I voted for Mitt Romney yesterday, knowing he would lose badly because he ran a horrible campaign. As I lamented to my sons before the election that Romney was going to be slaughtered in an election President Obama virtually dropped in his lap with his inept leadership, they both commented, “How can you vote for somebody who runs such a stupid campaign?”
Unfortunately, I did not have a good answer, except that my vote was a protest against Obama’s weak leadership.
I have given quite a bit of thought to how Romney could have won the election against Obama, a lousy president yet capable candidate with a very smart group of people guiding his moves.
Mitt Romney was badly wounded by the Republican primary. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, two guys who were minor league candidates, ambushed him from the right flank. To blunt their barrage, Romney scurried to the right, which Obama then skillfully used to define Romney to the public. Romney was not nimble or clever enough to run back to the center after the primary season. I see Romney as an ambitious guy, driven to become President, thus surpassing his father who ran for the office but failed to get close.
What seemingly happened to Mitt was that he apparently was convinced by the characters like Gingrich that the country would accept right wing social policy, when Romney’s best chance was to run as a smart business guy – a technocrat – who could be the country’s capable CEO and forge compromises with Congress that Obama couldn’t.
Romney had the misfortune of hearing his idiotic remark about the 47% pop up, yet he still should have won against 8% unemployment, and Obama’s floundering on the economy.
This is what I would have advised Mitt, if he had asked.
1) You cannot win if you are the “old white man’s candidate.” There are just not enough of those folks who vote to get you to 270 electoral votes. Even if you concede African-Americans to Barack, you still need Latinos, women, and young people. So how do you get them and still hold your base? It’s not so hard. COME OUT for the Dream Act. This would have one-upped Obama and identified Romney as someone who was sympathetic to young undocumented immigrants who were adding value to the country. Such a stance would have cost him virtually nothing on the Right, but could have staunched the 70-30 pasting the GOP took from Latinos. George Bush got 41% of Hispanic voters in 2000. The Latino community has a conservative family oriented bent. The Democrats owned it in this election but they did not have to.
2) The gender gap could have been bridged if Romney had chosen a strong woman for Vice President, and I am not talking about Sarah Palin. In one of his infamous “binders” he could have found a woman like, well, Ann Romney who could have given his candidacy a softer, family friendly tone.
3) Romney ran a poll driven paint by the numbers campaign. He did not take risks or get out of his comfort zone. He did not talk to young people. He was irrelevant. To combat this Mitt should have advocated for the “decriminalization of marijuana.” The country is moving in this direction and he could have justified it to his base as a way to support law enforcement in America and reduce the profits of the drug cartels. He would have outflanked Obama with younger people and gained respect as a courageous and creative politician.
A Republican candidate who could not beat an unsuccessful and often arrogant or diffident Barack Obama probably did not deserve to become our President.
Question: Did Mitt Romney cost the Republicans the presidency in 2012?
Lloyd Graff is Owner and Chief Space Filler of Today’s Machining World, and Owner and Chief Space-Filler of Graff-Pinkert & Co.
64 Comments
I can’t believe we RE-elected someone with very little, if any, true work experience. A life time politician….
I truely question where this country is going.
I would have to disagree, but it really doesn’t matter now anyway does it! We have this joker for 4 more years….guess we will “move forward”. Obama’s famous last words.
Good post, Lloyd.
I can’t help but feel a little like a deck hand rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic after we have hit a 16 trilliion dollar iceberg and are taking on water. The captain ignored the warnings from the crew and is now he is put back in the wheel house calling for full speed ahead. All the while the band plays on. I don’t relish what I feel is coming if we don’t start to bail.
Push the button your computer! Are you not making more money now than when the republicans were in power? Bush almost wiped out a lifetime of work. The longer those policies were in place the more we lost. Business has more than tripled (as compared to the end of the Bush presidency) with Obama as president. I can live with that.
Well, if you can’t beat them join them….I’m exploring opening a 5 dollar pizza joint in my city, that takes food stamps and also turning my shop into a strip joint…I’ll call it ” The Shop”….so people can say, Honey, I’m going to the shop…..the next four years are going to be a train wreck
I think Mitt Romney was an excellent candidate who chose to run a clean campaign. I am proud to support someone with high standards and great morals. I think he lost the election because many groups were so concerned about individual wants rather than what’s best for the country.
You can only tax and fine companies, and the rich so much before they go elsewhere. Once this starts to happen who is going to fund the programs that will “take care” of those who choose not to work because they feel entitled to be supported by the government?
There are thousands of people with legitimate reasons as to why they can’t work. Those people should receive all the help avaialble. But when you instil in someones head that they can collect unemployment for 2 years or more what are you really doing?
I agree, I voted for Mitt for similar reasons.
However, we were disappointed because I sensed a positive euphoria coming over me thinking we would have a humble business man in office both as President and Vice. Also, I felt Mitt would be a superior Commander in Chief and not arrogant as Mr. Obama has demonstrated. Also, I am still very angry over Benghazi and feel Impeachment is in order for that alone.
Given the mess we now face with a Communist trained, Socialist leaning Democrat in office I pray our Congress will “man up” and fight this regime with all they have. Then we need to get back to pushing back on the Gov. and Speaker of the House in Illinois who are singlehandidly pushing business out of Illinois. I know, I built this business!
Lloyd, great breakdown of the 2012 election. Your point about Romney playing it safe and not willing to get out of his comfort zone in the campaign is dead on and very ironic since we all know that to achieve anything in business, you have to take chances and be willing to fail. Romney the candidate who was supposed to be the seasoned business wiz never showed it other than debate # 1.
I ate a big container of anti acid tablets to get to sleep Wensday morning. How could we the people be so stupid? Now someone needs to grow some and get O-Bummers Selective service application unsealed. I bet there is not a application under the sealed doccument. If you do not apply for selective service within x many years from your 18th birthday you cannot hold a goverment job. The only way for Ness to nail Capone was to get him on tax evasion. Devil is in the details.
the liberals such as blacks,hispanics,union members and the liberal educators=doom
for America as we know it.If conservatives could not beat the likes of Obama after his
four horrific years we will never retake this government.
Really, Lloyd? This is all on Mitt? How about the inability of the Republican Party to be agile enough to adapt to the changing demographics of the country and bring them into the tent. I don’t think this was about a “stupid campaign”. Until any of us are courageous enough to step up and try it ourselves, let’s be careful who we throw stones at.
As for your sons, you don’t have an answer to their question? Well, I do. Campaigning is not governing. We elected the most brilliant campaigner America has ever seen 4 years ago and re-elected him last night. So what’s the savvy of the campaigner got to do with the ability to lead the country in a positive direction? Not much. Once again, we rehired a sprinter, not someone who has the endurance for the ultra-marathon run this country needs. I’m going to be remembering our president in my prayers, a lot, and also praying that the next generation which includes your kids and mine take the time to study history and current events more deeply than can be reflected in a blog post, on Facebook, in 140 characters on Twitter, a TV commercial or even a 90 minute debate. A more savvy campaign would have helped, but so would an electorate who took the responsibility of their vote and it’s importance seriously.
The only way Mitt Romney could have won is if he where not a republican. My guess is, that there are not enough “haters” out there to get a republican elected. It’s not getting any better either. The white voter in the USA is shrinking every day. The media is speculating that if Romney could have figured out a way to win over some of the people that republicans are trying to oust from that US, then things could have gone his way.
I am afraid the U.S. we know and love is gone. I am very disappointed. I thought we really had a chance listening to talk radio and cable news networks, and just people that I know. I own a small manufacyuring company where 50% is military. We have been hit hard, but survived. I don’t know how we will now.
Good analysis, Lloyd. Only one thing–if you’re using your vote as a protest, next time vote Libertarian. Teach those two big parties a lesson!
This is a sad tale of another 4 years of seeing America on the decline, spending what we don’t have, and implenting policies that are very un-American and undemocratic. Let’s call it what is is that socialism is communism at work, or vice versa; not much difference in my view. If only a larger number of voters, esp. the African-American and minority (Latino) voters, would strive for better education, I believe that they would they see through the lies and deception of the Obama administration instead of blinding following someone because of the party or ethnicity. The very un-Americal media is also largely to blame. They forgot about the basic tennets of Journalism, and that is report objectively and leave personal potical agendas aside. All this will translate into tougher times for the business owner, who in turn employ the very Americans who are paying for this. God bless America, this great nation! I hope that we will pull out of this after repairing 8 years of socialist damage and pull out stronger than ever.
First off Lloyd I don’t believe you and if you did in fact vote agaist your obvious hero from 4 years ago and your socialist/liberal belief’s what does that say about your convictions? As far as Romney running a stupid campaign….he didn’t run a stupid campaign aside from refusing to bring up Obama’s massive failure on Benghazi and Libya!
For him to get as many votes as he did (and don’t forget about the voter fraud he had to overcome) was pretty amazing considering that the Socialist/Liberals infesting the left have finally gotten past the “tipping point” and created more parasites/voters who vote for their freebies than we have productive working entrepreneurs who pay for all those Democrat freebies with their taxes!
After listening to that fool Harry Reid today I’d say to all you naive fools who voted for Obama to grab your ankles because if you make a decent living your taxes are going to go up big time and frankly for those who voted for “The Genius”….you deserve it.
The market is down over 300 points today with Gold up over 1715.00 per oz again in reaction to Obama returning to complete his disaster….oh sorry…I mean “transformation”…so if you were planning a vacation to Greece don’t bother…because we will be Greece pretty damned soon!
I would have to agree as this is now fact. Romney was so inconsistent that moderates and those deciding the presidency did not know where he stood. He also has never known what it is like to work from month to month on a fifty thousand dollar paycheck and support a family. Obama has not done a good job getting us out of the mess the previous guy got us in to. The republicans and their infighting had their opportunity and lost it.
To Answer Doug’s response – no, I’m not making more money now than I was in 2008.
SORRY ABOUT YOUR LUCK LLOYD, MY BUSINESS BEEN EXCELLENT WITH OBAMA, BUT I HAVE TO GIVE CREDIT FOR BUSH WHEN I COULD BUY A $130,000 MACHINE FOR 2 GRAND IN 2002, MAYBE WE NEED MORE RECESSIONS.
We are no longer in a society of ” What can I do for my country” as John K. said but now “it is what can I get from my country”. I was going to spend a million on new equipment but now there is no reason. The tax credits are going down and taxes and expenses for businesses are going up. No real reason to grow when you have someone in government who does not understand what it is to run a business or budget. Mitt ran a great campaign but more than half of our country does not want what he offered i.e.work for a living and benefits
Mitt Romney ran an honest, sensible, forthright campaign, and it killed him. Romney deserved to be President, it is a shame that he would have had to trample his own ethics to do it.
To beat Obama, you would have to start with his concealing everything about his days at Columbia and go all the way to concealing what he knew and didn’t do about Benghazi, and cover everything in between. Tony Rezko, ACORN, raising the debt ceiling, Tim Burton Johnny Depp Halloween parties at the White House for his kids, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Ener1, etc.
I don’t think Romney let the Republican party down, they let him down. It wasn’t until the first debate that you saw any real support from the party. What were they waiting for, yesterday?
In these times, if you offer a person a job tomorrow or welfare today, they pick welfare.
So, going forward, millions of hard working American will have to pee in a cup to keep their job and have the right to pay taxes, so that the other half can receive food stamps and free health care without any strings attached.
Romney deserved to be President, he was just too ethical to do what it took to get it.
90% of your business depends on your hard work and creativity. Too many big and small businesses depend on the goverment or blame them for their failure. No woder they fail. Who say business is easy. Quit blaming others or just quit your business.
I think Romney lost because he considered 47% of people free loaders, he lost because he was going to cancel planned parehood, roe V wade, cut FEMA, voucher medicare, change social security, cut disability to veterans and tax the middle class more than the rich! people were not going to have it! he considers most americans free loaders which is so wrong. republicans are only for the rich! he lost in ohio because he outsoared one factory to china, talk to people in freeport Illinois on that one! he lost in Ohio because he said he would of had the auto industry go bankrupt. these are SOME of the reasons he lost…
Mitt is good material to be president. Unfortunately he let the far right tea baggers dictate his positions. After winning the GOP nomination, he made a sharp left to get to the middle becoming the etch-a-sketch man he really is. Obama, though less talented, remained more beliveable. I voted for him because of AHC Act which was tailored by Mitt’s health care gurus, his favorable foreign ratings, protection of SS and Medicare, multilateral military coinflict position and stance on fat cats paying their fair share.
The Republican Party is many ways is reading from an ancient hymnal. “The Russians”. “Abortion”. “Gay Marriage”. Romney should have criticized Obama for still having troops in the middle east. Republicans should have become the doves. He should have said that the only problem with abortion, along with many other issues, is WHO PAYS FOR IT. He should have explained that inflation is a hidden tax and hammered that point home.
If Romney had COME OUT for the dream act as you say he would have lost my vote. We don have an immigration problem in this coutry we have an illegal alien problem.
The problem with this country is a lot of the people are stupid and it is not going to get better soon. Education begins at home.
In texas we did not get a lot of political ads but from what I have seen and heard neither campaign ran on any platform of any kind. It was all negative attack ads. Romey could have won by running and campaigning on a platform and showing where he was going to lead us
The American Dream is Dead!
Long Live the United Socialist States of America!
How can so many people be so stupid to elect this failure for another 4 years!
OK LLyod,
Most of your comments were correct and I think we all could have seen some big shifts that would have cost very little (the right wing was ready for Mitt to say he was gay and they still would have fallen in line) still the facts about Barrack’s first four years cannot be ignored.
I don’t know what will happen now. I know you suffered a lot of flak and it took a lot of guts to change your position but only time will tell if the American people made the right choice. I think you did.
Clayton Smith
Lloyd, you write many thought provoking articles including this one. I do believe you missed the boat entirely with the blame. I will go out a limb and say with the changing demographics of this country it might be a long time until we see another republican in the oval office. Until the republican party can get a cohesive platform and foster the evergrowing hispanic vote it going to be like pushing a snowball uphill. I voted for Mitt and I have been sitting here all down wondering how much more can sane people put up with!!!
Nicely-crafted article Lloyd – as usual.
Sadly, too many of your reader’s comments reflect the extreme partisan positions that have resulted in the very problems they pretend to address. The BIG questions that no-one seems to be asking are 1) what would the US economy look like today if Republicans had taken the White House in 2008? Can anybody – hand on heart! – say they truly believe the national debt or unemployment would be any lower at this point, and if so: why? … and 2) How can Republicans, who profess their undying patriotism ad nauseam, square that away with two years of stone-walling Congress and the President of the United States (and America and Americans be damned!), with the “sole political objective” of ousting the coincidentally (?) black incumbent – as openly and blatantly stated by the likes of Mitch McConnell et al on national television? Frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost the fight. Twice. Surely it is now time for Republicans to show true patriotism and put The Nation before The Party … otherwise they risk losing what little credibility they still have with swing voters … who they MUST win over next time round, if they are to have any chance of victory.
Lets face it folks the news media carried Obama over the threshold. They ignored the fact that he has headed up one of the most corrupt administrations in history. They refused to point out even one of his failures, covered up the facts and ignored the lies.
While we would all have liked to see Romney run a more aggressive campaign Mitt wanted to be above all of that and refused to stoop to the level of Obama. I witnessed the same thing during the Bush 1’s second bid. He didn’t seem to have the interest in winning, although I think Mitt wanted to win he also wanted to run a class campaign.
The number of people dependent on government handouts today provides a natural base for the left. That base is growing by leaps and bounds and at this point may be an insurmountable obstacle leading to a one party system in this country.
WE were fortunate enough to grow even during all of the tough times many companies saw. I can say that this was the first year in the past 10 that our insurance provider walked in and reduced our cost 15%. I remember my grandmother who was an imigrant that worked hard to give her family a better life and taught my father to work hard and that family was everything. I will do what she told my brother and it was the last words she ever spoke When the world kicks you don’t cry get up and kick it back. Come on guys lets pick up the ball and show the world what we are made of. The best to all of you who have worked hard to get where your at lets show them what we are made of.
The question should have been “Did the Republican Party cost Mitt Romney the Presidency in 2012?” I would answer yes. By holding onto an outdated Socially Conservative platform they alienated many voters who were Fiscal Conservatives. I know many Democrat’s aren’t happy with the out of control government spending but are not willing to vote for a party running on a socially conservative platform. They need to revamp their whole platform and get rid of the abortion, gay marriage, anti-immigrant rhetoric if they are going to convince more people to vote for their Candidates. I think this is a clear message to the Republican Party that they seriously need to reform and move closer to the center to get votes. The Moderate Republicans can’t get past the primaries in the current environment and that needs to change or the republican party will go extinct. I identify myself as Republican but I can’t get over some of the close mindedness of some current party members. I do think Romney would have governed as a moderate but the party lost it for him.
Yes, it’s sad. We need a leader that can boost the economy not just cool guy. But we have to move on our lives and make the most out of it.
All of those people replying that Mitt was going to cut medicare etc are actually singing the mantra of the left. Mitt had no intention of cutting off any of the programs other than those that were being abused. As for cutting off FEMA! Now there is a successful agency as can be attested to by two recent and memorable disasters they should be disbanded.
To those who make the claim that Mitt was going to cut off medicare that is exactly what Obama is doing and you fell for another Obama lie. Obama took 75 billion dollars from the medicare fund to help pay for his healthcare bill. You should have known that before you voted. Obama’s alleged favorable ratings are anything but! If he has curried any favor at all it is through handing American taxpayer dollars to our enemies Traveling the world on apology tours and condemning America.
What you have successfully voted for by casting your vote for Obama is higher prices at the pump which translates to higher prices everywhere else. Higher taxes, more government spending, More government intervention, Loss of Constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms. More regulations on business. More suppression of our natural resources. The death of the coal industry and a 20 trillion dollar deficit. The goal of this administration is not to better the country but to destroy it.
To Bill Hedrick: You want more recessions? Hold onto your socks because a huge one is on its way! It could make the Great Depression look like a picnic.
I’m not surprised that you voted for Romney because you are a white man over 45 and a businessman. I am surprised that you voted for him because his positions make no sense mathematically or for that matter in any way. Bill Clinton hit it on the head. Romney pulled figures out of his ass with no substantiation as to how. Yeah sure, you are going to balance the budget without raising taxes on anyone, spending more on a military which already spends 5 times as much as the 2nd leading nation spender and not revealing any spending cuts other than Big Bird. And that’s the truth. He gave new meaning to flip flopping and was no different than George Bush other than a rancorous immigration policy which Bush was smart to avoid.Romney is no right winger but was afraid to flee his embrace of his idiotic party’s agendas and policies. He was afraid to ask for a divorce from them understandably but even a business trip wink wink? That said, never underestimate the stupidity of the American electorate. Afterall, we voted for Bush twice! But Bush was a better politician. Even though he was extremely right wing on women and religious issues, he never saw a spending bill he wouldn’t sign until the end of his administration. He tried to buy as many votes as he could and succeeded along with demonizing his competition ala Karl Rove.
The Republican party is the epitome of irrationality, anti-science, economic lies without standing for anything positive. As much as the Dems pander, the Republicans are either delusional or bad liars or both. If the Republicans had an honest candidate not selling the old tired supply side line and wasn’t anti-science and anti-environment I would have voted for him/her. But they don’t. They are unbelievably horrific. Some of the worst things imo about the Dems though are what helped Obama in no small degree get reelected. No real honest person can get elected because the reality is, if you want to fix the deficit, the short run economy will decline and no politician will risk that.
Have you all seen “Men in Black”? It seems to me most of you do not see the real picture. You just can’t handle the truth. Virtually anybody as President could do less damage to this country than obama. At least by appearances Romney cares about the Constitution as surely you know obama does not! Have you read “The Harbinger” by Jonathan Cahn? This books discribes or explains what is really happening. Read it.
As I sit here watching the results of the stock market tanking today I have only one real thought. Are the Republicans smart enough to think up really good lies before 2016 and act the part between now and then? As someone mentioned earlier, I agree we have reached the tipping point; that point where the masses actually have enough voting power to raid the treasury so to speak. THAT is the beginning of the end. The Republicans have zero choice now but to abandon most of their platform OR lie profusely about a new one, gain control back, and then do a 180 and stop this “give away” mentality in its tracks. In the meantime, as soon as I hear that Texas is seceding from the Union, I’m on the first plane there… This sucks.
I don’t think so. In fact, I think he kept them from losing more. He was out of touch with the day to day lives of most people, but perceived as a good man and probably got a lot of votes due to his decency (well expressed in his concession speech). Any other Republican probably would have driven more votes to the Democrats. Had Romney been a real businessman and not a financial/investor type, he perhaps would have tried to understand the electoral market better and adjusted his message to acheive greater market share. He acted as if the market were static and he could cautiously approach it, calculating the best path with the least risk. If we tried to run real, dynamic businesses that way, we’d be out of business in no time. Is that the type of person you want as President?
So Romney ran a “stupid” campaign and we looked to him to run the country?
So Romney decided to change his strategy more than once based on input from Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich and we wanted him to make life changing decisions for us?
So Romney is “not nimble or clever enough to run back to center” and we wanted him to negotiate for us with foreign leaders?
So Romney goes to England and cavalierly “dis’s” the English, one of our greatest allies, and we wanted him to shape our foriegn policy?
So Romney is a “savvy” businessman who didn’t have “a group of very good people around him guiding his moves” and we wanted him to choose a Cabinet, ambassadors, staff…
Lloyd, based on what you said about the direction the Republican Party needs to take it appears as though Romney should have changed parties early on and challenged Obama at the Democratic convention!
What’s up? What are you really trying to say?
The GOP needs an entirely new platform that address issues of 2012 and beyond. Romney is a good man, and would have been a great president; however, when you “consider the source” of him as a presidential candidate, he becomes a pawn of a party with old-school principles with an underlying right-wing mentality. As with any failure, it is indeed a failure if you don’t learn from it: today marks the first day the GOP needs to start showing a different Face to America: a party empathetic with today’s human rights issues (women and gays), in-tune with the concerns of growing minority populace, respective of the basic, sound principles that the GOP is based upon (and there are many). In other words, it’s not so much a matter of growing up, but growing “in”: the GO(Old)P needs to become the “GNP”: a Grand New Party with updated yet tried and true principals, more in touch with and sensitive to today’s issues and rapidly changing demographics. Once this happens, the days of puppetry – of non-qualified men or women – being guided to the positions of authority by clever, media-manipulating techies…will be over. People will recognize substance over smoke and mirrors…only if presented with something of substance. Thank you, and God Bless America!
Romney lost because the Evangelicals did not support a Mormon and the Conservatives sat our the election. He also should have not alienated the Hispanics. How did Bush hold on to 41% of their vote? Romney only got 30%. His appeal to women was also over exaggerated and obviously did not happen. What I don’t understand is how he was beat 54% to 42% on undecided voters who made their decision on election day and 50%-44% on undecided that made up their minds 4 days or less before the election. I thought it was patent that most undecideds move to the challenger. The only way that we get conservative leadership in the future is if only property owners get to vote and that ain’t gonna happen in the USA. If you own a business – you are just a milk cow who doesn’t get any hay. Eventually, the cow won’t produce anymore and just fades away.
I agree with Clint …..rather have a successful business man as President, rather than an attorney. Obama has no clue about business or finances.
Hold on to your wallets. Keep what liquid cash you have for a quick get away. Noah and Lloyd investment in Israeli real estate is more stable than an investment in U.S. machining. Where FDR had his success with Social Security, and the attendant government enforced saving, a violation of the Bill of Rights, LBJ had his Medicare and Medecaid. with another tax, Obama has Obamacare and enforced participation. Each one of these social services resulted in a Federal bureaucracy of tens of thousands of federal employees who are funded from your production of wealth. Obamacare requires 159 bureaucracies to handle all the complex proposals and may require as many as 200,000 federal employees. This should help reduce unemployment and is certain to employ all those liberal arts educated whis kids of the post war generations. You should be happy. the kids can move out now and the government can take over the allowances, after all we are already paying for their contraception, abortion and child care. Give up, we birthed these generations of vipers and now they are biting back.
Romney’s been running for president for the last 8 years. He doesn’t have a job – so he can devote 100% to thinking, designing and running a presidential campaign. He isn’t dumb, but as such a spectacular Bain Capital guy that made MILLIONS of dollars, he might not be such a great leader. How stupid can you be to be in the running for 8 years, run against a president that 50% of America doesn’t like and STILL LOSE????
Could it be that Romney really doesn’t know how to run a campaign? Maybe he has no one to blame but himself. Maybe he knows how to make millions but perhaps not know how to run a country. If he was this lousy at running a campaign, he certainly would have major flaws running a country.
Talk is cheap. Romney changed his mind almost every day. He confused his own people, they didn’t know how to answer questions. Ryan had his own plans and thoughts but couldn’t answer questions about Romney’s plan which was different.
Romney said he knows how to create 12,000,000 jobs. Like we all believe what a politician tells us. Remember “read my lips, no new taxes”? The American people just arent’ as stupid as Romney thought they were.
Romney was a pompous ass, more concerned about his rich corporate buddies, taking $77,000 tax deductions for his horse, and never got out of the corporate bus, airplane or limo and talked to the real people on the street – those 47% he secretly talked about.
At Bain Capital he certainly did due diligence on companies he considered buying, yet when it came to wanting the citizens of America to hire him as CEO, he wouldn’t let US know the facts and details of his financials – his tax returns. “Just trust me, there’s nothing in there” Sorry Mitt, don’t trust a politician.
Romney got exactly what he deserved. HE was in charge. He could have changed whatever he wished. But he listened to his the management team he hired. It was his to win and his to lose. He blew it and no one else.
Romney didn’t get the support he needed because he alienated too many (otherwise) supporters by played to the radical right. He didn’t recognize that many who may have voted for him, couldn’t get past the abortion issue, the pledge to completely overturn Obamacare (which should be amended, not destroyed), the lack of any attempt to accommodate the Hispanic population, and too many other issues.
He should have broken with the right, and appealed to the moderates – the right still would have voted for him and he could have picked up the margin he needed.
And, by the way, in virtually every newscast of Romney events during the primaries and the campaign, it looked like his audience was invited to a geriactric seminar. Compare that to Obama’s young audiences, and you can see where affinity problem resulted with voters in their 20’s and 30’s.
Unfortunately, Romney didn’t act like, or simply wasn’t enough of a savvy politician to read the electorate, and do what was necessary to win this fight.
When you alienate the women, Hispanics, blacks and the working poor, don’t come back and ask for their vote. David S. Viscott wrote, ” how could you get what you want if the other person really doesn’t see you as you, “. A card board cutout would have gotten Romney more votes. Ann Romney didn’t help with the , it’s our turn,” comment.
Lloyd, you should run for office you’d make a great politician. Good move to save your business, you know your constituents well and you tell them exactly what they want to hear.
One question though, your man got his ass handed to him, was completely broom swept on all of the swing states and you want him to run our country?
There is no need for excuses. The better man won and our business will keep on growing like in the past four years whether macho white man like or not.