Change is Romney's Tune

Washington Post ^ | 9.26.07 | Dan Balz

[meandog]

Mitt Romney has gingerly picked up the challenge that was laid down to all the Republican presidential candidates recently by Newt Gingrich. In a weekend speech in Michigan, Romney sounded a message of change, telling Republicans they must clean up their own house before they can expect to win back public confidence.

Gingrich believes Republicans will lose the White House next year unless the party's presidential nominee makes a clean break with President Bush and the state of affairs in Washington. Romney's speech -- buttressed by modest newspaper and television advertising -- marked the first attempt to rally support by suggesting just that.

But the new speech raised at least as many questions as it answered, not least of which is whether it delivers on the Romney promise of real change.

Romney's appraisal of his party was hardly a slashing critique of the president himself. When he mentioned Bush specifically, it was to praise him for keeping the country safe and restoring dignity to the Oval Office. But threaded throughout was a critical assessment of what has happened in Washington during Bush's nearly seven year in office.

Romney offered a familiar, if incomplete, litany of Bush's mistakes. They include the administration's woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, the failure by the president to use the veto to check rising federal spending, even the government's failure to prevent the subprime lending crisis. He also scored Washington Republicans for their ethical lapses -- a criticism of the party's congressional wing.

[Always Right]

They include the administration's woeful response to Hurricane Katrina, the failure by the president to use the veto to check rising federal spending, even the government's failure to prevent the subprime lending crisis. He also scored Washington Republicans for their ethical lapses -- a criticism of the party's congressional wing.

Bush's handling of Katrina was not the problem and what is Romney's position on spending specifically. Is he against the prescription drug plan, the no child left behind, the war in Iraq? What did he want Bush to do about the subprime, some big government solution? What specifically does Romney oppose and want to be done. Bush deserves criticism, but this is mostly raw meat with little substance.

[ansel12]

Romney and change, that is pretty much why people dislike him. People know that he is a chameleon.

[roses of sharon]

It sounds like Romney wants media approval.