More than anything, I feel frustrated at the overall low quality of the Republican candidates. Really, are these people the best, the most intelligent, capable candidates the party can put forward? There are certainly superior potential candidates, but most are simply not willing to subject themselves to the scrutiny, the grind, the pandering that is necessary to participate in the process, and to end up getting enough votes to be a serious contender.
Take Mitt Romney. An intelligent, affable businessman, who truly believes that he understands the problems of America & the world better than anyone else, and can guide the country into better days. He is as bland as they come, unimaginative, saying whatever he thinks he has to to get political favor.
I reference this excellent, extended article 'Building a Better Mitt Romney-Bot' in the November 30, '11, NYTimes Magazine. If you want to understand the packaging, the marketing of Romney for this current campaign, this article will open your eyes: so many managers & image makers, regulating how Romney is presented to the world.
A couple of representative quotes:
"Those who at close range watched Romney’s failure to close the deal in 2008 did not witness a rejection per se. Instead, it appeared that Republican voters could not quite envision this decent, clever and socially uneasy fellow governing their country — as opposed to, say, managing their stock portfolios. Stories of Romney’s wooden people skills are legion. “The Mormon’s never going to win the who-do-you-want-to-have-a-beer-with contest,” concedes one adviser, while another acknowledges, “He’s never had the experience of sitting in a bar, and like, talking.”
"It’s very unlikely that we’ll ever hear Mitt Romney and Barack Obama openly discuss the things they have in common. Nonetheless, we may well see in the general election a contest between two dispassionate and accommodating pragmatists and skilled debaters who relish intellectual give-and-take, and whose willingness to compromise has infuriated the party faithful. Both have promised change. Each will frame the other as being not up to the task."
If Romney gets the nomination, I will vote for Mr. Obama. Yes, Obama has spent most of his first term learning how to be president, with disappointing results. But he will, no doubt, be a better president during his second term, infinitely preferable to the cold ('Let Detroit Go Bankrupt'), dull, gray, predictable machine that is Romney.
That's one person's opinion.
Jim
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