I, Robot

Why Romney Wins

As of this writing, Friday, January 30th 2011, it appears that Mitt Romney will be the next president of the United States. There are a couple of reasons for that. First and foremost because the other Republican candidates are just that bad. They are, in fact, so bad that I imagine most GOP voters will simply hold their nose and vote in Romney, a demonstrably soulless empty suit. A man of absolutely no conviction whatsoever who—ask anybody—will say and do anything and take both sides of any issue. He is a demonstrably disingenuous man, one of those ultra-rich dilettantes who seeks the presidency out of sheer ego and because, frankly, he has nothing else to do. Romney lacks even a single character trait which would recommend anyone’s faith in him as a leader during this time of great national suffering, but, as I said, the other choices are just that bad and, by God, White America is determined to get Barack Obama out of the White House, no matter what. The other reason is Obama himself. He has failed, miserably, to connect with America in any measurably visceral sense. He just kind of floats above it all, missing his flight connections along the way. He does not emotionally bond with us or inspire us. The dreadful economic times have provided even Red Meat Republicans genuine alternatives to their foolish racist attacks against the president, absent which Black and Latino America won’t feel as pressed to defend Obama. Just as the historic nature of Obama’s nomination stirred and united ethnic minorities and independent voters, Obama’s historic election has stirred and united whites—both conservative, liberal and independent—to be predisposed to find fault with him and want him out.

The 2012 dynamic is an irrational push to rid America of its first black president, and the elevation of Romney—a man disliked by both conservative and liberal whites, but who is seen as the only viable GOP candidate—is the primary evidence of that. Romney is measurably less homey and cuddly than the professorial Obama, so in terms of emotional connection, they’re both a wash. Obama has vision, but forgets to provide warmth and empathy. Romney has measurably less warmth than Obama. He is not so much professorial as he is synthetic. He secretes disingenuity from every pore. Romney demonstrably has no vision for America beyond his running it. He is the emptiest of suits. And, unless there’s some real game change in terms of the president inspiring hope as he did in 2008, this robot will be sworn in as the leader of the free world, a testament not to America’s greatness but to its institutionalized racism.

Conservative voters are not actually interested in doing something good for the country. Their single objective is to get rid of Obama. They parrot the party line that Obama's policies are destroying America, but most couldn't tell you what the president's policies are or explain in what way they are "destroying America." The slow-mo, grudging conservative lean toward Mitt Romney is absolute proof of this. These people know, for a fact, this man is an onion, bought and paid for by corporate interests. They know, for a fact, Romney will drive immediately to the political center within ten seconds of being sworn into office, that there will not be measurable daylight between the aggregate Obama and the aggregate Romney. Their support for Romney is wholly disingenuous, based not on what's best for the nation but on who can beat Obama. They know the country remains in the grasp of a social and economic crisis but still insist on putting someone second-rate behind the desk. It's not because they believe in Romney but because they hate Obama. And they hate Obama—who has cut their taxes, ended the war, saved the auto industry, reformed health care, killed bin Laden and averted a second Great Depression—because he's black. Period.  Romney’s elevation has no other empirical resource.

The rational, reasonable mind, regardless of political disposition, says, in a time of crisis,  I'd rather stay with the guy we got than replace him with someone who's provably not half the man the president is just because he's conservative (which Romney is not) or just because he's white. The reluctant groundswell now pooling around the former governor engenders no other conclusion about the the conservative right: forget all their noise. At the end of the day, it's all about skin color. The extremes to which white America will go to delude itself and avoid coming to terms with its innate racism are shocking and sad. If they were running a real guy, a Reagan True Believer with real chops and solid ideas that are actually better than those of the president, I'd be less inclined to insist this is simple self-delusional racism. But, in the midst of national crisis, these people are trying to put Ted Baxter in the White House—a guy they themselves despise and know, viscerally, is a liar who is demonstrably but a shadow of the human being Barack Obama is—just to get rid of the president. Somebody needs to start calling this foolishness what it is.

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