No silver tongue, but Mitt Romney gets job done - Jonathan Martin
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No silver tongue, but Mitt Romney gets job done - Politico: PoliticoNo silver tongue, but MittRomney gets job d..No silver tongue, but Mitt Romney gets job done
Mitt Romney revealed a personal side during his address. | AP Photo
By JONATHAN MARTIN | 8/31/12 4:34 AM EDT
TAMPA, Fla. – Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech won’t find its way into any future pantheon of memorable convention addresses, but the Republican accepted his party’s nomination with remarks that will help him with swing voters in two important ways.
Facing grim polling data about his personal appeal, the usually detached Romney finally offered a glimpse of raw emotion as he discussed his late parents and spoke of his love for his own five sons. Choking up on two occasions, Romney revealed a personal side his aides have been trying to find since he began running for president over 5 years ago.
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Further, the GOP standard bearer articulated some of the most compelling lines of attack on President Barack Obama he’s yet to deliver. Romney, grasping for an edge against a history-making incumbent who scores poorly on the economy but remains well-liked, seemed to find a new implicit message for voters: You redeemed America’s promise in 2008, it felt good, but it’s ok to let him go.
Romney doesn’t have a silver tongue. The roof of the convention hall here was never in danger of being brought down by the crowd. But he showed that he was capable of delivering a solid but not spectacular speech with the pressure on. The broad consensus among Romney-watchers: about as good as the CEO-turned-governor was going to do.
“It had to be the speech of his political career,” said Kevin DeMenna, an Arizona delegate.
What was noticeably lacking, though, was much of an explanation of his policies and how they’d help improve the lives of Americans. This was an introduction more of Romney the man than any attempt to sell a recovery plan.
It may be enough to give him a boost against Obama, but with the Democrats convening in Charlotte next week, Romney’s immediate bounce could be short-lived. What Romney officials and other senior GOP officials hope they did this week was cross an acceptability threshold with voters who still have hazy impressions of the Republican.
Yet, befitting a campaign that has been marred by gaffes, Romney’s evening wasn’t without an awkward moment. The campaign distracted from their own candidate’s big night and the convention finale by sending the 82-year-old Clint Eastwood on stage in between a touching video about Romney and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s stirring introducing of the nominee. Eastwood ad-libbed a bizarre stand-up routine in which he pretended to have a dialogue with Obama, as played by an empty stool on stage. Few veteran convention-watchers could recall such an odd performance.
“Bill Clinton introducing Michael Dukakis just went to a distant second place as a bizarre moment,” emailed NBC’s Tom Brokaw, who attended his first convention in 1968.
What Romney advisers hope will be better remembered by up-for-grabs voters were the parts of the former Massachusetts governor’s speech that showed a beating heart behind the candidate’s stiff exterior.
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