.

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Individual voters, not men or women, not Hispanics or younger voters, not blocks of voters that can be conveniently identified, but individuals who had listened to the debates, taken the measure of a large number of candidates, and concluded that Romney had the values, the character, and most importantly the experience and judgment to be the next President of the United States. They don’t care that he is a wealthy man. So were Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, George H.W. and George W. Bush. Wealth has never disqualified a man from holding office and, if you think about it, George Washington was a very wealthy man in his era. Wealth is just one measure of success, but the values and ideas a candidate brings to the race are the deciding factors. Frequently overlooked in Mitt Romney’s case is the fact that, as a Republican, he won the governorship of a very Democrat State, Massachusetts. Recall, too, that Ronald Reagan won with a significant percentage of Democrats who found Jimmy Carter wanting in his first and last term. In so many ways, Mitt Romney reminds me of Ronald Reagan. Reagan had lost his first bid to win the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford. He ran again and won. Romney has some of the same character traits that Reagan had and Romney has visibly improved his communications skills, delivering some excellent speeches. The contrast between Romney and Obama is huge. Republicans know that and many voters from both parties have concluded that. In some very real ways, this is a repeat of the Carter-Reagan race, a failed President versus a man who has served successfully as the Governor of a State, working well with a legislature dominated by the other party. Mostly, though, the contrast can be seen between Obama who does not like America and Romney who does. America will reclaim its destiny, its exceptualism, on November 6, 2012. It will elect Mitt Romney. © Alan Caruba, 2012