Monday, February 04, 2008
One Man's Opinion
I think John McCain is an extraordinary man, but I do not believe he is more qualified than Romney to be our President. McCain is strong, he is an inspiring man, he is experienced in the Senate and the art of compromise. But he is not an executive. He is ill trained in leadership and management of people. He is uniquely unqualified on economic matters (no less so than Clinton or Obama, but relative to Romney, it is a staggering gap). Ultimately, and this bothers me I admit, if John McCain is the Republican nominee for President, it will be because he was a tragic victim as a POW in the Vietnam War, and because Huckabee competed for the nomination while Giuliani failed to compete. This does not mean I would not vote for McCain in the general election - I believe he remains far superior a candidate than Clinton or Obama. I do not suffer from MDS, as do many conservatives. If Iran is a priority, I believe McCain will generally get Iran right.
I would have more confidence in a Romney Presidency, however. Romney understands the critical business and economic drivers which move our nation better than all other candidates. He understands that tax increases and spending reductions are economically contractionary. McCain clearly does not. He would use caution and care and would be a reluctant user of force. This may seem an odd comment to make in comparison to McCain, but we should remember that McCain was a forceful advocate of deploying a 500,000 man force in Iraq. The human and economic cost of that approach, relative to a smaller footprint, in my view, would have achieved little if any more than what we have already achieved in Iraq. McCain, in a word, would be an awful lot like the first George Bush. Romney, in my view, would try to be an awful lot like Ronald Reagan.
SO tomorrow, I push the Romney button....
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Feb 04, 04:41:00 PM:
Besides, McCain is much older and he seems to have difficulties in thinking strategically, while Romney appears easy articulate strategic approaches as is evident in his assessment on immigration and defining the ideological underpinning of islamic terrorism.
By , at
Mon Feb 04, 05:08:00 PM:
Spot on. I'd never vote for either Obama or Clinton for reasons that should be clear. And I'd never not vote for their Republican adversary, even if it were Ron Paul. I believe the stakes are sufficiently high that "sitting this out" would be morally wrong. Romney isn't selling his strongest qualifications because the media and the Democrats have made capitalism a sin. But he is a seasoned executive, a fundamentally good man, and a conservative in most of the ways that count. If I lived in Hudson County, I'd vote for him twice.
By 
Georg Felis, at
Mon Feb 04, 06:09:00 PM:
Hm, McCain/Romney 2008? It would tend to fill in the gaps each one has. (Military/Economic/Executive experience/Congressional experience)
By Cardinalpark, at
Mon Feb 04, 06:19:00 PM:
Georgfells - I actually thought that was a winning ticket a year ago. It also is a nice demographic match, considering McCain's advanced age. Also, Romney is a serious fundraising stud; McCain ins't.
Though not insurmountable, it is a problem that at the moment they seem to detest one another. This is not a new issue - LBJ and JFK and many others come to mind -- but with the advent of real time mass media, it is much more obvious...
By , at
Wed Feb 06, 10:25:00 AM:
awww, charlie. Romney keeps the folks who make coppertone spray-on suntan in business. He is from Massachusetts. Has a Republican from Massachusetts ever become President? And the abortion flip-flop, having seen the 1994 clip, was just a bit too much. Let him run the NYSE and NASDAQ or Chair the SEC, not be President.
