Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson has some advice for Mitt Romney. If you want to improve your standing with women (or Latinos or blacks) pretend to give a damn about them. Find some issue, like failing schools or black unemployment and start talking passionately about it. Show some humanity. Bring back some compassionate conservatism. Don’t act like a Tea Bagger.
This is not hopeless. A number of eventual presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, emerged weakened from their nomination battles. And Romney is not a radical figure. During the heat of the primaries, he was accused of being a closet pragmatist. Now he can finally come out.
Once again with the Etch A Sketch.
The problem is that Romney has already amply demonstrated that he doesn’t give a damn about women or blacks or Latinos (unless he’s getting bad press for employing them to mow his lawn, for Pete’s sake). This is the Digital Age, and you don’t get any mulligans.
Romney has campaigned on destroying the health care coverage of millions of people by repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with nothing. He’s supported the Ryan budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it and throw millions off Medicaid. He’s supported the Blunt Amendment that would prevent women from having contraceptive coverage. He supported an Ohio law that would have destroyed public sector unions. He took the toughest stand of any candidate against Latino immigration, going so far as to support the ridiculous unconstitutional Arizona Latino harassment law. He hasn’t said one thing that could be construed as caring about anything in the black community.
And nothing about his life up to now suggests that he cares about anyone but himself and people in his tax bracket. He made his fortune destroying ordinary folks’ lives. And he’s running for the opportunity to do that on a global scale. He can try to fake some compassion, but it’s too late for it to work.
