I was just talking about narrative the other day, and mentioned that Romney doesn't have one. Well, he has one, as a kind of progressive Republican former Massachusetts governor trying to capture the nomination for presidential candidacy from an increasingly-conservative Republican part that doesn't seem to want him, whilst being burdened with immense personal awkwardness and immense personal wealth. But for Pete's sake, first of all, that's an almighty mouthful, and for another thing, it's not exactly flattering to the candidate, is it?
What the campaign has always needed was something simple for people to easy understand what the campaign was about--a central idea. Maybe a visual. That is what Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom has provided. Here's the synopsis:
This all started this morning on CNN. When Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom was asked if the campaign was worried about moving too far to the right during a primary, he responded that he was not.
"Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign," Fehrnstrom said. "Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again."
What followed, on a day when Romney was supposed to be celebrating his victory -- and his 43rd wedding anniversary, by the way -- was a firestorm from political opponents that lit up Twitter and saw rival Republican candidates appearing on stage with the iconic toy.
Etch-a-Sketch! I had one as a kid--you probably had one as a kid. It's one of the best-recognized toys ever. And it is a toy designed for making pictures. Which is just wonderful for the visual media, tv, speeches, the internet. And it does sum up the main theme of the Romney campaign--he's running to the right of Rick Freaking Santorum right now, but tomorrow? Who knows? It's simple, iconic, and everyone gets it.
So instead of talk about how everyone should now get behind Romney now that he's decisively won a pretty big one in Illinois, and gotten a big endorsement from Jeb Bush who was one of the frequently-mentioned possible contenders in a brokered convention--we were treated to the spectacle of living-dead candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum brandishing prop Etch-A-Sketches.
And yet, amusing as all this is--it won't kill Romney's chances of getting the nomination. The math is still the math. Inevitablah! Mittmentum!
But on other news, Senator McCain is a little disappointed. And Greg Mankiw posts a joke. These are people on Romney's side.
Pleasant thought--given that Mitt is unpopular enough that he's being savaged by other Republicans and he's the best shot they've got right now, wanna give a think about what kind of bullshit he'll have to go through in the long haul? Given that his campaign advisers must have the killer instinct of overcrowded lemmings not to have clapped down on some of Romney's privileged gaffe-tasticness, I'm sure at least their pick of running mate will be a real gme-changer, you know?
2 comments:
What an awesome gaffe. Mitt, Mitt, Mitt, the universe just isn't that into you.
I wonder if Fehrnstrom is a mole, or could he be a disgruntled employee, itching to get back at his awful, plastic boss?
I genuinely think he thought he was answering the question reasonably and didn't know how it would sound. The Romney campaign seems to have a problem striking the right tone: their candidate jokes about being unemployed, being friends with the owners of sports teams, etc. Romney comes off as Thurston Howell. It's my impression that the campaign has developed an inability to see Mitt's negatives for the liabilities they are because of their commitment to the electibility issue. They haven't yet sussed that not having "the vision thing" or outreach to the base (the network Santorum is forming, which is why Romney keeps having to out-spend him to get anywhere)is an electibility issue. Republicans could very well stay home election day. Whereas President Obama still has lots of appeal to many of us.
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