Assessing the GOP field: Mitt Romney

The final GOP candidate currently running with any decent chance of being relevant is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. In many ways, Romney is an ideal candidate. He has been a governor rather than a senator or congressman, meaning he has executive-level experience. That’s invaluable for anyone seeking the presidency. He’s also held executive positions in the private sector, including serving on the Olympics board at a time when it was besieged by steroid scandals; he was able to cut through the press and politics and deal out tough but fair decisions in each case, and gained broad respect in the process.

Those are Mitt’s strong points on paper.

On the other hand, he’s a late convert to many of his most conservative positions, including his opposition to abortion. While he claims to be pure now, it’s hard to judge if these late conversions are a genuine reflection of how he might govern, or a political calculation in his quest to gain the White House.

His perceived biggest weakness is his religious affiliation as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Being a Mormon is indeed a mixed bag outside of Utah in the political arena. Much like John F. Kennedy had to prove his Catholicism was an all-American attribute in the 1960s, Romney faces a similar uphill battle over 45 years later with his Mormonism.

For WonderfulPessimsit.com, Romney handled these questions about his faith with Reaganesque Americanism appeal in his recent address on the topic. He was at once optimistic, positive, and spoke in glowing terms of the American traditions of religious tolerance and shared, common American values.

For WonderfulPessimist.com, that speech settled any doubts. While Mormonism is not this blogger’s faith of choice (see MessianicMusings.com for details), I do know what it’s like to practice a minority religion. The Constitutional freedoms that protect my faith also protect Gov. Romney’s, and I have to respect his stance on moral issues, whether they descend from my brand of faith or another brand.

I will say that at times Romney has overstated his moral values just a bit; while I admire his long-term marriage and fidelity to his wife, claiming he and his wife have “never fought” during their marriage is just a bit of a whopper to swallow. I can believe they’ve never held grudges, but I know of no married couple who doesn’t have disagreements once in a while. It’s not a sin to disagree, or even to have mild fights, although it’s admittedly best to avoid fights. We all fall short now and then, though.

So Mitt’s Mormonism is a non-issue for WonderfulPessimist.com. What matters are where he really stands policy-wise. And while he sometimes comes off more like a term life insurance salesman than a great public speaker, his address on his faith set a much better tone for his campaign, and one worthy of a serious conservative contender for the office.

Mitt is not a pure Reagan conservative; but he’s not far off and if he’s good enough for the National Review, that says something. The National Review thoroughly vetted Mitt on his views and the important note they made is that while his rhetoric has at times seemed to lean to the middle, it must be kept in mind that he was running in Ted Kennedy’s home state, Taxachusetts, and what is more important is how he governed; he governed consistently more conservatively than did this election cycle’s “faux conservative de jour,” Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee is surging in Iowa and in New Hampshire, McCain is attempting to revive his near-death run for the White House, where he stands a chance of upsetting Mitt. Right now, if the choice is Huckabee, McCain or Romney during the upcoming caucus and primary season, it’s clear that the most conservative of those three is Romney.

This election cycle, the GOP must decide whether it wants to be a choice against the Democrats, or a faint echo of them. While WonderfulPessimist.com would love to see Fred Thompson carry the conservative banner back to the heart of the Republican party, his campaign seems to have stagnated; and as for Ron Paul, he is too closely associated with the conservative/libertarian version of MoveOn.org extremists.

Therefore, the man who strikes the most conservative profile in an admittedly weak field, and yet has the best chance to win the nomination, is Gov. Mitt Romney. Therefore, unless Fred Thompson’s campaign rises from the dead, WonderfulPessimist.com is proud to announce our full endorsement of Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination as President of the United States.

Give ‘em hell, Mitt, and whatever you do, don’t make me regret the endorsement!