Romney’s strategic bow out (a genius political move)

The news today is that Romney has bowed out of his bid for the Presidency. This is a genius political move and a brilliant marketing ploy. First of all, he starts by saying he disagrees with John McCain on a “number of issues”; this establishes him as someone who can think for himself, isn’t a lackey, etc. But then he quickly backs up John McCain’s position on staying at war, hunting Osama and quelling religious extremism. We haven’t heard Romney talk this directly about staying at war, and the only reason he does it now is to position himself as a compatible Vice President to John McCain. Then he states the reason for his withdrawal: to make it harder for Clinton and Obama to win so that he’s not part of aiding a surrender to terror. Yes, he just said that the Democratic position is to surrender to terror.

Whether or not you believe that “surrender to terror” part (or think, like I do, that it’s the worst spin imaginable), the fact is Romney is liberally stretching the truth on the first part; his staying in the race would not aid Clinton or Obama. Romney’s exiting because McCain already has a virtual lock on the Republican nomination and if Mitt surrenders gracefully and backs McCain, he has a very good chance at being Vice President. He says that in this time of war he feels he has to step aside for “our party and for our country”. He also said “I will continue to stand for conservative principles. I’ll fight along side you for all the things we believe in.” This positions him as a less extreme, but still conservative, option to Huckabee as VP. In case you haven’t heard, the conservative Republican base is not that comfortable with McCain. I’m sure they would prefer Huckabee and his conservative (and extremely non-constitutional) views on the role of religion in government, but maybe Romney will satisfy as an alternative.

The crazy thing is this that, besides the spin/lies, this concession speech makes Romney seem down to earth (I always thought he was smug before–have you noticed his smirks (at 3:32 and other places) when Ron Paul talks? McCain does that too, and it drives me nuts). His “you guys are great” remark at 1:55 into the video clip is heartfelt and makes even me like him a little bit.