Strassel: Mr. Romney, Trust Your Pants – WSJ.com
September 14 | Posted by mrossol | Liberal Press, Party PoliticsStrassel: Well said. Romney needs to start talking… Hello??
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In the classic 1968 film “Once Upon a Time in the West,” a villainous Henry Fonda shoots one of his lackeys, in part for the sin of wearing both a belt and suspenders. How do you trust a man, muses Fonda, who “can’t even trust his own pants?”
The bold Romney who picked Paul Ryan as a catalyst to run on ideas has been ousted by the return of the careful Romney who wants this race to be about Barack Obama. And America is unwilling to trust a man who seems unwilling to trust his own agenda.
The re-emergence of the well-belted Romney began at the GOP convention, where he delivered a speech that had been pared away to nothing but a fleeting reference to his policies. It was on vivid display, too, in Mr. Romney’s Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” in which he managed to use 30 minutes of prime time to talk mainly of flotsam, as well as (news flash!) how bad Mr. Obama had made the economy.
As for how he would create “more jobs” and “higher income,” Mr. Romney wasn’t saying. His references to his “tax policy” served mainly to explain what it doesn’t do. He vowed to replace ObamaCare with his “own plan”—which is? He explained he had “big policy differences” with the president on Afghanistan. Those differences are “important.” So important that he moved to the next question.
One problem: Mr. Obama is winning. The August unemployment numbers are horrid; the president increases his national lead. …
Voters know that things are rotten; the GOP needn’t spend $100 million telling them so. …
They [voters] are getting an idea of Romney policies—courtesy of the president. Mr. Obama may himself have no ideas, but he is an expert on the Republican’s plans. Mr. Romney will raise middle-class taxes. Mr. Romney will take away health care. Mr. Romney will strip seniors of programs. In the absence of Mr. Romney explaining his reforms—and how they work—why not believe the president?
One painful example: Mr. Romney’s NBC interview was remarkable for his deliberate avoidance of the (apparently scary?) term “tax reform.” Yet if there is one thing that Americans agree epitomizes failed government, it is the tax code.
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Americans respond well to A-B-C explanations of valuable reform. (Here is what is wrong. Here is my policy to fix it. Here is how it works, with three examples. Here is the good that comes of it.) Were Mr. Romney to apply this formula to health care, entitlements, food stamps and college loans, he’d be winning.
The press embarrassed itself this week by flaying Mr. Romney’s criticism of the State Department while giving a pass to the policies of a president who, after announcing the death of four diplomats, flew to a campaign event in Las Vegas. The press doesn’t care. Its goal was to let Mr. Romney know what’s in store for him should he consider mounting more than a mediocre campaign. If he gets spooked by that, he’s done.
America isn’t going to trust a candidate who doesn’t trust his own pants…
Write to kim@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared September 14, 2012, on page A11 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Mr. Romney, Trust Your Pants.
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