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Townhall
Best Foot
Forward?
by Mona Charen
Nov 16, 2012
Our large cruise ship sailed within view of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a
gathering of conservatives sponsored by National Review magazine
considered the wreckage of the 2012 election. Most of the writers and
commentators on board agreed with Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom
Coalition that the last thing conservatives need to do now is to form a
"circular firing squad." But lessons must be learned.
Was Mitt Romney, as some suggested, "our best foot forward" -- a highly
intelligent, photogenic, generous, public-spirited, articulate man of
great integrity whose loss can only be chalked up to the poor judgment
of 2012's voters? Or was he, as Midge Decter described him, "the sort
of person you'd love to have as your next door neighbor," but who
couldn't inspire political passion?
Certainly Romney lacked the common touch. Exit polls showed that voters
gave him high marks for "leadership" and for having a vision for the
future. Yet on the question "cares about the problems of people like
me," he was crushed by 81 to 18. Even Republican-leaning voters were
influenced. The secretly recorded "47 percent" video will likely go
down in history as the most consequential tape since Watergate --
sealing as it did Romney's image (already unscrupulously distorted by
the Obama team) as a cold elitist.
The Romney campaign, moreover, seemed dazed and deflated by the 47
percent episode, unable to recover and offer damage control. Romney
might have responded, for example, with a speech emphasizing that in
Obama's economy, dependence on Food Stamps and disability insurance had
reached all-time highs, while good jobs with benefits were
disappearing. Or he might have showcased actual Americans who got off
welfare due to the business promotion of Bain Capital. Surely among the
thousands of employees of Office Depot and Staples, some could be found
who fit that profile.
Read the rest of the article at Townhall
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