Opinion Forum

I Do Not Like Thee, Governor Romney

February 5th, 2012

I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.
The reasons why I cannot tell.
But this I know and know full well: I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.

B.S. I can say and have said why.
But I will support you as the Republican candidate.

Roger L. Simon, of PJ Media, wrote here that Governor Romney is the likely Republican nominee.

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad it’s over. This opera — not composed by Verdi, Puccini, or anyone close — was getting pretty screechy.

The candidates had nothing left to say. After all, three of them (not Paul, of course) pretty much agree with each other about everything of substance. The debates were no more than puerile exercises in name-calling, orchestrated and encouraged by the mainstream media. The rest of the candidates’ salvos, those outside the debates, again pretty much amounted to the same thing, trying to convince the voters the other guy was lying when he said exactly what the rest of them were saying. How edifying… Okay, I’m kidding. How mind-numbing. How self and mutually destructive.

So when the fat lady began singing the final aria, “Romney has won in Nevada! Romney has won in Nevada! From The Venetian to the Wynn, Romney has won!” I had no choice but to join the chorus — not because I think Romney is anything special (I don’t think politicians in general are anything special, not until they prove themselves against history in big ways like Reagan and Churchill) but because this opera has gone on too long. This is Wagner times ten.

It not only is over, it should be over. And if Republicans have any interest in winning against Barack Obama, they better make it over.

I agree, even though I wish we had a different and far better candidate. I also wish I were thirty years younger, knew far more than I do and had lots of money. I am not, don’t and that’s life. Reality sometimes sucks but I still think that life is better than death.

As I wrote previously, Governor Romney seems to be an Edsel Republican. Nevertheless, other candidates never or no longer in the race, and the others still in the race, have no reasonable hope of doing more than stirring the Republican pot and highlighting the flaws of each other as they perceive them. Fun perhaps for them and as exciting to watch as a gladiatorial contest in old Rome; circuses are great, even without bread. But while bashing each other they are creating great talking points for use by President Obama’s reelection campaign against the eventual nominee. They are, of course, doing almost as well in creating talking points against themselves, but that may be unavoidable — particularly while they continue to focus on the perceived flaws of each other.

Meanwhile, the country continues her downward slide and is hardly in the very best of hands.

Four more years of President Obama would be like prolonged chemotherapy for sadly advanced cancer. When I was diagnosed with rather serious cancer back in 1998 and the medical advice favored surgery rather than chemotherapy, I was disappointed because surgery can have deadly complications and because a period of chemo-induced sickness seemed preferable. I followed the advice anyway. Fortunately the surgery was followed, when I had recovered sufficiently, by thirty days of radiation therapy and worked quite well. As I later learned, chemotherapy would have been far less effective and I would likely have died years ago.

Some have argued that another four years of President Obama might make the country so nauseated with Democrat policies and actions that a “real conservative” would win in 2016. I don’t think so. Just as chemotherapy can prolong and enhance suffering, fail to provide a cure and the patient subsequently dies miserably of cancer, so another four years of President Obama might well have comparable effects and results.

Getting behind Governor Romney will be a bit like surgery for many of us. I like neither his flip-flops nor some of his policies. I preferred other candidates no longer in the race. Voting for him will be unpleasant and I may need a suitable anesthetic. Tough; I’ll stumble through. Even though the nation’s cancer may already have spread to the point that surgery won’t work either, I will vote for the Republican candidate and that seems to be Governor Romney. Whatever temporary pleasure I might get from voting for someone whom I like but realize won’t win simply is not worth the probable cost. It would be rather like going for a miracle cure that involves eating lots of raspberries (I love raspberries). Some of my cancer-stricken friends did almost that and are now dead.

President Obama has long been in full campaign mode and still has little consistent or effective opposition. The adverse focus of Republicans eventually has to shift from each other to President Obama and the sooner the focus moves to (a) the damage that he and his cronies have already done, (b) the far greater damage they will do if President Obama is reelected and (c) specific but easily understood policies to reverse that damage, the better.

The policies have to be easily understood, capable of rational explanation and difficult to for comedians to use as fodder. Whatever sense Herman Cain’s “9-9-9″ tax plan may have made, it was easily twisted into farce; even some on the right likened it to “666.” The beloved national media? No matter how easily understood and rational policies may be if subjected to fair analysis, they will be distorted beyond recognition. Tough. Complaining won’t help and we have to position ourselves to do the best we can. Such attacks in great number must be anticipated so that simple and easily understood responses can be prepared in advance for instant delivery as needed. I very much liked Herman Cain and thought that he had great potential. He flubbed it and the media did their usual great job of helping him to do so. Was it fair? Were whatever extracurricular activities he is claimed to have pursued so much worse than those that President Kennedy, President Clinton, Senator Kennedy and many others actually engaged in that they warranted far more adverse media attention? No, but so what?

Even though we wish that there were other and better candidates from among whom to chose, we have what we have and had best make the most of it. Some long-dead White Guy with long hair said back in 1776: “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin’s words are no less perceptive and true now than they were then. They were also quite simple and easy to understand.

(This article was also posted at Dan Miller’s Blog.)

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: candidates, election, GOP, inevitable, Obama, primaries, Romney
Categories: Politics | Comments (4) | Home

4 Responses to “I Do Not Like Thee, Governor Romney”

larry | February 6th, 2012 at 10:30 am

Well said brother Dan.
As you point out,like it or not, we need to unite behind Romney. The notion of this President winning another term sickens me. Time has come for the people to stop giving Obama the benefit of a doubt.

Dan Miller | February 6th, 2012 at 10:37 am

Thanks, Larry

I found it a bit painful to write, but with help from the stuff in the first photo found the necessary courage.

Please excuse me. It’s time for some more.

Tom Carter | February 6th, 2012 at 3:46 pm

It’s not likely to be as easy to defeat Obama as some may think. He has the power of incumbency, a well-oiled campaign machine, and a lot of money. The only candidate who will be able to beat him will be a moderate, and I don’t personally care whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican. However, since no Democrat opposes Obama in the primaries, it will obviously have to be a Republican. Romney is the only available candidate who has a chance to do it.

Gingrich is probably going to melt down and quit before long, although with his ego it’s entirely possible that he won’t be satisfied until he’s pretty much doomed the Republicans’ chances. That leaves Santorum as the only realistic alternative to Romney, and I’m frankly as troubled by right-wing extremists as I am by those on the left. Given a choice between a bible-thumping conservative like Santorum and a leftist like Obama, I might decide not to vote.

Dan Miller | February 6th, 2012 at 3:59 pm

It’s not going to be at all easy and that’s why I would much prefer unity to dissension within the Republican party. Another four years of The One would be terrible. Strike that. Worse than merely terrible.