Will Mitt ever connect with the ordinary voter?
As Mitt Romney gave his “almost” victory speech last night before inching across the finishing line in Ohio he looked every bit the spit-polished Bain Capital venture capitalist, the telegenic tele-prompted candidate of the elite.
But did I detect a bat’s squeak of emotion in his voice when he spoke about soldiering on from good days to bad, when he extolled the virtues of perseverance?
Romney may have been born to money and made lorry loads more. But despite his 250 million in the bank Mitt is the mormon descendant of settlers who rolled their wagons from one bit of parched American earth to the next, who were prevailed on by their profits to move on as soon as they had began to feel prosperous and comfortable. Dogged determination is part of his DNA.
After all part of his apprenticeship as a mormon priest was to spend two years in France trying to convert Frenchmen to the teachings of the Latter Day Saints. That can’t have been easy.
In other words, Mitt Romney too has a compelling “journey” to talk about. But he can’t or won’t because it would draw attention to the weirder side of his faith.
This is a mistake. The general public is far more tolerant of the quirks of the Mormon religion than hardcore evangelical Christians many of whom view Mormonism as a dangerous sect.
He should ignore them and talk about his family and milieu openly and passionately. It might allow him to connect with “regular folks” in states like Ohio.
Politics, especially the presidential variety is so scripted, choreographed and soulless these days that it looks phoney in a world where we celebrate the spontaneous or genuine, however gritty and shaky on YouTube or Facebook.
For now Romney does indeed look like an unhappy cross of Al Gore (awkward) and John Kerry (aloof). Both had a good chance of capturing the White House but failed because their campaign style confirmed voter’s suspicion that they hailed from a distant privileged planet.
Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama and, yes, George W Bush all connected with some voters on a visceral level. So far Mitt Romney has not, despite his lead in the delegate count, and if his death march to the nomination is to end in the White House he needs to find his own voice – and soon.
On the hand, it is just possible that in his case you can take the man out of Bain Capital but you can’t take Bain Capital out of the man.