Creating the aura of inevitability can sometimes come back to haunt you.
Governor Romney’s had one of those days. First, he unveils an economic plan, which gets more attention for it’s weird title than it’s details. Secondly, He commits a gaffe while campaigning today in South Carolina. By itself, it’s no big deal, but more on that later.
Finally, Romney lost an endorsement that he apparently never had in the first place. Now, for the record, I don’t like to dwell upon the mishaps of the competitiors of my preferred choice for the GOP nomination, but when your competitors like to dwell on your missteps, it’s part of the fun.
Romney apparently jumped the gun by announcing an endorsement from Dr. Bob Wilton last week. Read more:
The former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention has retracted his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The Romney campaign has agreed to withdraw all references to Pastor Don Wilton’s endorsement of Romney, the Baptist Press reported on Tuesday.
Wilton said the endorsement – first announced by the Romney campaign last Friday – was a “mistake.”
“While I did give my consent to the local campaign to use my affirmation of the governor’s stance on family values in my capacity as an individual citizen, I made the mistake of not realizing the extent to which it would be used on a national basis,” Wilton told the news agency. “It was my personal error to agree to support Romney’s campaign. Until this incident I had never endorsed any person running for any elected office, Democrat or Republican.”
Now, here is what the Romney camp released last week:
Dr. Don Wilton, Former President Of The South Carolina Baptist Convention, Endorses Gov. Romney
Boston, MA – Today, Dr. Don Wilton, the immediate-past President of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, announced his support for Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign for the presidency. Dr. Wilton’s endorsement is another indication of Governor Romney’s growing support among faith and values leaders in South Carolina and across the nation.
“I am proud to stand alongside Governor Romney as he pursues our nation’s highest office. His values are my values – protecting the sanctity of human life, defending marriage and strengthening the family. We need someone in Washington who will stand up for traditional families and Governor Romney is that person,” said Dr. Wilton. “While we may not agree on theology, Governor Romney and I agree that this election is about our country heading in the right direction. Governor Romney is the best candidate to stand for conservative values in Washington.”
With today’s announcement, Governor Romney said, “As conservatives, Dr. Wilton and I believe that our nation is stronger when we build stronger families. I look forward to working with him in South Carolina to ensure that Washington stands for families, life and marriage.”
Now, this could be a simple mistake, but if you look at the events of last week, it is pretty clear that some people on the Romney side got a little overexcited. Why would they do that? The aura of inevitability…
If you read last weeks posts in the run up to the Values Voter Summit, you would’ve noticed a pattern of evangelical endorsements for Governor Romney. Heck, even the Romney supporters were excitedly looking forward to an “avalanche.” This was really being played up in the blogosphere and media. They confidently rode the wave of inevitability into the straw poll on Saturday, and were ecstatic as soon as the results were released. However, the results were spun in many different ways when Mike Huckabee won the on site vote. Whoever won the actual poll, the results were cast in doubt, but not if your goal was the ability to execute. You know…
1 day out – Endorsement by an excellent conservative Evangelical coinciding with Romney’s speech to the “Values Voters” Conference in DC. (check – Dr. Don Wilton).
Here’s the problem, by trying to create the aura of inevitability, the Romney team jumped the gun, and could’ve hurt themselves trying to win by making up the voters minds for them. Luckily, I don’t think this will really have any effect on Romney’s momentum, but if the doctor had caused a major stink, it could’ve. Dr. Wilton gave his approval of Mitt Romney as a candidate, but didn’t want it to be a national event or an official endorsement. However, the Romney camp thrust his approval into the national spotlight, causing a minor hoopla. We had headlines that read something like “Evangelicals Rally to Romney.” It was apparently just a little misleading. During his speech at the Summit, Romney repeatedly mentioned Dr. Dobson in glowing terms. Overall, Romney’s speech was pretty solid, but that was one of the parts that made me really uncomfortable because he really appeared to be sucking up. The week before, Romney had mentioned that Dr. Dobson had said that he refused to support the other three, giving the impression that Romney thought he could land his endorsement. Dobson might, in the end, back Romney, but the whole thing was a little ridiculous.
Trying to create the aura of inevitability is a tactic all the campaigns usually use. However, when you are overaggressive, it can come back to bite you in the butt. They also mentioned, Hugh Hewitt in particular, that Bob Jones endorsement was a major coup, since Romney would now have many footsoldiers for the South Carolina primary. Unfortunately, Bob Jones personal endorsement doesn’t necessarily mean the endorsement of the university, and the pros and cons of that endorsement have already been discussed. In their efforts to make this a two man race, Romney’s campaign miscalculated.
Oh well, tomorrow’s another day, and Romney likely won’t suffer for this, at least any more than a little egg on the face.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Yep, no one is perfect or immune to stumbles.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:06 pm
[...] post by Tommy Oliver and software by Elliott [...]
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:32 pm
nowandlater, you are missing the point… this is a stumble that feeds right into the image problem Team Romney has.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:46 pm
The obama-osama mixup was pretty funny. The problem with Barack is that his middle name – Hussein – is the same as one of the world’s worst dictators and his last name is one letter away from one of the world’s worst terrorists. If his first name was Adolf, . . .
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Of all the endorsements by Evangelicals of Romney’s campaign recently, the Wilton one was the least significant. Also, he’s not endorsing anyone else, and made it clear that he is for Mitt. As for trying to create an aura of inevitability, that’s nonsense. Nothing is inevitable at this stage, except that the only candidates who have a chance to win this are Romney and Giuliani. The only thing that was significant today was that if Romney doesn’t have any days between now and Iowa that are worse than today was, Romney wins Iowa.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 pm
[...] come back to haunt you,” observes the estimable and expansive Tommy Oliver in a post titled Romney’s Strange Day Governor Romney’s had one of those days. First, he unveils an economic plan, which gets more [...]
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:23 pm
dblagent (4): That’s true – his name is a problem for a lot of Americans. My best friend, who is not politically savvy (like some political junkies I know – myself included), but who votes and cares about the future said to me the other day: No way that anyone with the name Barack Hussein Obama is going to be the president of the United States. No Way!
Someone said that he changed his name to BHO. Does anyone know his American name?
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:25 pm
P.S. A person with the name Barack Hussein Obama is doing himself no favors by (1) refusing to wear a flag pin, and, (2) not putting his hand to his heart when the Pledge of Allegiance is being given.
He betrays his true loyalties when doing so.
I say he may be a C.A.I.R. plant. What say you?
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt to dwell on your missteps , it s part of the fun. Romney apparently jumped the gun by announcing an…, by trying to create the aura of inevitability, the Romney team jumped the gun, and could ve hurt [...]
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Tommy,
The problem with this post is it seems like you are little too over excited to throw this in peoples face, especially a fellow contributor at the site.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Yeah, Tommy! I’ve been writing comments all over the blogosphere praising your courtesy and graciousness as a Fredhead. This “glee” over Romney’s gaffes is making me think twice.
Honestly, you’re great at pushing your guy forward, but don’t you think you should leave it to Justin and Jason to post articles about their candidate (my candidate, too)?
Just a gentle suggestion, Tommy. I know you have a good heart – just a little too over-anxious here.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Looks like Romney isn’t the only one making the mistake. Turns out CNN and Ted Kennedy have done it too.
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/10/23/osama-obama-omissions/
October 24th, 2007 at 12:15 am
I would have thought that all of you front page posters would have had a gentleman’s agreement about this sort of thing. I expect the tone of this from some of the more “strident” supporters of the candidates. I hope R4’08 doesn’t degenerate into who can post the most gotchas about the other candidates. Up until now, there has been a great deal of civility. It would be terribly unfortunate if that went away.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Tommy, I have never met you and yet I feel a real affinity towards you. Perhaps it’s your graciousness, but I think you are must be feeling some kind of schadenfreude toward’s Mitt’s gaffes today. I know I feel that way when Fred has a bad day.
*************************************************
scha·den·freu·de (shädn-froid) KEY
NOUN:
Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
——————————————————————————–
ETYMOLOGY:
German : Schaden, damage (from Middle High German schade, from Old High German scado) + Freude, joy (from Middle High German vreude, from Old High German frewida, from fr, happy)
October 24th, 2007 at 12:18 am
Rich Lowry of National Review has a frank assessment of Romney’s problem with slickness:
Leaving No Gimmick Behind [Rich Lowry]
I trust that Romney’s proposal on trade is substantive and sound, but as Matt Continetti points out, calling for a “Reagan Zone of Economic Freedom” makes it seem gimmicky. One wonders if Romney is ever presented a silly idea by his consultants that makes him say, “No, sorry, I can’t do or say that—it’s not dignified and that’s not who I am”? Or when they tell him to pledge, say, “to get God back on the front of the coin!” does he just go out and do it, no questions asked? It would do the Romney team well to think long and hard about why he can go to a group like the Value Voters Summit and tell them absolutely everything they want to hear, and avoid any serious discussion about what might make them uncomfortable about him, and still get wiped out in the on-site voting. His Mormon faith (unfairly) has something to do with it surely, but it probably has more to do with the sense that he lacks a core. And with every gimmick and scripted line and pander, he only increases that sense. Mitt Romney is a good man and a talented politician, but the very slickness of his campaign threatens to overwhelm its appeal.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:33 am
All the candidates have rough days. Lets face it … it happens. It is the string of them, the pattern, a trend that really becomes a problem. Like Fred’s slower pace at campaigning. Some things take a longer time to go away.
I agree with Obama’s name problem, I have a friend who said the same thing.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:38 am
I’d like to know the story behind Wilton withdrawing his endorsement of Romney. Did someone threaten IRS legal action? Did he get hit with a wave of opposition from his congregation or leadership within the Baptist church?
October 24th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Not really over excitedness, just a touch of ironic humor, folks. To be honest, some have been overexcited in a lot of ways. Actually, this was written with a touch of laid back humor. Besides, there was nothing else to post, and you guys have had fun with Fred’s gaffes. At the same time, when something goes bad with Fred’s campaign, some are real quick to jump all over it declaring “the end of FDT”.
Chill, that’s why at the end I said, no worries, just a little egg on the face. Actually, I was more amused at the gaffe, but I decided to leave that one alone.
Beth,
When I post about Romney like this, it’s not intended to be really negative, but constructive criticism, with some light scolding for some overexcitedness. Last week was all about the “avelanche.” Momentum changes every day, and everyone has to look at it that way. Unless there’s a major screw up, none of the campaigns are likely going anywhere until after Iowa. It really could be a 4-5 man race.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:45 am
I don’t mind the Romney part, it’s the throwing it in other contributors faces on the front page, that’s really all.
But your a great guy, and have really earned my respect for however little that is worth.
October 24th, 2007 at 1:21 am
Thanks, Tommy, for addressing my concerns. This is definitely a roller coaster ride.
Someone posted today of how Reagan and Bush, Sr. were attacking each other mercilessly during the primaries and then Reagan asked Bush to be his V.P.
I guess it’s all part of the game. I’m just not used to the game.
October 24th, 2007 at 3:55 am
Let’s see how cable plays it. I did not think it was a bad day for Romney as much as a stupid day. NRO really got it right (unless they merely read my earlier posts where I questioned the advice Romney is getting).
As for Obama’s name, it is his given name obviously influenced by his Kenyan father. I have a different take on the utility of his name. I have often wondered why our gov’t likes to send people named Goldstein and Shapiro to the middle east. Is it to rub it in the faces of arabs? It would be a nice change to send someone named Hussein. Those little things mean a lot in that part of the world.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Looking at the video, I got the sense that he made the Obama gaffe on purpose. The only purpose I can see is to put another nail in the coffin of Obama’s candidacy. The first take is wow, what a goof, but the lingering feeling is “this guy’s name is really a problem”.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Tommy,
I recognize your methodology. Thompson isn’t doing so hot, so you’re going after Romney.
Imagine if one of the writers were to go after Fred with his gaffes, missteps, etc. The article would be longer and the examples greater and the conclusion more painful.
All of the men are under a microscope. The point is who has the least flaws….
October 24th, 2007 at 8:21 am
The Wilton statement clearly reads like an endorsement. He probably backtracked after he received a call from his lawyers concerning the tax exempt status of his organization.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:24 am
The other gaffes are all calculated to make news and create controversy. They are all little things that won’t hurt him but will make the headlines.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Yeah, a strange day for a strange man… his plan is finally beginning to fade
October 24th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Calculated gaffes? In the words of Bill Cosby, “Come On People!” Was “I’ll call my lawyer before I bomb Iran,” a calculated gaffe to get attention? What about, “my sons driving around in an RV to get me elected is comparable service to soldiers dying in Iraq?”
October 24th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Argamenon,
I knew it was the tax status too! These men have to be very careful about specifically naming a candidate or their organizations lose the tax-free status. If you read his statement, he is endorsing Romney as much as he dare, but has to retract a full endorsement. He is almost apologetic about having to do that and explains himself in the same statement.
It is funny how opponents grasp on to the few one-line gaffes they are able to find, and they are seldom key points in policy or platform. That’s OK, if you’re on top, it gets ugly. Romney is capable of the heat.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Folks, take my word for it. If the coming of an anti-Christ is a reality, Barack Obama is a good candidate. Did anyone see him standing there with his hands folded, while the other candidates had their hand over their heart during the pledge of allegance? A truly telling moment.
October 24th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Dave,
Are you the same Dave that posted that comment on CNN about Mormons and Christianity? It was GREAT!
I saved it.