Mitt, you’re pushing this trying to become President too far, and you are now hurting your image and that of the Church.
As a Mormon, I was initially excited as Mitt Romney entered the political arena. My enthusiasm, however, has faded over time and in 2012 I published several posts about being LDS and not for Romney. This year, I am really scratching my head wondering what in the world he is thinking. He is catching a lot of flak, even from Republican moderates. The Fox All Star Panel, when asked Friday to bet on the outcome of the Republican nomination process, gave Mitt zero chance of getting the nomination. They can’t figure out why he is even running. It appears to be a lot of ego. Some who have opined on that panel even feel that it is personal animus against Jeb Bush. Conservative radio host Mark Levin is losing what respect he had for him. He gave it a good run in 2012 and he lost. It’s time for him to get over it.
In this last election cycle, I have noticed that Mitt has been around the country fighting against conservatives in the party. It seemed really weird in my own Arizona 25th District that he would get involved in this small a race and endorse the apparently corrupt Bob Worsley against his conservative opponent. It seems clear, from this perspective, that his claiming at the time that he would not be a candidate in 2016 was not true. All this activity over the last election cycle seems to have been to ingratiate himself with the Republican establishment.
And now, last Wednesday night, he spoke in Salt Lake City at an investment management conference. His intentions were pretty transparent, and his rhetoric was truly amazing. He said that the three most pressing problems facing the country are climate change, poverty, and education reform.
You have got to be kidding me, Mitt.
The Associated Press, in its report of the speech, said, “Romney at times sounded like a Democrat.”
Romney, who was for government-run health care before he was against it, is now telling us that he agrees with Obama’s climate change rhetoric, which he mocked in his 2012 acceptance speech.
The people, Mitt, are concerned about the overreach of government, about the threat of terrorism, and about impossible regulations. The people don’t want government to be trying to solve climate change and poverty, and they want the feds out of our local school systems. But then, you weren’t speaking to the people. You were speaking to an “investment management conference.” No, Mitt, you don’t seem to understand that your image is that of a big business Republican, which depressed the turnout in 2012 as the Reagan democrats stayed home. That plus your wishy-washy moderateness simply will not do the job in 2016. The Republican Party, in 2016, can’t risk another weak moderate.
Mitt, Barack Obama was an easy target last time, and you couldn’t pull it off. Swallow hard, take a dose of humility, and let someone else at it this time. Your candidacy three years ago was good for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You were able to pull off the image of being a nice guy who was just a little out of touch, which was fine. If you keep pushing it, you tarnish your image into that of an ego-driven politician who is tone deaf. And because you are such a visible Latter-day Saint, you tarnish the image of the Church along with your own.
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