Category Archives: Mitt Romney

Why Mitt Romney’s Business Experience Doesn’t Matter

14 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Election 2012, GOP, Mitt Romney

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Here’s the Republican dream: A successful businessman – make him a full partner – with a passion for streamlining all organizations following the Efficiency Movement model, including government, is successful in his bid for the presidency. Hallelujah! Or not? Welcome to the Herbert Hoover administration.

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover, partner Bewick, Moreing & Co. and successful consultant

Okay, you probably saw that one coming. There’s a picture of President Hoover posted here for a reason. Let’s try again. I’m sure Republicans would be happy to re-live the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who built a multi-million dollar peanut business. Well, maybe not! Harry Truman is generally favorably remembered by history despite the trying times of his presidency. He ran a clothing store into bankruptcy. One more try? Franklin Roosevelt, the so-called ‘father of American Socialism,’ who Republicans loath founded the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.

There is no evidence in our history books a successful businessman makes a great or even good president. Will Mitt Romney rewrite history?

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is trying to leverage his business experience to pose as a job creator. The affective narrative he promotes is Bain Capital’s investment in Staples. To his credit, Romney took a chance on the business plan put together by founder Thomas Stemberg. The result is an affective campaign ad. However, Mitt Romney didn’t manage Staples day to day. He invested in it and sat on its board of directors. Maybe Thomas Stemberg should be running for president instead.

This isn’t the only reason Romney’s Bain Capital narrative conspires to take away hope of a successful presidency. The other side of the Bain Capital story is the Staples model is only a small bit of the firm’s picture. Picking start-up winners is high risk so Bain Capital evolved into the classic leverage buy-out model. It’s less risky because you pile debt onto the companies you take over to cover your acquisition costs. Then you pile on huge fees to virtually guarantee a profit. If you can spin off the company fine. If you can’t, gut the company for its assets. The only thing separating Bain Capital from fictional Gordan Gekko is, to their credit, they didn’t do hostile takeovers.

Which leads us to the latest Democrats versus Republicans tug of war over when Mitt Romney left Bain Capital and why it is so critical. The paper trail indicates Romney continued a leadership role even after he headed the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Bain’s new strategy during this period led to a series of business carcasses and the loss of thousands of jobs. At this juncture, Romney’s Bain Capital story turns sour.

There is no doubt Mitt Romney is a smart guy. You don’t become a Baker Scholar by being a dummy. Nor does one quickly reorganize a failing Bain Capital back into success by being an incompetent business manager. However, his Bain Capital turn-around story is inside baseball business stuff not easily transfered to government. Stuff like restructuring employee stock plans or real estate deals isn’t going to help a Romney administration create jobs.

The hard truth is Bain Capital didn’t really care whether it created jobs or even saved jobs. The path leading to greatest profits, including completely gutting companies, is the one they chose. Shed no tears.

Romney is a salesman. He’s a pleaser. He’s cautious. He’s lived a life of privilege few can identify with nor is there any evidence to suggest he relates to the American working class. These critical personal attributes work against him being an affective president. There’s no solid core to Mitt, aside from his Morman faith. You can see it in his Etch A Sketch political career. He was liberal Mitt to succeed as governor in Massachusetts. Contemporary Republican national politics is much farther to the right so he now declares himself a “severe conservative,” whatever that means.

Mitt Romney

Play-Doh, the sum of Mitt Romney?

Which is the point. What does businessman Mitt Romney bring to the table? He’s a great organizer. He may make the White House run like a Swiss watch. However, he succeeded at Bain Capital largely because of his ability to get along with partners. Judging from his campaign he’s going to simply bend to the whims of the Republican Party and public opinion polls. There’s no personal touch to his platform. It’s just a fuzzy rehash of current Republican platform planks. This might make partisan Republicans happy as long as they can continue to steer voters towards the GOP. They’d be happy to let a Tea Party infused Congress call the shots with Romney providing the rubber stamp of approval. However, I don’t think this radical Libertarian inspired vision of America is mainstream nor is it healthy.

To Mitt’s credit he’s no ideologue but his demise is he’s just the opposite: Play-Doh.

Mitt Romney: The Most Indecisive Man in the World

08 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Election 2012, GOP, Mitt Romney

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Mitt Romney is so indecisive when he goes to a restaurant he orders everything on the menu. Why? Because he’s never sure what he wants. Or is that too ridiculous?

‘I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose.’
‘I never really called myself pro-choice.’

Show me a career politician who has never changed a position and I’ll show you a unicorn. Then there’s Mitt Romney’s two-faced nature that seems to be an order of magnitude worse than any other.

‘I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.’
‘I did not see it with my own eyes.’

Maybe I can sort out some perverse sense from his seemingly contradictory statements. Like the quotes that follow where he both supports an inflation adjusted minimum wage but then goes on to say it’ll cost jobs. One could argue he thinks the job losses, even if excessive, are justified by boosting the economic conditions of those trying to subsist on minimum wage jobs.

‘I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation.’
‘There’s no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs.’

Too crazy? Yep. That interpretation doesn’t pass the smell test. So what’s Mitt’s official position on the minimum wage? I don’t know. I scanned Romney’s 87 page allegedly comprehensive economic plan. It isn’t mentioned. Not even once. Best not put it in writing on anything but his Etch A Sketch.

I can see why many conservatives fought hard to defeat ‘liberal’ Mitt during the Republican primary. The YouTube compilation of Romney’s reversal of positions which follows is hilarious but, most interesting, is posted by a far-right personality.

‘I will work and fight for stem cell research.’
‘In the end, I became persuaded that the stem-cell debate was grounded in a false premise.’

‘It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam.’
‘I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there.’

So I got a laugh out of that video but there’s a serious side to it. Conservatives are understandably conflicted. They’re motivated by desperation to vote for Romney because of their anybody-but-Obama syndrome. But are they really getting someone different from President Obama? All indications are Mitt Romney bends dramatically with the political winds. As long as those winds favor their conservative platform, all is good.

Yet Mitt will change direction in a heartbeat to be as liberal, perhaps even more liberal if circumstances dictate, than President Obama to save his own political skin. Mitt’s bizarre, changing spin on the Affordable Care Act’s mandate proves that. He even went as far as to shove his campaign staff under the bus on that one.

‘I like mandates. The mandates work.’
‘I think it’s unconstitutional on the 10th Amendment front.’

So we can laugh at Mitt’s shifting sands of positions. Maybe the next pair of quotes show even Romney can laugh at Romney. Again, clearly conservatives aren’t laughing. I don’t think anyone on the political spectrum is.

‘This is a completely airtight kennel mounted on the top of our car.’
‘They’re not happy that my dog loves fresh air.’

Conservatives particularly won’t be amused Romney makes them dizzy running in circles around their idol, Ronald Reagan.

‘I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.’
‘Ronald Reagan is… my hero.’

More disturbing he’s seriously flip-flopped on all of their key issues: gay rights, abortion, immigration reform, the Bush tax cuts, a no new taxes pledge, campaign finance reform, gun control, universal health care, climate change, stem cell research, the stimulus, TARP, even his Republican affiliation if you can believe that. Want more details? Go here.

No wonder Conan O’Brien mocked Romney saying his most serious political rival in this election is the Mitt from 4 years ago.

And that, boys and girls, is what makes Mitt Romney the most indecisive man in the world!

Is This Any Way for President Paul Ryan to Behave?

17 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by in GOP, Medicare, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry, Speaker Boehner

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President Paul Ryan? Like the sound of it? Gives me the heebie-jeebies!

Chris Hayes of the Weekly Standard claims Ryan’s considering a toss of the hat into the ring and to expect a decision within 2 weeks. Is there any doubt he’ll quickly become a front-runner in the current Republican field comprised of Tea Party crackpots Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, a way outside the mainstream Libertarian Ron Paul (shocking even to many right-wingers) and establishment phony Mitt Romney? Need I mention the also-rans: Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Jon Huntsman?

Paul Ryan holds his plan

Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan is the perfect GOP candidate in a way the other’s are not. Simply stated, it’ll take a relatively mainstream, establishment Republican to win a general election. Here’s the problem. Only 1 such viable candidate exists: Mitt Romney. Prior to the Ames Straw Poll Romney looked not only viable but the candidate. Leading in the national polls comfortably but knowing the very conservative Ames Straw Poll would embarrass him, he took a pass on it. His strategy gave him an excuse for his lousy 7th place finish. However, Rick Perry placed 6th as a write-in before formally announcing. Ouch!  The obvious problem for Mitt Romney is he’s not conservative enough for a Republican party drunk on a stiff keg of tea.

So maybe Rick Perry’s the man? The latest Rasmussen poll has Perry jumping to the front of the pack at 29%. That’s 11 points ahead of Romney. Ouch again! Perry skipped the bruising Fox News Iowa GOP debate and largely is untested on the national stage. But put it this way, he’s only been in the race a few days and he’s already making bad gaffs trying to intimidate our independent Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke. Perry may be a wee bit too strong a brew for mainstream Republicans and independents. Not to mention his main claim to fame, Texas being a job-creating machine, is a target rich environment for Perry’s opposition.

Paul Ryan can cross both boundaries. He’s firmly an establishment guy being Speaker Boehner’s right hand budget guy, heading the House Budget Committee. Flip the coin over and you have a Tea Party favorite who doesn’t have to wear the label on his sleeve like, say, Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann. No wonder über conservative NewsMax had Ryan leading all comers in a poll back in April.

What interested me in discussing a Paul Ryan presidential bid is a story that likely will fly under the radar of most. It’s this odd little story that he’s going to charge $15 a head for a town hall meeting. The cover story put together by his staff is it’s a rotory club invitiation and they set the price. Maybe that’s true but it’s curious he hasn’t held a town hall meeting since April.

What’s signficant about April you ask? It’s when Ryan was getting blow-back from constitutents questioning his Medicare reform plan. ThinkProgress has a couple of videos of the events you can see on YouTube here and here. His constituents aren’t the only ones concerned. Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform scares the knickers off me – and that’s not a pretty sight!

The first blow I – and anyone under 55 – will take is the eligibility age will gradually rise to 67. While this might not be catastrophe for me, I know a few people in the trades burdened with bodies, quite frankly, that can’t even hold out until 65, the current age limit. However, I realize something needs to be cut to ensure Medicare’s future and see this change as inevitable.

The real gut punch is the meat of Ryan’s plan which turns Medicare essentially into a medical 401K. I’ll save my opinion on 401K retirement plans for another day but suffice it to say I would never be able to retire under one. And, yes, I’m a saver. I save at least 20% of my income for retirement and I earn well over the median household income in America. Basically, I’m in better shape than 1/2 of America and I couldn’t even think of retirement without a decent pension.

Like a 401K plan, Ryan offers typical retirees a match of $8,000.  That’s actually more than my employer’s plan costs. So it’s reasonable, right? Well, I’m not over 67 with my history of cancer asking a for-profit insurance company for an individual policy. Think about it. Insurance is about pooled risk and senior citizens are about as concentrated a high-risk health insurance group you can muster. Assuming I become a ‘typical senior‘ my out-of-pocket costs will rise from $6,150 under current Medicare to $12,510 under Ryan’s plan. My understanding is Ryan’s plan adjusts at the rate of consumer inflation, not medical inflation, so the gap will quickly widen over time. Do I need to start worrying what dog food will taste like?

Oh, yeah. I’m scared. Scared because I view Paul Ryan as the most credible Republican threat against President Obama. And any Republican president, should they win a super-majority in the Senate, will railroad through Ryan’s Medicare reform – or worse – turning my retirement into an absolute nightmare. That’s if I can retire at all. My hope is many Americans like the folks crying out at Ryan’s town hall meetings will be so frightened they pull the lever for the other guy.