GOP Elite Suddenly Terrified That Romney's Bain Capital History May Be A Liability
by Jason Linkins
12/14/11
Back in 2008, Mitt Romney had some widely-known liabilities -- his lifetime of politically expedient flip-flopping topping a list that included "might be a Replicant" -- along with some well-regarded assets. Chief among the assets were the conception and implementation of the Commonwealth Care health care reform bill in Massachusetts and a long, successful private sector career as the founder of Bain Capital. Four years ago, those assets more than offset the liabilities among Republicans who looked with approval upon his bid for the White House. Romney was a guy who'd go over well with Big Business and the investor class, and his health care reform was a feather in his cap -- he could be a conservative who'd co-opted a key Democratic issue.
Four years later, Romney's still widely criticized as an ideological contortionist, but there's not as much ink spilled on the way the ground has shifted beneath his feet since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which was largely modeled on Romney's idea. The once voguish individual mandate is now anathema, and those who once backed Romney -- Ezra Klein reminds us this morning that this group included Tea Party Saint Senator Jim DeMint -- now expect him to repudiate, to some degree, the signature accomplishment that got him to this level of political stature in the first place. It's like asking Bruce Springsteen to renounce "Nebraska."
But Romney's problems apparently do not end there. According to Benjy Sarlin, Republicans are growing increasingly concerned that Romney's history at Bain Capital will prove to be a liability. And as Sarlin points out, in recent days, Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman -- the two rivals who can do the most damage to Romney in his New Hampshire stronghold -- have used Bain as a brickbat against Mitt. This is like now going back to Springsteen and telling him, "You know what, "Born To Run" is problematic as well." But as Sarlin explains:
The real subtext is electability. President Obama has made it absolutely clear that this race is going to about the 99% vs. the 1% on taxes, entitlements, and regulation. Sure we think Bain Capital is a paragon of free market values, Romney’s Republican critics argue, but what about those swing voters who are all too easily swayed the first time they see an ad featuring workers Romney laid off?...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/gop-2012-romney-bain_n_1149360.html?ref=politics
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