Romney is probably the most competent technocrat in the 2008 race. This Post article does a good job of outlining his varied experience with Bain Capital which he founded in 1984, as well as his stewardship of the Salt Lake city olympics through scandal-prone waters. (And not the least, it is astounding to see how deep his links with Bain Capital go, and how these continue to inform and shape the financial and operational logisitics of his presidential run).
Now, I think many of his proposed policies and his rhetoric, particularly as they pertain to the war on terror, are not just unsound they are catastrophically dangerous. His website unsubtly reveals all–the home page’s tag line grandstands, ”Mitt Romney: True Strength of America’s Future.” Like Giuliani, Romeny seems to be doubling up on the notion of never ending war with nebulous enemies all blurring into each other. He jumped on Edwards well-considered renunciation, not of the very important fight against extremist fanatics, but against propagandist rhetoric designed to scare Americans into acqueiscence to unchecked executive power. With that said though, there really isn’t any doubt that on pure competence terms (measured by prior experience), Romney may well be the best candidate. Too bad his views on American and world politics are even more reactionary than Bush. A functionally competent Bush wedded to even more extreme domestic and foreign policies–now that is something to be really scared of.
Posted by AAH4
