How Mitt Romney's Acceptance Speech Inspired me!

I was very inspired last night watching former Massachusetts Governor Willard Mitt Romney accept his party nomination for President of the United States.  Compelling stories were told about how great a man Mitt is, how compassionate, family oriented and kind he is.  I was moved by tales of his generosity.  When it was all said and done, I believed the story that was being told - Mitt Romney is a good, honorable and admirable man.  Yet what I know about politics and the theater of it during convention time caused me to block all of that from permeating my soul.  By all accounts, Mitt is a good man.  He is just not a man who I believe to be a good politician, a good political leader, one of conviction or purpose.  He also not the man I would like to see as the next President of the United States. 

If being a good man equals being a good President then there is nothing left to discuss.  Barack Obama is a great man.  So by the measure laid out by the RNC last night, we have just what we need, a good man as President, case closed.   But it goes beyond just being a good man, we all know this.  Whatever flaws Bill Clinton possessed in his personal life, you are hard pressed to find many who would argue against his leadership qualities.  For all the virtue and good heartedness of Jimmy Carter, you would be hard pressed to find many who would ever define his Presidency as successful.  The measure of the man seeking the highest office on earth is key, don’t get me wrong.  However, it is nowhere near the sum total of what makes one worthy of the job.  That is where their position on the key issues and how they will allow those positions to guide their policies, comes into play.  That is what is dominate in the selection of a President, something I heard very little of last night from Gov. Romney.  For me, that is a problem. 

This election is going to be close.  And while I am a full and total supporter of the President, I am also not delusional.  There is a chance he could lose.  So I need to know for sure exactly what the alternative could be.  I did not endure the Republican primaries and the convention just so I could flood my twitter timeline with snarky remarks about people I disagree with (ok some of it was for that, but not ALL).  I watched because I need to be engaged.  I watched because I have to know, in detail, what it is I am opposed to.  There are things that are said by republicans that I have agreed with, so I listen for those as well.   (Just in case you didn’t know, I voted for Mike Bloomberg, a republican…twice.)  This go around, what I witnessed was scary because it was so extreme.  I was never scared to have John McCain as President (well maybe a little after the Sarah Palin pick).  I have watched John McCain as a politician for many years and even when I disagreed with him, I always felt like he really loved this country and was doing from his heart what he believed was right.  He didn’t seem unsympathetic and he seemed to have his own mind, one that couldn’t be totally determined by his party.  Yes he was grouchy and a little rude.  Yes, he missed his “moment” in 2000 when George W Bush slandered him by saying his adopted child with brown skin was somehow his jump off baby with a black prostitute.  Yes, I lost a little respect for him when he then went to the convention and spoke on behalf of that man.  But he is only extreme in his views when it comes to war.  And even with those extreme views, I can respect it because he fought in war.  His family both past and present fought in war.  If he is willing to risk their lives for war, I figure he must believe in it and even though I disagree, I have to respect it.    Long before he decided to run for President, John McCain made the decision through his military service, to dedicate his life to this country.  And continued through his public service as a member of the Senate.  Life in public service is respectable and honorable, even when I disagree with one’s views.  Everything I just described does not exist with Mitt Romney.  Which is why no matter how much of a good man he is, I cannot respect him and oppose him at the same time.  That is why his election is scary to me. 

I could run the list of his flip flops.  I could highlight all the things he was for, before he was against it.  I could list for pages all the ways he leaned more moderate and democrat when it suited him to get elected in a liberal state and how he has equally flown to the far right now that it seems appropriate to get elected President.  I could explain how he is playing up on the anger and resentment of White men who are pissed off that the Black guy is President by promising to “take our country back.” I could describe the lack of connection Mitt Romney has to the poor and disenfranchised in this country because it is unclear if he has ever spent any extensive time around anyone of that circumstance.  Although no one wants to say it, it is unclear if Mitt has spent any extensive time, outside a corporate work environment with anyone who wasn’t a White Male (besides his wife of course).  There are many reasons to dislike Mitt as a person but that isn’t totally fair. He has plenty of policy positions that do not benefit the poor, the middle class or the upper middle class.  He has policy positions that limit the reproductive rights of women.  He has policy positions that cut funding to social programs in order to balance the budget.  He has policy positions to expand the spending by the US military to effect the invasion and dominance of every country in the Middle East (a military full of young people from rural America seeking a better life through service who will die on the battlefields of wars with no purpose except world domination).  With none of his 5 sons having ever served in war, I find it offensive that he takes on such a war mongering attitude.  This too makes him appear disconnected.   I could go on forever and ever about his positions on Medicare becoming a voucher program, privatization of social security, defunding government subsidies to Planned Parenthood, PBS (bye bye Sesame Street) and Amtrak (watch those prices skyrocket).  I could tell you all about his positions on any and everything because I have done the research.  Not because I am looking for something in his portfolio that I agree with, rather I am interested in knowing just how much I disagree with him so that I am being fair in my dislike of him.  It is unfair for him to be judged solely on his personality (or lack there of).  I judge him harshly on his policies, which is absolutely fair game. 

I was inspired last night by his speech, but not in the way he or other republicans would have expected.  Watching him give this speech where he trashed the President put the wind behind my back and the fire in my belly.  I looked at him when it was done and said to myself, you CAN NOT be President.  I followed that thought with a donation to the Obama Reelection campaign.  Not quite the inspiration Mitt and the gang were looking for, I am sure.  But with such lack luster policies and an immensely bland candidate, they should take inspiration wherever they can get it.

If he inspired you the same way click here to show the President just how inspired you were with a donation!