Author: Benjamin DeLuca
Mitt Romney is campaigning as the businessman outsider. When the Romney campaign refers to his past, it’s almost exclusively about his experience outside of politics. Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, where he pushed for a near-universal state health care program. What’s wrong with running on that experience? Sadly, it is the anti-big government modern Republican Party that propels his business credentials to the top of his resume.
Romney was a Bain Capital executive and key 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics organizer, both of which he led to success; however, the candidate is not the traditional businessman. The bulk of Romney’s wealth, pardon the pun, is as a banker, where much of Bain’s activity consisted of dismantling companies: forcing businesses to send jobs oversees and shutter entire factories. Keeping in mind that Romney’s sole goal as a banker was to increase profits for himself and his employers, electing a financier to run the country after the havoc his ilk wreaked on the world these past four years is questionable.
Even though Romney has proven himself a competent businessman, running the country is not like running a vertical business. The President must negotiate, must balance conflicting interests and to inspire people to work together for the common good. Obama has made far more progress at building consensus and advancing the standard of living for America’s least fortunate than one would expect from a former C.E.O. Obama ran on a history of community organizing and cooperation, whereas Romney’s running on entrepreneurial success.
By now, many have seen or heard about Mitt Romney’s hidden camera video of a fundraiser where he said 47 percent of the country pays no income tax; “who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”
Romney tried explaining his candid-camera moment by calling what he said “off the cuff” and “not elegantly stated.” He shrugged off his remarks as if they did not represent his values, but perhaps we just saw a glimpse of the real Mitt Romney. Should a president not believe that government has a responsibility to help those least able to help themselves? The role of government should be to provide a reasonable standard of living for all Americans, not to get out of the way for the country’s Mitt Romneys to do as they please.
Ben DeLuca is a junior ECLS major and The Weekly’s 2012 election columnist. He can be reached at deluca@oxy.edu.
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