Mitt Romney's victory in Michigan was a defeat for authenticity in politics.
The former Massachusetts governor pandered to voters, distorted his opponents' record and continued to show why he's the most malleable _ and least credible _ major presidential candidate.
The former Massachusetts governor pandered to voters, distorted his opponents' record and continued to show why he's the most malleable _ and least credible _ major presidential candidate.
And it worked.
The man who spoke hard truths to Michigan lost. Of all the reasons John McCain deserved a better result Tuesday night, his gamble on the economy stands out. The Arizona senator had the temerity to tell voters that a candidate who says traditional auto manufacturing jobs "are coming back is either naive or is not talking straight with the people of Michigan and America."
Instead of pandering, McCain said political leaders must "embrace green technologies," adding: "That's the future. That's what we want."
Romney jumped all over McCain, playing to the fears of voters in a state with the nation's highest unemployment rate. "I've heard people say that the auto jobs are gone and they're never coming back," Romney told his audiences. "Well, baloney, I'm going to fight for every single good job."
Of course, he'd fight for every job. So would McCain, or any future president. But how?
Judging by the brief campaign in Michigan, one candidate would flail away at the problem with empty rhetoric while the other would ask Americans to come to grips with the harsh realities of global competition, a tech-based economy and the urgent need to retrain a generation of workers.
Those aren't easy things for a politicians to say, but the truth is, the days are gone in Michigan and elsewhere when a high school graduate could land a factory job and count on a comfortable, stable middle-class life: a nice home, two cars, college tuition, health insurance and a pension.
Romney didn't talk about any of that.
Instead, he told voters what he thought they wanted to hear.
"I'm not open to a bailout, but I am open to a
workout," Romney said of the auto industry, even as he vowed to spend $20
billion over five years for research on energy, fuels, automotive technology and
material sciences. How many Michigan voters mistook that that for a
multibillion-dollar bailout pledge?
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