When Tagg Romney said he his dad Mitt really did not want to run for President, it struck a nerve. Romney campaigned as if he really did not care about winning. In the primaries, he cynically became a clone of Rick Santorum to appeal to the Republican base. This move fooled no one and it hurt Mitt Romney with the general election. Everyone knew he was a Moderate Eisenhower Republican and this made him appear not genuine.
After winning the nomination, Mitt Romney did absolutely nothing for 3 months. Barack Obama and OFA launched one of the most brutal campaigns in modern history. They called Romney a felon, murder, tax cheat, racist and anything else they can think of. Instead of answering, Mitt Romney just sat there and did nothing. His convention speech was a joke and so were his ads. Mitt Romney either thought he should win and did not feel like doing what was needed or even worse. It is very possible that Mitt Romney was really not serious about running for President.
In his first interview since the election, Romney expressed his dismay in not having the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. “I wish I were there. It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done,” said the former Massachusetts Governor.
It is interesting that Romney should use the word “kill” in describing his feelings about losing the election. After all, back in the summer of 2011, the Obama campaign concluded that the President could not run for re-election on the basis of his accomplishments in office. Instead, the Obama campaign made it their mission to “kill Romney.”
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Shortly before Christmas, the Boston Globe published a story on the Romney campaign. The article quoted his eldest son Tagg who revealed that his father did not want to run for President for a second time:
“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to …run. If he could have found someone else to take his place… he would have been ecstatic to step aside.”
There is no reason believe that Tagg Romney isn’t telling the truth and no one has suggested so. So it is quite possible that after the first debate, Romney thought to himself (perhaps on a subconscious level), “Holy crap, I could actually win this thing.” In which case, instead of spending the final month of the campaign going for the knockout punch (in effect “killing Obama”), he spent it resting on the laurels of the first debate.
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The fact that Hillary was denied her place in the White House by Obama in 2008 makes her all the hungrier to be President. There will be a huge target on the back of the Republican nominee in 2016. Whoever Republicans nominate had better be prepared to place a bigger target on Hillary’s back. Otherwise, in four years time, we will have yet another Republican telling us it kills them not to be in the White House.
If I was a betting man, I would place a bet that Hillary or the Democrat nominee will win 2016 in a cakewalk. There is nothing on the Republican side that can counter OFA. The Republican Consultant Class is more interested in making money than winning elections, hence they reject any innovative ideas. Losing seems to have become ingrained in the political culture of the Republican Party.
Americans do not like losers and if the Republicans continue with its acceptance of losing, it will go the way of the Whigs.
