Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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Mitt’s Foreign Policy Vision

Well, it may be short on eloquence. But it’s full of good sense, on why we can’t let a possibly suicidal nation have nuclear weapons, on the demographic challenge of Islam, and on why we still have all the decisive advantages unless we do nothing. Some of Law-and-Order Fred’s writers should volunteer to make Romney’s prose more punchy and genuinely memorable.

Discussions - 5 Comments


If a candidate either can't, or (more likely in Romney's case), isn't willing to be eloquent on this issue, one questions whether he really feels it in his heart ... which is to say, whether he really understands it.

Mitt's finished, give it up

I think I'm with David and Clint, on this one. I'm so very tired of uninspiring people in an age when we need inspiration more than almost anything else. If you can't compose it yourself, fine. But not to see the need for it and to go an buy it (he's certainly got the money for it) is bordering on the inexcusable.

The lack of eloquence may or may not stem from the man himself. Haven't seen/heard enough of him to tell. The audience for the speech was not the right one for soaring eloquence, however.

He was speaking at the Syms School for Business at Yeshiva University in New York. Sy Symns, now about eighty years old, was a familiar face and voice on New York TV and radio. He has/had a business that sold `name-brand' clothing at discount prices. The slogan was "An educated consumer is our best customer," as anyone who was in the New York area twenty years ago will remember. His daughter Marcy took over the pitch after a while, and her delivery was comically reminiscent of Dad's.

Anyway, we can probably thank the context of the speech for two of its features: 1. A Mormon guy using the phrase, "It takes chutzpah...." and 2. The dutiful recitation of facts and figures in a point-by-point plod-through format. ("Let me show you some slides I think are pretty interesting." That's either a Churchill quote, or maybe a note from my Uncle Eddie in Cliffwood Beach. Let me think that over, and see if I can remember. But don't blame me if I forget to.)

Romney will be speaking to undergraduates at the Hillsdale College commencement in a couple of weeks, so we'll see how he sounds there. That's the format for a try at more inspirational prose.

Eloquence, no, although none of us were there to hear it. But lots of details, with each presented to make a succinct point. One hears new ideas, learns new facts, crisply presented. The man and his staff have done their homework. They are serving their fellow citizens by presenting point one, point two, point three of their proposals, and not hiding behind generalities. Doing so makes Mitt Romney a better and more civic campaigner than, to my recollection, George W. Bush was.

Maybe Romney can't win, but let's hope the other candidates measure up to this sort of campaign style. If McCain could combine this sort of work with the genuine eloquence he displayed in his recent Iraq speech, Rudy and Freddy would have to rise to the challenge also, and would be forced away from their unhealthy connection (not their fault) right now with conservative wish-fulfillment. Policy positions and political philosophy must trump "narratives" during the nomination process, my friends. Otherwise, be ready for more W-style dissappointments.

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