What might Mitt Romney be up to?
And do we care?
Those of you who couldn’t stand him in 2012 probably just wish he’d go away.
The most important thing is this: he’s almost certainly not running again, unless no other candidate emerges and people beg him, absolutely plead with him to run in 2016.
My reading of Romney is that he’s a man who doesn’t lack an ego, but that he has far less ego than most politicians. I think he actually is interested in public service, and that right now he’s been casting about—after over a year of laying low and thinking, and recovering from his defeat—for the role he can take on to best serve the nation and even the world.
If that’s grandiose, so be it. And the conclusion I think he may have come to is that he can serve as a guide to the party and as a symbol of solidity, a “what might have been” for the American people to compare and contrast to Obama and other Democrats.
As such, he can remind them that the current decline and chaos weren’t inevitable, and needn’t be inevitable for the future, if they are smarter next time and elect a more conservative candidate than Hillary Clinton or whoever will be the Democratic nominee.
Will it work? I don’t know. But I think that’s his plan, and so far he’s executed quite nicely. What’s more, there’s no other elder statesman available to fill the role. George H.W. Bush is too old and frail (as is Dole), and his son is (unfortunately) too toxic and has removed himself from the arena. McCain? Fahgettabout it; he’s lost most of what respect he ever had, and comes across as irrelevant.
New leaders will emerge, such as Cruz or Walker, or Perry or Martinez, or Rubio or Gowdy or perhaps someone I haven’t thought of yet. But none of that is clear, and they are all busy with their own political offices right now. Romney is retired and a gentleman of leisure, not that leisure has ever been his thing. Right after the 2012 election, I had thought he would fade into the sunset and we would hear almost nothing from him again.
But the really dreadful events of the last year or so, particular in foreign policy, and Obama’s abysmal performance on the world scene, have shown Romney he still has a purpose and that purpose is to say I told you so.
Not for self-aggrandizement, although there is almost certainly a bit of that going on. But the main purpose is to point out the contrast between a level head (his own, that is, or the other Republican and/or conservative Congressional candidates in 2014 or presidential nominee in 2016) and the skewed Democratic ones presently in charge of things.
[Neo-neocon is a writer with degrees in law and family therapy, who blogs at neo-neocon.]
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Comments
get over Mitt. He is a nice guy, but its time for President Cruz
Is Ted Cruz eligible? There is a question about whether or not he is a Natural Born Citizen. I am not sure he meets the test.
No. Not really.
There’s lots of room for leadership in America that doesn’t even entail any political office.
Maybe SHOULDN’T entail political office.
See Palin, Sarah.
I would go farther than Sarah of Wasilla.
See Limbaugh, Rush;
Beck, Glenn;
Hannity, Sean;
Cain, Herman (although did run for President);
Levin, Mark;
Buckley, William F. Jr. (deceased)
Jacobson, William A.;
All significant thought leaders in the Conservative movement in their own way, with the exception of Cain, I don’t think that any of them have ever sought elected office.
@Chuck Skinner
William F Buckley famously ran for Mayor of NYC in 1965 (possibly before your time, I was just a kid) on the Conservative Party ticket. His Republican opponent John Lindsay was left-wing enough to later switch to the Democrats.
This is the race during which he was asked what he would do if he won; to which he replied “Demand a recount!”
He came in third.
Great post.
I’ve always been lukewarm on Romney, but I’ve never had any doubts that he would be outstanding for our country. He would bring back the common sense and professionalism to our executive branch that it has been lacking my entire adult life.
As a side conversation, how would you all feel about brining him on as the bottom half of the ticket. Pick one of the young rising conservatives as the top of the ticket, then choose the level headed experience as his VP. Sort of like how Biden was supposed to be the more “experienced” half of the Obama/Biden ticket (yeah, it’s hard to type that with a straight face).
Great comment.
We would be lucky to have someone of Romney’s talents and personal integrity to lead the nation. But, in fact, we need someone to stand up to the rot in our culture and fight back with vigor. Romney is not that guy.
I agree. Realistically Romney would be at best a pause from the downward spiral of government expansion that we are in. I find it hard to believe that many Republican candidates would actually be able to significantly cut into the size of the federal government. They’d have to be someone extremely dedicated to that cause in order to affect a noticable degree of change. But I am hopeful we’ll see a candidate with that kind of energy in the next election cycle.
As far as I am concerned, Joe Biden was selected and sold as the counterpart to a Dick Cheney for Obama. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party at the national level seems completely uninterested in reality: all they want is the appearance of a President and a competent Vice President, for the purposes of election. After that, they want somebody who will stay out of the way as they divide the national treasury among their friends and family.
You mean the just want “Figure Heads?”
except that Joe Biden is far from competent.
He’d run if the numbers (polling/donors) were good enough, but I think Romney’s angling for VP, Secretary of State, or US Treasurer in the next GOP administration. You know, IF there’s another GOP administration. Ever.
Secretary of State is an interesting suggestion I hadn’t thought of, and I’m liking it more and more. I’d say his professional bearing is spot on for that position, something that both Clinton and Kerry utterly lacked. I think he’s someone that could really help rebuild some of those strained ties we have with our allies. Somone that looks and acts like a professional AND who actually understands foreign policy as the the Secretary of State, how crazy would that be.
I read something the other day which suggested he was open to the VP slot too. There are a lot of places Romney could make a huge positive impact for the country. If Soetero wasn’t such a petulent, egotistical little bitch he could have tapped Romney for something and he would have said yes, I bet.
Hated Romney? Yeah. Let’s be clear that these kinds of words are relative. “Compared with WHAT.” I “hated” Romney a whole lot less than a lot of other things (such as Obama, or getting Ebola) I can think of.
(Please take Rubio off of your “emerging leaders” list. He is not close to being in the same league as Cruz, Walker, Perry, Gowdy.)
I like Walker, the other “young guns” are interesting but may need more time on the vine.
Romney already has name recognition, and has the hair. He was indeed right on the issues, and could put that in Hillary’s face. He could have Gowdy or Cruz as VP. Or Martinez or some other accomplished woman, to block the “binders full of women” mantra. Then he could install an AG as aggressive as Holder, but one that would take on corruption IN government agencies, and all the other corrupt residue left from eight years of the Obama mob.
The financial messes will be even worse, and Romney is much better prepared than most to deal with restructuring that complex mess. The media is already selling Hillary, and overcoming that will be difficult for anything tea partyish.
But many things will change over a couple years, and maybe the nation will by then be crying for smaller government, control of borders, dropping Obamacare, etc. Or maybe the Koch brothers will run as Independents … 🙂
Always liked Mittens, as other commenters here will remember from our discussions in 2012. Sad to see him biff the general election when I truly think he could have won it.
Because of that it’s not clear to me that he has the fire in the belly, and the required killer instinct, to close the deal in 2016? Would he offer a full-throated attack on Hillary? Because you know the Dems and the MSM (yes, I know I repeat myself) will go after the Pub nominee, no matter who it is.
Mitt as Secretary of the Treasury would be great. VP for Cruz, Walker or Palin — ditto. But I’m not sure he’s got the fire to be president. Wish he had had it in 2012.
the only thing Mittens can be up to that i would support is ridding off into the sunset, never to be heard from again.
in 2012, he ran just hard enough, wwith some help from the press & the GOPe to beat out the better candidates, then, after winning the first debate, he threw the race.
in professional sports, he’d be under a lifetime ban. we should treat him the same way in politics.
i, for one, am never voting for another RINO. if i have to live under Democratic government, i’m not going to help provide “bipartisan” fig leafs to their destruction of this country.
that’s why i’m NOT voting for CashAndCarry, the Beltway RINO, for governor in November. he’s no different than Moonbeam when it comes to policies i care about most.
Romney wasn’t necessarily a bad choice for prez candidate, but he was bad for 2012. He’s Obamacare’s Grandpa fer crissakes, when Obamacare was Obama’s biggest electoral albatross, creating a razor thin tightrope Romney would have to manage to avoid looking like a hypocrite, or leave off attacking it at all.
I like him better for 2016, but not by much, and not with all the strong candidates available this go-round. GOP governors Jindal, Pence, Perry, and Walker all have executive experience plus good records of actual achievements, while GOP senators Cruz and Paul, though lacking executive experience in government, seem smart to know they need to build a staff to offset that lack. A president needn’t be an executive whiz with a big resume IF he or she knows personal limits and staffs accordingly. (This was one of Obama’s major goofs, not assembling a staff strong in whatever he was weak in, which we know now is pretty much everything).
Here’s an idea you’ll either dread or love, depending…. What if Hillary decides she simply hasn’t the support she’ll need, decides not to run, but convinces Bill to take another run at it. I think the current Dem party would look at the Hillary-less field, look at Liz Warren, look at O’Malley, look at Jerry Brown, and snap Bill Clinton up in a heartbeat. If by 2015, it looks like Dems are going down in 2016, Bill Clinton could be their sin-eater, the guy who does his best in a knowingly losing cause so other Dem candidates of the future (2020, 2024, etc) aren’t tainted by a big loss.
Bill Clinton in 2016.
(((shudder)))
pretty sure he’s ineligible, having already served two terms…
do you have a cite that says otherwise?
The clear text of the 22nd Amendment makes Bill Clinton ineligible to hold the office of President again by election.
There’s an argument to be made that Bill Clinton could possibly be Vice-President if the 12th Amendment is interpreted in a very specific way (but I think that argument is wrong, and a former President after two terms is simply ineligible to hold the office of President or Vice-President).
Whilst Jindal might be good there is a question as to eligibility. He is not a Natural Born Citizen.
Gov. Bobby Jindal IS a natural born citizen. He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His PARENTS were from India, and emigrated.
You’re probably thinking of Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. However, as the rules currently stand regarding citizenship law, Cruz ALSO qualifies as a “natural born citizen” because he was born to a mother who was a United States citizen and who lived in the United States for more than 10 years. see Nationality Act of 1940.
Cruz, please.
Don’t dismiss his willingness to run or the depth of his support. Romney could easily run rings around anyone else mentioned in fundraising, for example, including Jeb or Perry.
But if he wants to serve quietly outside the baby-kissing, it is hard to imagine a better potential Chief of Staff.
Mittens is gearing up to hog the GOP nomination, and lose the election. And he will lose the election.