The fact that Senator Mitt Romney, the GOP nominee for President in 2012, and a strong candidate in the Republican primaries in 2008 could not, at this point, get elected to a minor officer position in the GOP now is perhaps, along with the late Senator John McCain, who was the GOP nominee in 2008, the best example of just how much the Republican party has departed from its traditional, core values in just a short decade. Within the GOP, Romney had to overcome, or perhaps at the time he ran, capitalize on his bi-partisanship, a necessity for him to even be considered as a viable candidate for the senate from a liberal state like Massachussetts, and then, to successfully be elected and serve as its governor.
Personally, my own opinion of Mitt Romney as a politician got a huge boost on March 3, 2016. Driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I heard his speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah warning the GOP about the danger of nominating Donald Trump as their candidate for President. Romney correctly, and with cited evidence, gave a credible attack on Trump's character and behavior, his business dealings and most of his political positions which were all over the place.
Romney said Trump was a "phony, a fraud. He's playing members of the American public for suckers. If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished."
I honked my horn when he was finished. That still stands as one of the most truthful, and courageous, statements ever made by a Republican about Donald Trump. When he decided to run for the seat being vacated by Orrin Hatch in 2018, I though that speech might be the thing that kept him from being elected. But politics in Utah, while intensely partisan on some level, as the Mormons are mostly Republican, weigh much more heavily on Mormon influence and thinking. And while they are intensely Republican when it comes to a social and political agenda, there were enough of them who were also disgusted by Trump's worldly, anti-Christian behavior to render his influence a non-factor in Utah elections.
But Romney's time in the senate was, in my opinion, disappointing when it came to the former failed President. He wants to be respected for his integrity, which rests on his Mormon faith and identity, and the position which he holds in the priesthood of the LDS church. It was missing in action most of the time, though I give him lots of credit in that it did make an appearance both times removal votes were taken after Trump impeachments. And he has paid a political price for that, one which has ultimately led to his decision not to run for re-election. As governor of Massachusetts, his success depended on bi-partisan cooperation with the legislature. As Senator from Utah, he reverted to his traditional, conservative Republicanism and when he had the chance to do some real good for the American people, at the beginning of Biden's first term, he shrank back into the safety of his traditional Republican partisanship.
At this point, having made his decision not to run again, I hope he catches on to the fact that his legacy as a United States Senator might rest on turning to his example as governor of Massachusetts, rather than on most of his Utah senate term. I don't expect him to vote for everything the Democrats pass through, but I do expect him to use his remaining time to set an example of the kind of bi-partisan cooperation in Congress that the American people expect, and want to see happen. He would be the most likely of Republicans to move in that direction.
Unfortunately, I don't believe we can expect that to be the case.
He has nothing to lose, at this point. He never got the kind of Evangelical support that Trump, the adulterer and liar, has enjoyed, because most Evangelicals consider Mormonism as a cult which denies the Christian gospel, robs Christ of his role as savior, believes the Bible to be incorrectly translated, requiring interpretation by a latter day "prophet," Joseph Smith. He doesn't owe anyone anything. If he is a principled opponent of Trump, then he could help the American people and assist in efforts to preserve democracy and keep Trump out. But in the polarized political atmosphere of Congress now, any move that isn't aimed at complete loyalty to the "cause" of the party is disloyalty.
So his legacy up to this point is one of coming to the verge of bipartisan cooperation, of being at the very pointof getting past the partisan gridlock and division that is slowly strangling American constitutional democracy, dipping a toe into the water to try it out, only to shrink back into a more personally comfortable partisan position, continuing to think of self and of what it takes to keep his job rather than thinking of the American people and what it takes to be a great leader. He had a chance to rise to the occasion, to set aside partisan division and set a new example, if not of bipartisan greatness and political innovation, at least to help get it started. He was one of very few who spoke out early and while the whole issue of party loyalty spoiled his chances to be recognized for great leadership, will be known for his persistence and consistency when the two votes that counted the most were taken.
I had hoped for more from him.
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