FRIENDLY FIRE - We've all been waiting for Mitt Romney to take a position and stick to it. We've all been waiting for Romney to say something both unpopular and unambiguous.
So, we do know he's trying to get rid of federal spending--if not the federal government itself. We know he wants to repeal ObamaCare. We do not know what he would do to fix health care or defense or education--only what he won't do.
He's like Groucho Marx in that great song from Horsefeathers: "Whatever it is, I'm against it!"
We've all been waiting, in vain, for him to actually have his version of Clinton's Sista Souljah moment, when he distanced himself from the left end of the Democratic Party and said, I have my limits and will not pander indefinitely.
Most of us kind of hoped that Romney's declaration of semi-independence would be to say "No!" to the far right, to say to those who called Obama a Nazi, "no he isn't."
We wanted him to bravely state that he didn't need the people who deny Obama is an American. We wished he'd affirm some legitimacy to Darwin and the Theory of Evolution. We all knew that he had to have some limits to his pandering and unconstitutional vagueness. We all knew that someday he'd have to take the chance of actually taking a real position that might cost him votes.
And finally he seemed to. We just never dreamed that when he shared a real belief he would do it by telling Black people to go to hell.
So, when he addressed the NAACP, he did not pander; he did not tell them what they wanted to hear. He spoke his truth--not to power but to the less powerful--and told them he was against ObamaCare.
He got booed for it, but for him this may be a badge of courage. Yes, he gets props for going into the lion's den.
He could have just ducked the convention--as McCain did 4 years ago. But knowing he'd get a chilly reception, he showed his courage and independence. However, as acts of courage and conscience go, this was not much. He really didn't risk many votes, assuming, correctly, that Obama will handily carry the Black vote.
He may even have gained some votes from the right who haven't trusted his conservative bona fides and will applaud him dismissing the Black vote with such élan.
I guess we're still waiting for him to say something brave and true.
(Jonathan Dobrer is an op-ed contributor to the Daily News and Friendly Fire and is a syndicated columnist. This column was posted first at Friendly Fire. More on Jonathan and his books at www.Dobrer.com) –cw
Tags: Jonathan Dobrer, Mitt Romney, politics, NAACP
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 56
Pub: July 13, 2012
