Why I Am Endorsing Romney Now - Obama A Strong Second Choice

My mention of Obama as an alternate in the title is not a joke, or an anti-McCain vote. My rationale for both that and for endorsing Romney now are below.

Before pundits crown John McCain inevitable, or the primary season ends, the Republican Party would be smart to engage in some internal straight talk of its own. Perhaps only they, as a combined force, can alter this race. Already it has begun telling ardent supporters like me, the problem is us, not the party itself. Yet, in a rare year with a wide open race - no likely heir to assume the crown - the Republican Party's defined process has so far failed to produce a viable candidate who can speak from the heart to convince the base he deserves their support. Without that support, they cannot win in the Fall.

Perhaps it is overly dependent on open primaries, some reports now suggest as much as twenty percent of the vote in Florida's purportedly closed primary was cast by Independents and Democrats. That's more than enough to give any candidate a win.

But the over-all failure is not one of any particular candidate, or the base itself - the current failure results from a corrupted party establishment that too often abandoned, if not betrayed, conservatism; was arrested, more than proclaimed; and grew government, over spent and mis-managed America and, to some extent, a war - precisely as one would expect from liberal Democrats. Despite newly-assumed positioning and protestations to the contrary, John McCain is far more indicative of that problem, than a potential cure. He has been a part of Washington for far too long, as have many, unfortunately.

Party big wigs, hot shots and tavern-weary, inside the beltway, pundits will say either - conservatism has changed, what's wrong with you? Or, can't you see John McCain's a fine man who is one of your own? He's not a too long in the tooth DC politician, part and parcel of the establishment and its problem; he's the cure.

Unfortunately, the former is demonstrably false; and the latter is just more lecturing from a party apparatus unable, or unwilling to face the truth. It has failed its base, often with McCain, partnered with a Feingold, or a Kennedy, leading the charge. In 2008, as things stand, Republicans will pay a terrible price at the polls for their failures, not just John McCains, should he get the nod. Republicans dare not think they can use Hillary to scare the base ala Karl Rove. We are smarter than that and, as a group, smarter than them - a lesson too long forgotten by too many DC insiders. Mark my words.

Former Senator Fred Dalton Thompson sprang from no one's political radar and, even before entering, simply his image captured much of the base. Had political skill and cunning matched reputation, a Republican Party united behind a Reagan conservative might well now be marching to victory in 2008. Do not tell us a fundamental conservatism is dead. Yet, many pundits selling a moderated, or modernized conservatism will be sure to not remind you of Fred. It's easier to dismiss him as a flawed candidate, leaving the base with, and as the problem. God forbid, it can't be them. But it is them, and the base knows it, even if they don't. Or, they simply won't admit it, which is even worse.

Based upon his concession speech last night, Mitt Romney is slightly tweaking his approach. And don't tell us it's flip-flopping, or re-casting Mitt. It's how the game is played in primaries. Would you have us believe John McCain hasn't tried to steal Fred's role, casting himself as the one true consistent conservative, as opposed to the moderate with a thumb in conservatism's eye he actually is? That is perhaps the greatest single flip-flop of all in this campaign.

Romney has realized the base sees him as the consensus candidate, flaws and all. He spoke as an outsider crashing the gate. That's precisely what the Republican Party needs in the Fall, especially given a decade or two of dissembling conservatism and corrupt DC pols. Romney has proved to be the most analytical, yet nimble campaigner in a bizarre primary year. His campaign has displayed a competence unmatched by any other, despite how various state-wide votes, often counting on moderates and all but Northeastern liberals, turned out. Such competence was not the case with McCain. He bankrupted his campaign early. Why should we trust him to not do the same with the nation?

More than any other candidate, Romney has displayed a determination to win while playing politics; yet, stopping short of slinging mud, or outright lies. After Florida, John McCain cannot say the same. Does character no longer matter to conservatives? Have we come to that? If so, I'll pass.

The Left has unfairly claimed the Right always relies on the politics of fear. With his talk in Florida of wars to come, for the first time, that charge of fear-mongering is real. Unfortunately, barring another attack, it will not resonate across the population. Exit polls and surveys tell us that. McCain may be a fine man, but as a candidate he's a one-trick pony, unable to win an important upcoming race. His new campaign tactics now inspire revulsion, if anything, across much of the Right.

Mitt Romney's family life and moral grounding epitomize traditional Republican values. There is no media-whoring maverick in his past. Since when has being loved by the media, or being a contrarian - a maverick - figured into anyone's conservative bona fides? It hasn't and it never will; that alone should tell you much.

My first choice for President in 2008 is Mitt Romney and my second choice is Barack Obama. And that would not be an anti-McCain vote. Like Romney, Obama is a man of vision and character and electing the first black president would ultimately do more to pry away black and other minority voters from a decadent American liberalism, than would anything else.

Certainly it would do more in that regard than anything any Conservative could hope to say - media darling, or not. One could no longer make the argument that America is racist, or unfair. Not when a black man has risen to the highest office in the land. And he will have done it without the need for some futuristic utopia which the Left insists we need. He would be a self-made man and his own worst enemy when arguing for a socialist-like, or welfare state. Also, multiculturalism cannot ultimately exist within a nation in which all races are seen as one. Has that not always been a conservative value and vision? I would assert it has.

My long-term goal is and will always be the furtherance of solid conservative principles that no more require modernization, than the Constitution itself. And I vote for people and to win. Right now, there are two people worthy of my support in this race. Both decisions would represent my belief in conservative principles and a forwarding of the Movement's agenda, long-term.

Mitt Romney is the only candidate on the Republican side capable of truly uniting the base and going on to win in the Fall. I support him for his competence, class and, yes, his consistency over a life well led, much of it not on the public dime, or planning and plotting inside a failed Washington as to how he, but not genuinely conservative principles, can move ahead.

I strongly encourage my conservative friends  and colleagues to rally behind Mitt Romney for the very hard fight just up ahead. We are fighting an establishment just as short-sighted, as it has been corrupt.

Whether it's helping to raise money, make phone calls, or get out the vote, Mitt Romney as the last man standing anyone can honestly call a loyal conservative needs our help. Win, or lose in the Fall, if Romney doesn't get our support and the Republican nod, conservatives will be left homeless under McCain. No president has not reverted to being himself once in office. The Party will be over, as it were. And as we don't support government subsidies, a boot-strap re-building on our own will cost conservatism much. Yet, we must prepare for that eventuality, too - should it emerge. That fate for conservatives and the Republican Party can be avoided. It is not too late.

For now, we must pursue victory and we must do it behind the one candidate who best typifies our cause. And that's why I am supporting Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, not as a front-runner - as an establishment crony like a Governor Crist might do - but now when he and Reagan conservatism need our help the most.

In short, society can, should and will move on. Laugh if you will, but we do need change. And the Republican Party needs it as much as anyone else. The choice the Republican establishment now has to make, is - do conservatives move forward with them, or without?

Comments

[wallwatcher]

Thanks. I realize that this is the emotional side of my brain saying a relieved thank you for your clarity and more importantly, timing on this endorsment. Normally, I don't blog or comment, but keep up every day or so with NRO, HH, TH, MM, Drudge, etc., but I felt compelled to express my gratitude, rather than throw out some self-serving, psudo intellectual, uniformed, 'schlock' that seems to be passing for discussion amoungst bloggers(whom I suspect are acctually very young or very old campaign volunteers stumping for their candidates, rather than working republicans who pay the bills and vote).

BTW, McCainites, please help me to understand how the 'more electable' candidate will overcome the 'age' and 'health' issue. We republicans are too polite to mention it, but make no mistake, the Clintonian machine will hammer him when and if Romney is gone. The 2-4% point advantage will dissappear within weeks, but maybe your too young to remember Bob Dole, '96, or Ford '76, McCain's not, he was 40 something then!! (Not to mention his cantancerousness which will sink him faster than all of Romney's money ever could)

WAIT and SEE and call me when it's over!

[Paul A' Barge]

Good for you, mate. I've been thinking along the same lines and wondered if I were losing my way. Maybe not.

If it's McCain+Huckabee versus Obama+(not Hillary), I'm voting for Obama.

If it's Obama+Hlillary, I've got to step back and rethink. And if it's McCain+Rudy I'll have to rethink, as I would if it were McCain+Romney.

But if it's a choice between an unfettered, unrepentant McCain and Obama, McCain is not getting my vote.

[Michael]

I agree Dan...great post. Conservatives will NOT SUPPORT McCain. These fools act like Florida was a win...YEAH RIGHT. He won with Senior, Moderates and the Hispanic. What a joke? He lost every other category in Florida. McCain used dirty tactics with the Iraq charge. I do not give one hoot about McCain military service or background. It has nothing to do with being a President. Reagan was not in the military and would you take McCain over him??? NOT!!! McCain is a fraud, a liberal, an old fool and absolutely clueless about economics. He is a liar and with protect the front door while keeping the backdoor open to ILLEGALS and then has THE NERVE TO EXPECT ALL OTHER AMERICANS TO FOOT THR BILL FOR THESE SCUM that cross into the US Illegally. Florida is unique but McFraud will not have that Latino vote on Super Tuesday anywhere. You take Miami out of the mix and Romney cleaned McCain's clock. I love seeing these worthless wonders supporting McCain think that TRUE CONSERVATIVES will unite and back McCain. Maybe 10-30 percent will but McCain has NO CHANCE FOR THE OTHERS. And he can SAY BYE BYE to the GENERAL. Guess what? It is the Conservatives that have the money, the fire and the heart to push their candidate. I will watch with glee when Rush, Sean, Hugh, Levine, Beck and others will not lift one finger to assist McCain. He will be destroyed by MSM once and if he gets the GOP Primary. He will be ripped apart and I will relish it. Without the True Conservatives he is doomed. And the MSM media will turn on him...they will unload on him..and they are just waiting for it at the DNC. And without Talk Radio to fight back who will help McCain..Fred Barnes, Arnold the Jerk, Bill Krystal, MSNBC..lol...CNN..lol...ABC...lol...Bill O' Reilly..What a joke. They MSM media will crush him...do you morons that back McCain think the NYT will ever endorse him over Obama or Clinton? LOL....Bye McCain...keep your moderates, independents and Hispanic Cubans...you will lose and I as a Conservative will NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE VOTE FOR McCAIN. He is a LIBERAL and like Rush says sometimes you need a Hillary or Obama for a Reagan? I can wait....but I will enjoy McCain being destroyed.

And you know exit polls of Rudy supporters in Florida found? Their number two choice: ROMNEY!!! Go Mitt....NOT McCain...and Huck a Stupid is a JOKE. He should wipe McCain's butt. He is so obvious trying to be the VP choice for McCain and so is Rudy!! Huck a Stupid is a McCain lap dog and HE KNOWS HE HAS NO CHANCE OF WINNING. But he stays in to help McCain with the hope of being rewarded. You Huck a Stupid supporters better wake up..he is not a serious candidate.

Conservatives Unite...McCain is a fraud on Illegal Immigrants, Taxes, Free Speech, Terrorists Being Granted Rights in US Courts and CAFE standards on business that will cost billions and jobs. And for you McCain National Security supporters: YOU NEED PRIVATE ENTERPRISE MAKING MONEY TO FUND THE WAR..you morons. AND NAME ONE JOB McCAIN HAS EVER CREATED IN HIS LIFE..while spending 30 years sitting on his butt!!! He IS CLUELESS ON THE ECONOMY and Will TAX US BUSINESS MERCILESSLY. I look at HIS RECORD...I could care less about Jack Kemp or any other fool supporting him. Down with McCain. And yes I will vote for Obama over McCain.

Mitt you made your own money and I admire that. You are a family man and I can see that. You are beholden to NO ONE and that is why the GOP establishment does not like you. YOU WILL OWE NO ONE if you win. And I LOVE THAT. These same GOP establishment types backed Dole and Ford and got their butts kicked because Conservatives stayed home. The GOP lost Congress in 2206 because Conservatives stayed home. GOP candidates cannot win without the Conservatives and we will punish McCain if he is the nominee. He is a LIBERAL.

[Frozone]

Nice post, and well reasoned endorsement. Problem: McCain and his supporters can't think about more than one thing at a time, and certainly don't have the patience to read such a long, though well considered, article.

Do a word count on the McCain supporter's comments an any blog, then compare that to the Romney supporters. The results will be telling. We who support Governor Romney have carefully considered our candidate, warts and all, and find him to be our brightest and best hope (not a dim bulb, as others clearly like to tout and demonstrate, especially in the debates). With the complexity of challenges America faces, do we want a one note wonder with a self-proclaimed shallow understanding of and inexperience with some of the biggest and most important issues? Romney's supporters and endorsers stand in stark contrast. I am particularly impressed with the eloquence of the endorsements that Governor Romney has garnered, endorsements that cover a wide array of topics and issues from some of the finest minds in their respective fields (not Hollywood movie stars).

Let's rally behind a true leader that actually gets things done. He is presidential in temperament and demeanor, scandal and baggage free, intellectually astute and above the dirty tricks and petty politics of a career politician.

Go Mitt!!

[Frontrunner?]

Well, Florida was not a win, Florida was stolen by a habitual cheater. How many unaffiliated independents were encouraged to illegally take and cast a vote on a Republican ballot in a CLOSED primary down there? The Director of the Florida Division of Elections is looking into as many as 300,000 illegally cast ballots, most of which were cast in Miami Dade. Isn't that interesting. It's 2000 all over again. There is no rush to assign these delegates, we have the better part of a year to work this out. We should call for the retraction of Florida's delegates until this is resolved and curb any misplaced momentum.

Also, when Governor Romney led with 72 delegates to McCain's 38 last week, the media spin was "No Clear Frontrunner" (on a 34 point spread!). Now the spread is 95 to 72, 23 points, less than before, and McCain is the frontrunner. Isn't that interesting. The moment McCain takes the lead in delegates (for the first time in 8 tries), he's the frontrunner.

I don't think so.

[Frozone]

Now that I've read all the comments, here's some random thoughts.

1. I won't vote for McCain, so I won't be crawling back. To the reader that posts that he is popular with both sides of the aisle: uh, what's your sample on that. 90% of the senators in the senate hate this guys guts. That's a pretty reliable sample.

2. I won't vote for Obama either. As many have noted, he's just not qualified.

3. Too bad so many of you still make Mormonism an issue. I guess you haven't heard the Faith in America speech, and if you have, you don't understand it. But if you are voting for McCain, then there are a lot of things you (and he) don't understand.

4. Wow, many of McCain's supporters swear as much as he does. Well, taking the name of the Lord in vain now and again is not so bad when you only go to church once a year or never (as the exit polls show).

5. I love the Godot reference (how many McCain supporters got that one, by the way? Please chime in ;)

6. Those that have actually looked at Romney's platform in 1994 will only find one change. Don't be fooled by the spin. (Gay marriage was not on anybody's radar back then, and when it burst out, nobody has fought harder against it. Period.)

7. No matter how you vote, vote FOR someone, not against someone. If you don't like the choices, get off your butts and work to make sure there is someone worth voting FOR.

and 8. Dan rocks! Whether you agree with him or not, it is a beautiful use of the English language. Very nice.

[Clueless]

So, Governor Romney governed a liberal state and that somehow makes him a liberal? Better fact check the record on that (and don't just pull out random misgivings by the disaffected. We want hard data from more that one credible source).

By that logic, McCain is from Arizona, so he must be a staunch anti-amnesty defender against illegal immigration, right? Uh, no, I guess not, until lately, and until he moves to the general election (that, my friends, is a true flip flop. Back AND forth, sometimes within a week, depending on which primary state he's in). So don't play guilt by association games. By the way, that same fallacious logic makes McCain stronger on the economy because he has lived in it longer and spent more (of his wife's) money.

There is nothing wrong with a Republican running a liberal state (McCain has an endorsement from one of those by the way, so you can't have it both ways). We need more Republicans that can take the game to the heart of enemy territory, and win. That's how you get elected president, by the way. And that's just what our country needs. Sound fiscal leadership.

[Timstigator]

I'd look to see who the MSM and the Democratic Party are talking up...and then support the opposite candidate. In this case, the MSM is touting McCain 24/7. That means the liberals want McCain to win the nomination.

Do the opposite. When they go this way, we should go that way. Anywhere you turn on TV it's the McCain Channel. Imagine McCain's temper exploding when he loses his "lead" to Romney.

[Dave]

You know, until now I never viscerally understood the phenomenon Shelby Steele named "white guilt". His thesis made sense in the abstract, but.. I just couldn't really get it in my gut...

Until now. If McCain is the nominee, I think I'll assuage my white guilt by voting for the black guy. God, I"l feel SO much better about myself. I've been carrying the burden of what our great great grandfathers did, and it's been stressing me out big time... so I know now, beyond doubt, that a vote for Obama will free me from guilt and remove the shame from my heart of hearts.

It's the McCain Mutiny! We're jumping ship on our putative captain! Every sailor over the side! And make it the LEFT side!

:-)

[Mike Alexander]

I did not say that the fact that Romney won election (not governed) in MA makes him a liberal. I said it makes him not a true conservative (or dishonest). A true conservative, if he was HONEST about his beliefs, could not win statewide election in MA.

I didn't say there was anything *wrong* about a Republican running a liberal state.

As for fiscal leadership, since Reagan, balanced budgets haven't been a conservative goal, unless you count Buchanan types who oppose the war. As Dick Cheney said, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. Every Republican since him has run deficits and it hasn't mattered.

Another thing. Romney talks about facts and data, he is *empirically* biased. This follows naturally from his background as a business troubleshooter. An empirical focus is materialist; conservatism is informed by values and beliefs grounded in a metaphysical reality beyond mere materialism. Simply put, empiricism is Godless, facts take precedence over belief; conservatism is Godly, facts are subordinate to belief.

[Vincent Giovannoni]

I am discussed and discouraged with the whole process. When Clinton and McCain won in New Hampshire I new that something wasn't right. Even the liberal media seemed a bit confused. Somehow, someway absent tee ballets are being manipulated. I had just gotten over Romany's Mormonism and started to believe he could actually win. His performance in the debates and the way he conducted himself in many of the interviews had a consistences, class and inelegance I hadn't seen for a long time. Obama has all the same gifts and if he were running against McCain it would have been the first time I voted for a Democrat. It boggles the mind that in this day and age we would go back to characters such as Clinton and McCain. My country feels foreign to me. I must say that reading web site has given me hope that I'm not alone. Unfortunately I will be one of those Republicans not participating in this years election. Get ready for 8 more years of Billary.

[Vince G.]

CORRECTION: "intelligence" please excuse my inelegance. Only on that point.

[ivyleaguedropout]

Where does everyone get the idea that Romney was a "successful businessman"? Sure, he has a ton of money, but how many people have any idea how he made it? Well, he certainly went to all the right schools, starting with Stanford (just like Chelsea Clinton), and then Harvard for a dual MBA/JD (but then again, GWB has an MBA from Harvard, too). At Harvard, as an elite member of the ruling class into which he was born, he was heavily recruited by Boston Consulting Group. Of course, he joined BCG -- who wouldn't? It's a guaranteed stepping-stone to immense wealth and power.

But the future held even greater things for a golden boy like Romney. So he jumped from BCG and helped found Bain Consulting, where he continued to provide politically-correct advice to Fortune 500 CEOs and boardrooms on how to extract the maximum shareholder value from their under-performing operations and assets. Invariably, this was accomplished by recommending (but not implementing) the shedding of divisions and employees, moving every possible activity to the lowest-cost offshore provider, and instituting huge option-based pay packages for their “client” CEOs.

Then Bain got greedier. Convinced that they were leaving money on the table by providing such valuable advice -- but only receiving multi-million dollar consulting fees for their efforts -- they decided to take a piece of the action, too. So they formed Bain Capital, and convinced Romney to lead their new baby. Sadly, Romney wasn’t allured with the idea of financing entrepreneurs and inventors hoping to create the next Apple or Google. That was more risk than Romney could stomach. But he could get into using other people’s money to finance leveraged buyouts of Bain’s clients, guaranteeing that the enormous rewards of destructive capitalism would be captured by a select group of Romney’s Mormon inner circle.

Notice how Romney says he's a Republican in the same cloth as Reagan and George H. W. Bush? Well, for once, he’s being at least partially honest. He and GHWB are indeed cut from the same cloth -- one woven of inherited privilege, connections, power, wealth, and most of all -- utter contempt for the stupidity, ignorance and laziness of the great teeming unwashed masses of America. Romney isn’t a “true conservative” -- he’s our Nation’s worst nightmare: a super-wealthy RINO with the naked ambition and political skills of Bill Clinton.

Where is Michael Bloomberg when we need him?