COMMENTARY | Mitt Romney gave a high profile interview with “Fox News Sunday,” his first major appearance before the press in the wake of the 2012 election and its aftermath. Amazingly, even though the election is over, Mitt Romney is still flip-flopping.
According to Dylan Stableford with Yahoo News, Mitt Romney said “it kills me not to be … in the White House,” in a discussion about the sequester and the debate between President Barack Obama and the White House.
There’s nothing wrong with longing to be in the Oval Office in the thick of things. Yet this completely contradicts comments made by Tagg Romney, his son, back in December.
In that Boston Globe interview, Tagg (who has been courted to run for the open Massachusetts Senate seat) said that his father was bummed about losing in 2008 and did not want to run again. But his family persuaded him to do it.
“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to … run,” Tagg told the Boston newspaper. “If he could have found someone to take his place … he would have been ecstatic to step aside. He is a very private person who loves his family deeply and wants to be with them, but he has deep faith in God and he loves his country, but he doesn’t love attention.”
Let’s consider these words:
“If he could have found someone to take his place”: Didn’t several other candidates pursue the Republican nomination? How many others were intimidated by Romney’s wealth and campaign tactics into not seeking the office they also wanted?
“He doesn’t love the attention”: Then why is he giving interviews on Fox News and speaking before the Conservative Political Action Committee?
“He wanted to be president less….”: even though he still wants the White House so badly.
The next question is why Mitt Romney continues to flip-flop. After all, the election is over, right? Mitt Romney isn’t going to run, or is he? With his Fox News interview, his CPAC appearance, and the need he feels to rewrite his record, all point to a third campaign for office.
And before you laugh that idea off, based on his age and number of losses, remember that Ronald Reagan was “too old” in 1980, and had lost bids for the White House in 1968 and 1976. Romney clearly feels he’s the second coming of Reagan, and he’s strongly considering running again.
John A. Tures is an associate professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga.