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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMichael Tomasky, Newsweek: Mitt Romney: A Candidate With a Serious Wimp Problem
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/29/michael-tomasky-a-candidate-with-a-serious-wimp-problem.htmlIn some respects, hes more weenie than wimpsocially inept; at times awkwardy ingratiating, at other times mocking those below him, but almost always getting the situation a little wrong, and never in a sympathetic way. The evidence resonates across too many years to deny. What kind of teenager beats up on the misfit, sissy kid, pinning him down and violently cutting his hair with a pair of school scissorsthe incident from Romneys youth that The Washington Post famously reported (and Romney famously didnt really deny) back in May? The behavior extends, through more sedate means, into adulthood. The Salt Lake Olympics remains his greatest triumph, for which he wins deserved praise. But to many of those in the know, Romney placed a heavy asterisk next to his name by attacking the men he replaced on the Olympic Committee, smearing them in his book, even after a court threw out all the corruption charges against them.
And what kind of presidential candidate whines about a few attacks and demands an apology when the going starts to get rough? And tries to sound tough by accusing the president who killed the worlds most-wanted villain of appeasement? Thats what they call overcompensation, and its a dead giveaway; its the tell. This guy is nervousterrifiedabout looking weak. And ironically, being terrified of looking weak makes him look weaker still.
-snip-
By this definition, the conservative definition, Romney is a total bust. Hes the most risk-averse major politician to come along in ages. He accepted the job at Bain Capital only after wringing out of Bill Bain a promise that, if the venture failed, Mitt would be welcomed back to Bain & Co.at his old levels of compensation and seniorityand that the press and public would be fed some happy talk about how it had all gone as intended. And why didnt he leave Bain in 1999 to go run the Olympics, as he always said he had, but instead take his now-famous leave of absence? To have the option of coming back; to minimize the risk. Even his flip-flopping, his taking of positions all over the map, is a form of risk aversion, being all things to all people, able to placate any audience, never stuck out on a limb unable to satisfy.
-snip-
But if Romney is elected? Be nervous. A Republican president sure of his manhood had nothing to prove. Reagan was happy with a jolly little shoot-up in Grenada, and eventually he settled down to the serious work of arms control, consummating historic treaties with Mikhail Gorbachev. But a weenie Republicanlook out. He has something to prove, needs to reassert that natural advantage. That spells trouble more often than not.
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Michael Tomasky, Newsweek: Mitt Romney: A Candidate With a Serious Wimp Problem (Original Post)
highplainsdem
Jul 2012
OP
Kicking -- this is the article the "wimp" cover is about, and it was put online just minutes ago.
highplainsdem
Jul 2012
#1
highplainsdem
(48,921 posts)1. Kicking -- this is the article the "wimp" cover is about, and it was put online just minutes ago.
BeyondGeography
(39,351 posts)2. Well worth reading
Romney is indeed trying to sneak into the WH through a side door and will have to, despite his best efforts, still walk through fire to get there. He will fail, there's nothing in his background and behavior to suggest otherwise.
highplainsdem
(48,921 posts)3. True. Tomasky really nailed Romney.