TAMPA, Florida — The polls showed a dead heat as Mitt Romney
took the stage Thursday night to accept the Republican Party
nomination, but the polls could not begin to capture the wild
chances of improbability in what is sure to be a hard-fought
campaign this fall. And the man who introduced the GOP presidential
nominee Thursday night was the surest testament to how miracles
happen in America.
Marco Rubio wasn’t supposed to be there. In May 2009, more than
15 months before the 2010 Republican primary in Florida, the GOP
establishment endorsed Rubio’s opponent, then-Gov. Charlie Crist,
believing him to be the “safe” choice as their party’s Senate
nominee. Crist had statewide name recognition and a strong
fundraising base, and so he was endorsed not only by the state
party chairman, but also by the chairman of the National Republican
Senatorial Committee. One poll showed
Crist leading Rubio by 37 points.
Crist had every tangible advantage, but what he did not have was
the support of the conservative grassroots, which were just then
coalescing into the Tea Party. Crist had embraced President Obama’s
$800 billion “stimulus” plan, and his endorsements from the GOP
Establishment proved to be the kiss of death, rallying a nationwide
movement behind Rubio. And so the young senator who introduced Mitt
Romney on the closing night of the Republican National Convention
was a living embodiment of the miraculous power of the American
dream.
Rubio spoke of that dream, describing how as a nine-year-old boy
in 1980 he watched the GOP convention with his grandfather, a
refugee from Cuba’s communist dictatorship. “As a boy, I would sit
on our porch and listen to his stories about history, politics and
baseball while he puffed on one of his three daily Padron cigars,”
Rubio told the thousands of Republican delegates gathered inside
the Tampa Bay Times Forum. “I don’t recall everything we talked
about, but the one thing I remember, is the one thing he wanted me
to never forget. The dreams he had when he was young became
impossible to achieve, but there was no limit to how far I could
go, because I was an American.”
The crowd went positively wild with cheers and applause, and
when they calmed down, Rubio continued: “For those of us who were
born and raised in this country, it’s easy to forget how special
America is. But my grandfather understood how different America is
from the rest of the world, because he knew what life was like
outside America.”
What Rubio was describing was a doctrine known to political
philosophers as “American exceptionalism,” and the 41-year-old
senator went on to describe its foundation in religious belief,
that America is “special because we’ve been united not by a common
race or ethnicity. We’re bound together by common values. That
family is the most important institution in society. That almighty
God is the source of all we have.… Our national motto is ‘In God we
Trust,’ reminding us that faith in our Creator is the most
important American value of all.”
Words can scarcely describe the enthusiasm that swept through
the auditorium at that moment. In a skybox suite five floors above
the stage, where I was a guest of the Republican State Leadership Committee, I
found myself wiping tears from my eyes. They were neutral,
objective tears, because I remembered when Marco Rubio was 37
points down in the polls, and here in Tampa I was watching an
honest-to-God miracle. If it had been up to the party leadership,
Charlie Crist would have been up there on stage. Instead, Crist is
now disgraced and discredited, an unpopular loser who will speak at
next week’s Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Anything can happen in America and, with less than 10 weeks to
go until Election Day, it is impossible to know who will win the
White House in November.
The Real Clear Politics average of national polls shows a
neck-and-neck race, but as of Thursday night it seemed entirely
within the realm of possibility that Mitt Romney and his running
mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, might win in a landslide. And if
the Republicans do win, much of the credit will go to the ruthless
efficiency of the campaign team organized by Romney. No one can
deny that Romney and the Republicans put together an excellent
convention. The most offbeat moment of the weeklong event in Tampa
was a smashing success.
C’mon: Even the most hard-boiled liberal must admit that
Clint Eastwood’s Thursday
night appearance was hilarious. Rambling and low-key, Eastwood
improvised a comedy routine in which he “interviewed” Obama,
represented by an empty chair, and drew a standing ovation when he
declared, “We own this country.”
The night ended with Romney’s acceptance speech — arguably his
best ever, although the former governor of Massachusetts has never
been famed as a spellbinding inspirational orator. But Romney made
the case that inspirational oratory is no substitute for sound
policy and competent leadership. “What is needed in our country
today is not complicated or profound,” said the former CEO of Bain
Capital. “It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell
us what America needs. What America needs is jobs — lots of jobs.”
He later mocked the absurdly irrational “hope and change” rhetoric
that marked Obama’s 2008 campaign: “President Obama promised to
begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My
promise is to help you and your family.”
Romney closed by invoking an America that represents “the best
within each of us,” and made a promise: “If I am elected President
of these United States, I will work with all my energy and soul to
restore that America, to lift our eyes to a better future. That
future is our destiny. That future is out there. It is waiting for
us. Our children deserve it, our nation depends upon it, the peace
and freedom of the world require it. And with your help we will
deliver it.”
If Mitt Romney is elected president on Nov. 6, it won’t
necessarily be because America believes in Mitt Romney, but because
Mitt Romney believes in America.
