Magazine Cover Staff Blog

Mitt “The Wimp”

NewsWeek has featured presumptive Republican Candidate Mitt Romney on their August 6th cover. Since the commencement of the primary race in February of 2011 Governor Romney has been knighted with an array of titles. The Etch-a-Sketch Candidate, The Flip-flopper, Mitt the Twit, The Venture-Capitalist Vampire, Mr. 1%…. the list is sizable. To the best of my memory this is the first time he has publicly been called “A Wimp”

Governor Romney has run a pragmatic and risk averse campaign. During the primaries, Mitt was the only candidate to survive without committing a major gaff. While Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and to a lesser degree Santorum, proceeded to commit electoral suicide, Governor Romney wandered through relatively unscathed. He managed this by transcribing his message to meet his base. He ran a primary that was as beige as it was consistent.

Since winning the GOP primary he has been fairly criticised for presenting a policy portfolio that is “white bread”, boring, and lacking substance. He has spent his general electoral campaign creating a basic political paradigm, “a referendum on Obama”. When it came to picking a Vice-presidential candidate, Governor Romney expressed preference for Pawlenty and Portman over more exciting possibilities such as Chris Christie and Marco Rubio. So Newsweek raises the question “is Mitt too much of Wimp to be president?”

Even with all the criticisms in mind, the last thing Governor Romney can be accused of is being a wimp. This is a man whose net worth is more than twice that of the last 8 presidents of the USA…..combined. A man who restructured the 2002 Winter Olympics saving it from bankruptcy. He introduced universal healthcare to the state of Massachusetts then got up in front of NAACP to a sizable ‘Boo-ing’ rejecting proposals for same scheme to be implemented federally. The list of courageous acts is ample. Adopting the absurd and irrational Paul Ryan Budget and holding the highest priesthood office in the Church of Latter Day Saints are but two further examples of a man who is well versed in the poetry of executive courage.

Newsweek has raised an interesting hypothesis. It is a fantastic thought experiment about how media shapes perception. Romney has commented on the article simply noting “if I worried about what the media said, I wouldn’t get much sleep, and I sleep pretty well now.” At the end of the day the argument is intellectually fractured. But it makes for a fantastic discussion point and an interesting read!