Mitt Romney is not a professional politician -- and that's not a compliment

By Richard K. Barry

 

Romney at the Madison Lumber Mill in New Hampshire

Like a lot of people, I bought into the Romney inevitability thing. I smuggled my bias into an analysis that simply would not accept that Republican primary voters would choose a candidate who could not beat Obama. Since it seemed obvious that Romney was the only one who could do this, it was "obvious" that he would be the nominee.

I am still having a hard time believing they will throw it all away on Gingrich, but it looks like they might do just that.

In my defence, I have always had tucked away in the back on my mind the perception that Romney was a bad candidate, that there was something whiny and insubstantial about him, that he seemed like the proverbial empty suit, who didn't have the stuff.

I'd like to think I have a sixth sense about the ability of a politician to connect with voters. I may be flattering myself, but I think I'm pretty good at it. I know everyone is saying this, but, after watching a clip on the news tonight in which Romney was talking about how much he cares about people, it almost made me ill. I'm not even saying it's not true, it's simply that he is incapable of saying these kinds of things in a way that makes you feel he believes it.

I never noticed it before, but Romney has this little giggle that comes out after he says things that make him uncomfortable, which makes me uncomfortable. He giggles when his humanity is in danger of showing.

Yesterday, speaking at a lumber mill in New Hampshire, Romney told about 200 people, while perhaps trying to channel his inner Bill Clinton, that he understands the difficulties they are facing in the current economy. He never actually implied that he felt anyone's pain, but he did say this: "I care about business, because I do care about people." Okay, not exactly Clintonesque, but as good as it likely gets for Mitt. Doesn't exactly get you all choked up.

But that's the problem. You may recall the Mario Cuomo quote: "You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose." There is no poetry in Romney. It's as if the idea of poetry would make him very uneasy, as if it wouldn't be a serious enough pursuit.

This is not a Democrat vs. Republican thing, it's a human thing. I'll even be kind to Romney. He might connect very well with people, but it simply does not come across on the stump. I've always believed that you really can't teach this. It's there or it's not. It's certainly one of the many reasons I'll never be a politician. I don't have it.

You might say that Romney got to be Governor of Massachusetts so he must have some of these skills. And I might agree. I'm just saying that I see a profoundly uncomfortable man on the hustings right now, who is not relating to the people he is trying to court.

Unfortunately, I can't find a clip of Romney's comments yesterday in New Hampshire, but it told me all I needed to know about why he isn't resonating with folks.

Since I'm not a Republican, it's not my problem. But Mitt Romney is a disaster as a politician. He's not suited to the role, and now that we are all starting to pay attention, it's becoming clearer.

Here's the folk wisdom: For voters to be comfortable with a politician, a politician has to be comfortable with him- or herself. That's not Romney.

Here's a joke I might have made up. I'm not sure. It goes like this: When some conservative hack running for office proudly says, "I am not a professional politician," I would like to respond, "then go get me one, this is not a pursuit for amateurs."