January 11, 2008
MittWatch: Mitt and Michigan
Former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Romney is putting his New England Spanking behind him and focusing entirely on winning the Michigan primary. He has pulled advertising from South Carolina and Florida and is going whole hog.
Michigan seems to be loving the attention, at least according to the AP. Writer Glen Johnson declared that Romney received a "Hero's Welcome." But it's still not the kind of welcome Romney was expecting only a few weeks ago.
Even if Romney wins the heart of Michigan voters, he still hasn't given Republican voters nationwide a reason to trust him. And, if we set the flip-flopping aside, Americans know who Mitt Romney is--the CEO candidate. He was a great CEO. His achievements at the Olympics are worthy of mention. Unfortunately, the current president was a CEO candidate, and he was a bad CEO at that. (Arbusto, anyone?)
While Bostonist has argued that Romney has no one to blame but himself for his current position, it's also worth saying that he could look to George W. Bush, whose work while in office shows that CEOs should stick to the business world. Bush has given CEO presidents a bad name. Plus, McCain has already won a Michigan primary once.
Anyway, if Mitt's Michigan Gamble fails, he can always govern another state, and his business skills might come in handy in Detroit.



While I am not overly enthusiastic about Mitt Romney, I have to, as much as it pains me, defend him. I disagree with Bostonist lumping Mitt in with W as ''CEO'' candidates.
The difference is that Romney was apparently a successful CEO and W, of course, failed.
Any noteworthy accomplishments W has, good luck finding one, are a result of being a Bush. If he had been born George Walker then he'd be another drunk cowboy.
I'm sure Romney got a boost from being a Romney. He'd did something with his head start.