My take of Mitt Romney’s win in New Hampshire last night: 39 percent of the voters held their noses and voted for him while the other 61 percent voted for someone else. That’s no win. That’s a real clear message that voters are not happy with their choices. If Romney wins his party’s nomination, it will be by default and not because he has anything to offer as a national leader. Moreover, the notion that he’s the guy with the most money and “appears” to be presidential and, therefore, that makes him the only candidate able to defeat President Obama, is outdated. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen in the general elections that got us two terms of George W. Bush. That notion landed this country in the worse economic downfall since the Great Depression — twice.
The mistake Republicans continue to make is that this election is about who can defeat President Obama when it’s really about who can do better than what the President and his administration is doing now. And that message requires substantive plans and innovative solutions, the likes we have yet to see.
While Romney basks in the glow of his first real victory (Iowa was a draw), he ignores what’s happening around him and uses the tired old tactics of the 1960s and 1970s by attacking the proven strengths and successes of his opponent (the President) to win. Romney used Reagan’s “shinning city on the hill” reference in his speech while blaming the President for high unemployment, calling him a failure. He also implied he is the one to bring back hope and not the President and described “President Obama’s contention the situation is improving as an affront to American values.” [....] Really.
The truth: In stark contrast to Romney’s dismal picture, the Dow and S&P rise to their highest levels since July yesterday, and unemployment rates continues to decline (8.5 Dec 2011) to their lowest rates since March 2009. This past holiday season was incredible for retailers. According to the National Retailers Federation, during the Thanksgiving Day weekend, U.S. shoppers spent a record $52.4 billion.
“The strong numbers are impossible to ignore and show a certain optimism,” Ellen Davis, an NRF vice president, said in an interview. “There has been a slight uptick in momentum.”
An improving labor market may help sustain the gains in consumer spending … Still, shoppers are being restrained by political discord in Washington, low housing values and fears that the European debt crisis may trigger a recession in the U.S., Davis said. That’s making them careful to stick to a budget.” [....]
Perhaps the biggest signal of a rising economy came out a couple of days ago when it was announced that General Motors “is on track to retake the title of world’s top-selling automaker, riding strong sales in the U.S. and China to beat Volkswagen and Toyota.” [....]
Something else Romney failed to mention — the changes in the housing market that are bringing some positive results. More people are renting. According to Freddie Mac, home ownership fell 1.5 percent while renters rose 4 percent in 2011, bringing a boost to the property management industry. Students are renting large homes in place of tiny dorm rooms. Those who can’t afford higher city rents are moving into lower rental properties closer to and in the suburbs. In addition, baby boomers are downsizing. There is a rise in homeowners repurposing basements and other reusable space into rental properties. There’s also a steady increase of homeowners buying houses that already are or can easily be transitioned into multi-dwelling units. Such activity is taking the edge off of the housing market crisis. No matter how much Romney and Republicans balk about the housing market slump, as the economy continues to get better, the rest of us understand you can’t make more land.
The Resentment Card: A Sign of Arrogance.
In his speech last night, Romney also fought back attacks on his record at Bain Capital. Instead of giving us facts, he gave us a healthy dollop of his penchant for arrogance saying such attacks show the President’s and his opponents’ “resentment for success” and being against “free enterprise.” That earned Romney two thumbs up for good old-fashioned right-wing rhetoric, period. The problem he faces in the age of technology is the instant availability of facts to anyone with a modem in any form.
The Nation’s report on Newt Gingrich’s scathing film about Romney’s corporate gut-out ability said:
While it’s certainly propagandistic, hyperbolic and partisan, the central premise of the film is rooted in reporting done by the likes of Reuters, Bloomberg News, Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and many other large mainstream publications. These reports found that Bain, under Romney’s leadership, closed plants, downsized companies and outsourced jobs in order to maximize profits for the consulting firm and its shareholders.
The Wall Street Journal found that 22 percent of the companies Bain invested with during Romney’s tenure “either filed for bankruptcy reorganization or closed their doors by the end of the eighth year after Bain first invested, sometimes with substantial job losses.”
Moreover, Romney has left himself open to attacks on this front by consistently exaggerating his business record, first claiming he created 10,000 jobs at Bain while running against Ted Kennedy in 1994 and now alleging he created 100,000 net jobs at the company during his tenure, which fact-checkers at theWashington Post, the New York Times and AP have debunked. The person guiltiest of distorting Romney’s record is Romney himself. [....]
Romney’s attacks on the President’s record are as empty as his cry of “resentment” about his success and “free enterprise.” They may or may not be helpful to him in the primaries ahead; but they won’t stack up to the President’s record. Just look at what the President has done in the less than 2.5 months. He took bold and creative steps to help U.S. businesses gain greater access to the lucrative Asia-Pacific markets by hosting the Asia-Pacific economic summit in Hawaii in November. In December, the President announced a “$4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next 2 years” that will “save billions in energy costs, promote energy independence, and, according to independent estimates, create tens of thousands of jobs in the hard-hit construction sector.” [....] Results like that make Romney a gift to Democrats.
On Saturday, President Obama announced the White House Forum “Insourcing of American Jobs” and just spoke more about it this afternoon. Participants in his latest economic effort include executives from Master Lock, Lincolnton Furniture, GalaxE Solutions and DuPont. [....] All of these companies have begun bringing jobs back to the U.S. If this is a sampling of “resentment of success,” bring it on.
Romney’s message is clear. If we vote for him, he will give us his brand of corporate success and free enterprise; namely, more companies filing for bankruptcy reorganization or closing their doors, and more often than not, creating substantial job losses.
The kind of rhetoric Romney and the rest of Republican presidential nominees are spouting may do well in their small circle of extreme conservative voters. They keep talking about the “message” that voters want to hear. Sadly, the message they’re delivering centers solely on winning the White House for a political party at the expense of the American people. Meanwhile, the President and his administration continue to move this country forward bringing about results that benefit everyone, leaving a clear choice in November.
