The earth has become small, and on it hops the Last
Man, who makes everything small. His species is ineradicable as the
flea; the Last Man lives longest.
— Nietzsche
So it seems it will be Mitt. And good thing he won’t be
offering his main rival the second spot on the ticket. “Mitt &
Newt” sounds like the name of a comedy act or a network sitcom. Not
right for something epic or tragic. Which is to say… not right for
the times. Not even close.
When you think about this election — and you must, there
is no escaping it — you wonder if it is not just the same old,
same old. Is this just another “most important election of our
lifetimes,” or something, actually, a little more important than
that? Is it business as usual or are we entering a
pre-revolutionary phase of history when, soon, nothing will be the
same again?
Who knows? But to ask the question is to point out how
unfit Mr. Romney may be to lead during these times.
To begin with, he has never given any indication that he
even understands, or appreciates, the mood of these days. You can
listen to Mr. Romney debate or speak for hours (some have, poor
souls) and never get the feeling that he senses the fear, the
uncertainty, and the outright dread that is loose in the land.
People, millions of them, are not merely frightened; they are
terrified.
Mr. Romney’s message of assurance?
“I’ll fix things. Trust me, I’m a businessman.”
An example of Mitts’s insouciance would be that line about
how the health care mandate isn’t something to “get angry
about.”
Nah. Geeze, man. Chill.
And on the existential (sorry, only word that will do)
choices about just how much government the nation can afford and
how much debt it can endure (or visa versa), Romney has never
exhibited the slightest sign that he appreciates what a big deal it
is. Nothing, he seems to believe, to get your knickers in a twist
over. He’ll fix it. He’s a businessman.
Mr. Romney has captured the Republican flag and will carry
it into battle this Fall. If he loses, those people who believed
devoutly that the times require something more than a
standard-issue Republican for whom all things political are
negotiable and to whom there is no dispute that cannot be settled
by compromise … those people will be saying, “Never
again.”
They will have seen it before and one suspects they will
be finished with a party that repeatedly sends out for slaughter
candidates who do not represent their beliefs, positions, and ideas
with conviction. If it is about common ground and compromise, they
will say, then the hell with it and leave the Republican Party to
people who consider it a boast to say, “I could work with Teddy
Kennedy.”
If, on the other hand, Mr. Romney wins, what then? Does
anyone expect that when he gets to Washington and starts running
the government like a business, entitlements will reform
themselves, the deficit will shrivel on its own accord, and
Leviathan will shrink to a size where it can be domesticated and
housebroken? Has Mr. Romney demonstrated, ever, any convictions
regarding the proper size and the rightful powers of the
government? Does anyone believe he shares the fear millions feel
about government power and their angry indignation at its arrogance
and overreach? His overriding sentiment about government seems to
be that it would be nice if he were in charge of it … so it would
be run (all together now) like a business.
In short, does anyone think that Romney will ride into
Washington next January determined to tame the town… or die
trying?
Mr. Romney’s aim will almost surely be to take Washington
on its own terms and try to “make it work.” Whatever
anti-Washington sentiments he might express during the campaign,
the odds are they will be discarded and forgotten within weeks of
his taking the oath of office in a replay of George H. W. Bush and
“read my lips.” The people who voted for Romney in the belief that
he would take on Washington will be patronizingly told by the
political class that “Governing is not the same as
campaigning.”
“No stuff, Sherlock,” the betrayed will say. “Governing is
a lot more important and a lot tougher and the guys like Bush,
Dole, McCain, the other Bush and, now, Romney never understood
that. It is they who govern as though they were campaigning for the
approval of Washington and the political class.
“We never thought that electing them was the whole point
and that if, afterwards, you got ‘Big Government Conservatism’ or
‘Compassionate Conservatism,’ it was no big deal because, praise
Jesus, the Republicans were in charge. We always thought that the
governing would be the hard part. Look how tough it was to get rid
of ethanol subsidies. It is you who are
confused.”
The betrayed will leave if Romney makes it his mission to
manage his way to a second term. He’ll have an easier path, this
time, getting the nomination. But he will likely be the last
Republican.
