Thread: Romney is reminiscent of Reagan

Much of what's being said about Romney is reminiscent of Reagan
By Chuck Raasch

The Republican presidential candidate bounds up the steps of Kirsten and Mike Doogue's home on a brisk November morning. With its broad porch, high-pitched roof and brilliant fall colors all around, it's an inviting New England tableau, made even more comforting when you realize a man who wants to be president of the United States has come calling for a young couple's votes.

Even the cynic's heart would recognize the symbolism, because halfway around the world, Pervez Musharraf was battening Pakistan down in martial law and putting the country's last elected president under house arrest.

The Doogues, both 32, work for the same semi-conductor company and are political independents. They could vote in either the Democratic or Republican contest on whichever day New Hampshire decides to conduct the nation's first primary. But they begin and end the conversation uncommitted, eager to hear more from the former Massachusetts governor and everyone else running.

As often happens on the trail, the discussion between the Doogues and Romney goes quickly to the war in Iraq. Romney tells the young couple he thinks the troop buildup has calmed the violence and that precipitous pullout of U.S. troops would turn Iraq into a new and dangerous launching pad for terrorists bent on bringing down all modern nations, including the United States.
Kirsten Doogue later calls it an "expected" and "meaningful" answer to a problem you can't solve in two minutes on a doorstep.

"We are all very concerned about the people we know that are away from their families," Kirsten Doogue said. "It has been a really long time -- a lot longer than people expected or anticipated."

Romney has spent more money and time in New Hampshire than any Republican or Democrat, and is leading in polls here.

But the Doogues are not in his camp, at least yet. Their courteous but non-committal response is not a reflection on Romney as much as it is a glimpse of the greater yearnings of the 2008 election.

More than any campaign since 1992, the public has a palpable desire for a 2008 campaign that goes beyond five-point plans, triangulation strategies, and the blame game. Many Americans seem eager, even desperate, for a candidate who speaks plainly about the challenges, who doesn't spend a lot of time pointing fingers, who refuses to pit one group of Americans against another, and who doesn't try to manipulate them through fear mongering.

The campaign only occasionally has risen to that level so far.

Sen. Barack Obama's "politics of hope" rollout in spring created a sense this could be something beyond a red vs. blue state microstrategy. But Obama might have been one of the biggest victims of a prolonged campaign. Although he still draws huge crowds, the newness has worn off, and questions of Obama's preparedness linger.

Among Republicans, Romney has moved slightly ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire polls, and it may be because he, as much as anyone in the GOP field, has taken to heart Reagan's inherent belief in what Romney calls America's "goodness."

"I am optimistic about our future, and that comes because of the people I see in this great country," Romney told about 200 people at the city hall in Hopkinton, N.H. "A nation's greatness revolves around its goodness and its strength. The American heart is good."

It was one of his best applause lines.

There are plenty of examples of campaign tactics or messages that won't work in this environment. Two came within the last week:


Republican Tom Tancredo, a long-shot running primarily against illegal immigration, played the fear card to the extreme with a television advertisement depicting an exploding shopping mall and shady terrorists with backpacks. Americans already understand what's at stake with unpoliced borders and terrorism; what they have not gotten is leadership to address it.

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign was caught planting favorable questions at rallies. For a front-runner, it smacked of unnecessary paranoia and control, and it fed the story line that the senator ducks tough questions. If you have to stack the questions you are not confident of the answers, and in this environment the lack of authenticity can be deadly.
Calling Romney the new Reagan is a premature declaration, but they have similarities. Like Reagan, Romney has adopted anti-abortion and other culturally conservative positions late in his public career, and there is a worry about his fealty to those positions.

Some Republicans worry Romney's Mormonism would be a disaster for the GOP ticket among evangelicals in the South, and among secular voters on the coasts. Critics snipe he's a little too polished. Similar doubts arose about Reagan's image and electability before the 1980 campaign, and only a long exposure during that campaign erased them.

Romney's optimism is Reaganesque, and that cannot be underestimated in this political environment. As he leaves the Doogues' front porch, Romney picks up a gigantic leaf that has fallen to the ground. He smilingly declares it one of the biggest he's ever seen. The political season is turning fast.

Contact GNS Political Writer Chuck Raasch at craasch@gns.gannett.com.
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs ... 14/OPINION

If it comes down to Giuliani and Romney for the nomination, I'll vote for Romney. At least Romney has said he doesn't support "pathway" amnesty, unlike Guiliani whose stated position on illegal immigration is basically the same as that of George Bush.

No, Reagan gave out amnesty.