Willard Mitt Romney (1947- ) was governor of the American state of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. He ran for president in the 2008 election, but dropped out on February 7th right after Super Tuesday. He is a Republican.
As a governor, and earlier as head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and a Boston businessman, he has proved he is a leader who can get things done, who is at his best when things go bad.
But he does not seem to stand for anything. He knows what Americans think and mouths all the right words, but none of it seems to come from his heart.
For example, when he was governor he passed a gun control law. But in 2006, just before he ran from president, he joined the National Rifle Association (NRA), which has blocked serious gun laws for years.
His positions on abortion and homosexuals have likewise “evolved” to match opinion in the Republican party.
The two main wings of the Republican party are business and the Christian right. He is good with business: he was a rich businessman himself as well as a model Republican governor who balanced the state’s books without raising taxes. He wants to keep the Bush tax cut and has proved he can cut out government fat.
With the Christian right things are not so simple. He is Mormon. Some say Mormons are not true Christians: they believe some strange things. Because of some of the wilder Mormon offshoots, many fear that they still secretly have many wives. Most would sooner vote for a Jew for president than for a Mormon.
Some fear that Romney would take orders from the church leadership in Salt Lake City. But this fear is probably overblown, just as was the fear that John Kennedy would take orders from the pope in Rome.
But Romney has a particular bit of bad luck when it comes to religion: he is running against a one-time Baptist minister, Mike Huckabee, who has been winning over his support from the Christian right.
If the Romney name seems familiar somehow you are probably thinking of his father. He was governor of Michigan as well as the head of American Motors and President Nixon’s housing secretary. He even ran for president himself in 1968.
As many young Mormon men do, Mitt Romney fished for souls in his youth. He did this in France in the late 1960s. He only caught a few, but it kept him out of serving in the Vietnam war.
He went on to get degrees in both business and law from Harvard. In 1984 he founded Bain Capital, which came to own Staples, Domino’s Pizza, FTD Florists and hundreds of other companies. It made him rich.
As governor he made sure everyone had health insurance and did it without a tax increase or bigger government.
Last updated: Thu Feb 7 23:56:52 UTC 2008
Epilogue: In 2012 Romney became the Republican challenger to President Obama. He ran hard right to get the nomination but then, suddenly, a month before the election, during the first debate against Obama, disowned those positions as if he had never held them and ran centre-right. More.
See also:
- mittromney.com
- Romney 2012 – his campaign in 2012
- 2008 elections
- Republicans
- Mike Huckabee
About time to have an update on this topic. 😛
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@ Jefe and Bulanik
I will be doing a post on Romney 2012 – and Obama 2012.
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