I stood stunned, perhaps like President Obama appeared to be, listening to Mitt Romney redefining himself for the umpteenth time during the first presidential debate. Romney has become not the Man for all Seasons, but the Man for all Reasons. Ask him about an issue, any issue, and he’ll tell you what you want to hear.
I guess I’m old fashioned. I still believe in honor. I am realistic enough, however, to understand that in the real world, honor is not something you find a lot of in politics, yet, I believe that we can draw the line when it comes to praising dishonor, calling it “brilliant” as the second banana to Joe Scarborough said in describing Romney’s performance at the debate.
What’s up with this? How can Romney look the world in the face and say that he does not advocate cutting taxes for the rich and not expect mass throw-ups to occur all across the country? How does he get away with this, as it appears he is getting away with it, when even the harshest of critics on the left are calling his performance, “brilliant”? When you think about what he is doing, it is not brilliant, but quite clever…but only if it works.
How does he do it with YouTube showing clips of almost every statement he has made over the years? He’s able to get away with this because Romney has evolved into the modern equivalent of a Googlized Man For All Reasons.
If you believe that taxes for the rich should be cut—search YouTube and you will find a clip with Romney saying exactly that. Believe that taxes for the rich should not be cut? Search YouTube and you will find Romney saying that as well. After Romney’s about face in the presidential debate, you can now find on YouTube a clip of Romney saying almost everything in pairs of opposites. The YouTube slogan is Broadcast Yourself and that is exactly what Romney has done.
Romney has transformed himself into The Man For All Reasons, a modern Every Man with Every Position defined so that you can dial up what you want to hear—giving you the reason that you want to hear in order to vote for him.
Now that might turn out to be brilliant…but only if the American public is as stupid as Romney believes that it is. Stay tuned.