Congratulations to the Republican Party. Mitt Romney, the front-runner in the polls, has officially announced his run for the presidential nomination. He is ahead in the polls by a significant margin and he has raised a significant amount of money already.
So, hats off to you GOP. I was worried you'd never get your ducks in a row and actually get some decent candidates lined up. You've left it a little late in the game.
Romney announced his campaign in New Hampshire on Thursday, and said he “believes in America.”
I was pretty pleased with that. I thought, maybe, just maybe, this upstanding, center right Republican would bring something to the campaign trail that we very rarely get to see; a candidate who wouldn't indulge in bashing their opponent over actually talking about the issues.
Well, that happy thought lasted for about as long as it took Romney to breathe.
“When Barack Obama came to office, we wished him well and hoped for the best,” Romney said to a crowd of New Hampshire farmers and supporters. “Now ... Barack Obama has failed America.”
Now, that's not very nice Mr. Romney. You're not even the nominee yet. But, he started out on the defensive.
In an interview with MSNBC, Romney gave Obama an 'F' and said he has been “one of the most ineffective presidents I have ever seen.” Romney claimed that unemployment, the economy, and just about everything else got worse under Obama.
However, that may not be true. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession actually ended in 2009, and the U.S.'s gross domestic product has actually begun to grow again under Obama.
Romney, in the same interview, said Obama had “apologized for America” and that he did not need to apologize, he was proud of America.
I can hear the chest thumping already.
Obama did not 'apologize' for anything. After eight years of growing global animosity under President Bush, Obama saw the need to make amends with countries American policy had offended.
These are simply the two errors of Romney's that I take offense to the most. He has also condemned Obama for “[piling] on record-breaking mounds of regulation and bureaucracy,” giving power to union bosses and raising taxes massively, but none of these things have actually happened. Obama pushed extending the Bush-era tax cuts, and in fact, the only taxes he has raised are on cigarettes and tanning salons. So, Mr. Romney, you have Snookie on your side.
Then there's the looming issue of his Massachusetts healthcare plan. He won't apologize for it or try to distance himself from his legislation, for which I am thankful, but he has denounced Obama's plan with as much ferocity as any other Republican, and I just don't understand. Obama credits Romney for many of the ideas used in creating the healthcare bill, but what worked in Massachusetts won't work for the country. Obviously.
Now, it may seem odd to be perturbed by these statements. It's not even the election year yet, and Romney is just another Republican candidate — most of whom will say many of the same things. But there is very little truth in his claims, and I've heard very little policy from him. He is campaigning on how much Obama sucks, not on why Mitt Romney is right for America.
We don't need another election campaign full of mudslinging. If Romney wants to distance himself from the 'darlings' of the Republican party—Palin, Bachmann, Ryan—he needs to stop using their dirty, rumor-mill tactics.
The economy, despite mild improvement, is still in the pits, and it is policy, not rhetoric that is going to fix that.
Reach the reporter at oonagh.mcquarrie@asu.edu
