Mitt Romney--Economic Genius

Today Willard gave a speech attacking President Obama at an abandoned factory in Lorain County, Ohio, the poorest county in that state and one which was the worst hit by the 2008 economic collapse. The previous day President Obama had been in the county and showcased his initiative of community colleges acting as training centers for unemployed workers for high-skilled jobs. The program has a 90% success rate. 


I think it looks unseemly, Willard's strategy of shadowing the President ,appearing in places immediately after him. First, he does not appear as an equal and in fact hurts himself doing this. The factory in question happened to be owned by a Romney financial backer. It closed under George W. Bush. Romney blamed it not re-opening on President Obama.


Now I have heard it said that on economic matters that Mitt Romney has a touch of genius in him. David Frum has spoken about this. But in two separate campaigns I have not seen a glimmer of original thought or an innovative idea. It's not like Newt Gingrich, who can surprise you with his ideas on having a national program of research on alzheimer's because of its future costs to an aging society. You never get a burst of something that would make you interested in what Mitt Romney would say.


Mitch Daniels, who endorsed Romney, complained that Romney isn't campaigning as if he will govern. He lamented Romney not mentioning ideas for the young and those of lower classes. 


The main reason I believe is that Romney has no vision of America. He is a technocrat for the FIRE economy, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. He actually believes that we just restore that an America can move on. 


This is a man so isolated by his wealth, his religion and his own class requirements that he can not envision a different future. I would like him to give such a speech. But today's line "President Obama's is against any energy source under the ground." may seem snide but it also shows a man not able to imagine the implications of something like what Merkel has done in German, go full-tilt for solar to replace their nuclear energy. The Germans have junked tax credits for fossil fuels and thrown these resources at alternative energy sources. This type of thing doesn't enter into his brain. There simply is no imagination there.


What would Romney's economic policy look like. Well,Intrade has the favorite for his Vice President as Senator Portman, who used to be budget director for George W. Bush. He was the man who was Al Gore in the trial run of the 2000 debates. He is conservative, very articulate and presentable. But he is of the radical tax-cutting school we have seen grow on steroids over the last decade. Romney's whole economic team are all veterans of George W. 


Today, reporters jumped Romney's spokesman about his candidate's claims about the factory and wondered how George W. fit into the narrative. He doesn't. The economic mess is all created by President Obama, something that even the American public doesn't believe. It is the untruth which speaks the real truth of Romney's economic plans. 


But if he is such a financial wizard, certainly something should come out that shows he has a different twist to the old ideology, something that suggests he believes it will lead to somewhere different. 


Sadly, it appears he doesn't. This would be like voting for a return of Herbert Hoover after FDR's first term