Mitt Romney is a frontrunner in the Republican primary but some critics find him to moderate for the party. As the Governor of Massachuetts, Romney had to be moderate in order to be elected because it is a fairly liberal state. With the Republican Party on the right with other frontrunners hard core right winger Rick Perry and big business person Herman Cain, Romney's past is a downfall. While Governor of Massachuetts, Romney supported a health care bill that passed during his term and abortion. Now, he believes that the United States Health Care Bill is socialist and should be overturned and also is pro-life. Another issue which he is considered too moderate is his view on the environment. As Governor, he hired one of the most prominent environmental activist as an advisor and helped him draft climate change legislations and regulations for coal burning plants. Perry says that Massachuetts was the first state to have a cap-and-trade act. Romney now as a canidadate wants to amend the Clean Air Act to not include carbon dioxide from regulatory purview and use United States energy reserves for more development. Also, Romney says that he does not believe in human caused climate change but during his governorship he did.
Romney has gained some support after Chris Christie announced that he would not run for the Republican nomination. Many of Christie's donors are now giving to
Info: Wall Street Journal
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4 comments:
Romney might be considered too moderate by some, but I think that he is just contradicts himself because he wants to gain votes. All of his contradictions makes him sound unreliable, not necessarily too moaderate.
Elizabeth Bass
I remember in the months leading up to the 2008 elections that Romney was exposed as a "flip-flopper". Although I admire him for his formidable business background, I do feel like he is trying too hard to shape his views in a way that will garner him the most votes, thus making him a bit unreliable. However, a candidate at the other end of this spectrum could be just as unsuited for the presidency - if he or she is too firm in his or her beliefs, they might immediately disregard bipartisanship, the opinions of others, and the possibility that their opinion might actually be wrong.
While Romney's opponents attempt to draw a connection between the health care bill he helped pass as governor and the United States Health Care Bill, as we saw in the New Hampshire Republican debates last month, Romney tries to separate the two. Who's right, I don't know, but it certainly doesn't help Romney and adds to his image of being a flip-flopper.
Whatever Romney's doing, though, it must be working, since he's sitting at the top of the Republican candidates pool right now.
The reality of politics is that, in order to win the GOP nomination and hence the presidential election, Romney needs to appeal to a certain segment of constituents.
Personally, I think that Romney's current moderate rhetoric is appropriate.
In order for the GOP to successfully place a candidate into the presidency, the GOP needs to choose an electable candidate. This means that the GOP candidate cannot alienate moderates.
We have already seen the Bachmann bubble burst. We have already seen the Perry bubble burst. Now we are onto the Cain bubble, (though I personally doubt that the GOP would eventually select Cain as their candidate).
Perhaps the safest way for Romney to secure the candidacy is to maintain his constituency of moderate-conservative voters. After all, it does seem that the far right has jumped from candidate to candidate in the past few months.
If you are more interested in the topic of the GOP race, I recommend the following article: http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-gop-dark-horse
While it is long, it gives a lot of insight as to the politics behind the past candidacy races and gives a fair observation on the current race.
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