In tonight's debate, which of the many different Romneys will be paraded out?
Presidential Mitt
By BILL KELLER, NYT
IN the closing weeks of debates, rallies and advertising, Mitt Romney has reinvented himself, or re-re-reinvented himself, as a technocrat with a heart. Gone from the stage is the ideologue he portrayed in his quest for the nomination. Some see the current rendering as the authentic Mitt. Others see a soulless opportunist. My own suspicion is that Romney has the instincts of a center-right pragmatist, but that if elected he will be hostage to the same far-right forces he kowtowed to in the primaries.
Monday night, in the only debate devoted to foreign policy, he has a chance to put the finishing touches on this latest, less extreme version of himself.
On foreign policy Romney has sometimes displayed the worst aspects of neocon and neophyte. On the particulars his policy playbook is hard to distinguish from President Obama’s, but on the stump we often get the swagger of a freedom-agenda cowboy combined with a gift for gaffe.
This is not, of course, a foreign-policy election, but voters want a threshold level of competence and judgment. Romney’s goal tonight is to set a tone and an agenda that wins the respect of those who pay attention to the subject (and who will write the next-day appraisals) while reassuring the broader electorate that he can be trusted with our security.
(More here.)
IN the closing weeks of debates, rallies and advertising, Mitt Romney has reinvented himself, or re-re-reinvented himself, as a technocrat with a heart. Gone from the stage is the ideologue he portrayed in his quest for the nomination. Some see the current rendering as the authentic Mitt. Others see a soulless opportunist. My own suspicion is that Romney has the instincts of a center-right pragmatist, but that if elected he will be hostage to the same far-right forces he kowtowed to in the primaries.
Monday night, in the only debate devoted to foreign policy, he has a chance to put the finishing touches on this latest, less extreme version of himself.
On foreign policy Romney has sometimes displayed the worst aspects of neocon and neophyte. On the particulars his policy playbook is hard to distinguish from President Obama’s, but on the stump we often get the swagger of a freedom-agenda cowboy combined with a gift for gaffe.
This is not, of course, a foreign-policy election, but voters want a threshold level of competence and judgment. Romney’s goal tonight is to set a tone and an agenda that wins the respect of those who pay attention to the subject (and who will write the next-day appraisals) while reassuring the broader electorate that he can be trusted with our security.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
Romney should bow to Obama before answering each question, that way Obama will feel more at home with foreign affairs.
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