It’s an old story. A dashing man rides in on a white steed and promises to fix all the problems. He comes from a famous family. Everything he touches turns to gold. But who the heck is he?
With Mitt Romney making his decision to run for governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from his ridiculously plush Belmont thousands of Massachusetts residents have been jumping for joy.
Why? It’s simple. He’s not Jane Swift.
That in itself is something worth throwing a party for. Having Romney on the ballot instead of Swift gives us an actual choice for governor this year. Because obviously, no one was voting for Swift. Her pale puffy behind was sliced and diced a long time ago.
So, great. We’ve got another option. Mitt Romney, budget balancer extraordinaire. Fearless leader of the Winter Olympics. Successful businessman. Harvard Law School graduate. An all-around swell guy. Cue the sappy all-American music, please.
Is anyone else missing something?
Perhaps like, how the hell is he going to fix this mess that is Massachusetts?
Make no bones about it. When Mitt Romney or any other of the Democratic candidates becomes governor of Massachusetts, they’re starting at the bottom of a deep, dark hole. Our job as voters is deciding which one of the talking heads who have announced themselves as candidates has the best plan to climb out of it.
So. What’s the plan, buddy?
What do we know about Mitt Romney right now? We know he’s Republican. We know that he’s standing behind the tax cuts that governors past have put into place. We know that he’s promised to cut the “fat” out of our budget and to get all of the money necessary to run the state back by balancing our budget instead of raising taxes.
These things are all well and good. Or they’re not. It’s immaterial this early in the election process.
What matters right now is that Mitt Romney is making promises without any kind of plan. He’s promised to improve the environment, bring more jobs to Massachusetts, and balance our budget. These things are good. These are things that we want to hear, and good ol’ pretty boy Mitt knows that.
They mean nothing without a plan, a plan, a plan.
So now the questions have to start rolling. HOW are you going to “root out” fat in our budget, Mr. Romney? WHERE are you going to start looking for that fat? WHY do you think it will be so easy to do?
Much has been made of Romney’s stage presence. His easy manner. His ability to be smoooooth, if you will. That isn’t a bad thing. There’s nothing run with having a governor who’s a little bit slick. It could actually be a welcome change, taking into consideration the fat chick with the bad laugh, helicopter, and no respect that was in office.
But just because he looks slick doesn’t mean he will be as governor. There’s nothing saying James Bond would have made a good governor, and I think that’s what a lot of people are expecting here.
This isn’t Utah anymore, Toto. This is the big leagues. Massachusetts is in a major mess. Smiles and promises have no substance. Jane Swift loved trying to be funny. Look where it got her.
Mitt Romney could very well turn out to be a fine governor. But no one should just hand him the job without hearing what he has to say. We just don’t know how he’ll do with the pressure here. What he did with the Winter Olympics is commendable, and it does weigh in as a factor here. But it’s a different game being played in Beantown than in Salt Lake. Let’s see what Mitty’s got to say.