MITT ROMNEY IS ARTICULATE

There are a lot of reasons why I hope Governor Romney gets the GOP nomination for the next presidential race. Today I want to discuss one of those reasons. Mitt Romney is articulate. He can present his decisions in a way that will convince fence sitters, and not offend people inclined to disagree with him.

Here is a clip of Tony Blair in the British Parlaiment, debating action in the recent Lebanon/Israel conflict. Notice how these men articulate their positions, and are expected to immediately respond to the person doing the criticizing.



I think we can all agree that President Bush would get destroyed if he was expected to jump into an arena like this. Cheney would probably do alright, but probably would have a reputation of being even less likeable. People like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan would tend to rise to the surface. Here is a clip of Ronald Reagan responding to Sam Donaldson back in the 1980's:



Here is a quote from a fairly recent article in the American Spectator. I love it how Romney keeps his cool in a potentially tense, awkward situation. Here's the quote:

BOSTON -- During last year's St. Patrick's Day breakfast in South Boston, Democratic Speaker of the House Salvatore DiMasi abandoned the good-natured roasting typical of the event to acidly kid about the airline tickets he saw sticking out of Governor Willard Mitt Romney's pocket. "I don't want to keep you too long. You can leave any time you want," he said, to which the ever-unflappable Romney shot back, "I'll be here until you get funny." It was enough cool to make DiMasi lose his for a moment. "You being President of the United States. That's a joke," he sneered. A short time later, perhaps knowing somewhere deep down that he would still receive the biggest laugh of the breakfast, Romney chose to defuse rather than escalate the tension with his opening lines: "It's great to be here in Iowa this morning -- Oops, wrong speech. Sorry about that."

Here is a clip of the 1992 debate between Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ross Perot. When I watch this clip, I tend to focus in on Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot, even though Bush and Clinton both basically ignore Mr Perot. This is Ross Perot who rose to the occasion in the 1970's and organized the rescue of American hostages in Iran because two of those Americans were his employees. Ross Perot had started a company that created over 100,000 good, high tech, upper middle class jobs. Bill Clinton had 'created' a bunch of Tyson Chicken jobs in Arkansas where American citizens make McNuggets. But we know in retrospect, and can see within this 10 minute clip that Bill Clinton is going to come across as the 'winner' of this debate. You can also see right away that George Bush is losing credibility fast.



I want a President who can articulate his policies in a way that persuades others to his way of thinking, without coming across as closed minded. Mitt Romney fits the bill better than anyone I can think of. Here is a clip of Romney discussing his decision not to provide Khatami with State funded VIP treatment. One of my favorite parts about this clip is when he says "Well I always believe in talking, even with people who are your avowed enemies. The opportunity to exchange perspectives provides an opportunity to learn something..."



And before this last clip, let me just say that I am not a hater of George W. Bush. But he just makes it way too easy to poke fun at him. Here is a clip that comes, I think, from the David Letterman show. These always make me laugh:



I think all Americans can agree that we want the leader of our country to be an intelligent person. One reason Mitt Romney has my support is because he is so articulate.