It brings me great joy to say that I believe John McCain will select Mitt Romney for VP!!!Not only is Mitt just the prettiest politician since John Kennedy, he is such a wonderful amalgam of smiling political pandering, hyper-masculine posturing, and nostalgic Reagan worship that it borders on self parody. I just can't wait.
But seriously, there are two simple reasons why John McCain has to pick Romney -- age and economics.
On the age question, it's a sub-text and a sub-narrative that few people are willing or eager to talk about in the open. Why? Because it's rude. It's uncouth to ask McCain, "Yeah, but what if you croak?" But the issue is still in the back of a lot of people's minds, "He is gonna be 72......." So picking Romney reassures people that they will still have a competent executive even if tragedy strikes, like an insurance plan. There are other younger candidates (Pawlenty, Jindal) but they don't have the charisma or the national recognition of Romney. With Republicans facing a superstar candidate and an enthusiastic grassroots organization, they'd be wise to have two powerhouses on the ticket. Romney will get the Republicans excited again.
When it comes to policy, Romney's strong suit is pro-business economics which is McCain's weak point. If Republicans are going to defeat Obamania, they will have to unite the business community by instilling a sense of hysterical fear towards the prospect of a progessive-taxing, entitlement-expanding Democrat like Obama. And they'll need to convert that fear into fundraising money. As CEO of Bain and co-founder of Bain Capital, Romney has priceless (pun intended) connections with the business community. Offering up a vision of the American economy post-Bush that is somehow still pro-business, and yet allays the budget-crunching concerns of the middle class, will be Romney's (and the Republican's) challenge this year.
Miscellaneous pros and cons. Romney does mend some fences with the "Conversative Conversvatives for the Conservation of Conservative America" crew, but does little to win back the Christian social conservatives that Bush/Rove manipulated in 2000 and 2004. The Republican brand is almost anathema to much of the electorate, tarnished by the demagoguery, callousness, and incompetency of Bush. With this in mind, I think that the theme of "Reunion" and putting personal differences aside will go well with McCain's theme of "Country first. Serve a cause greater than your self-interest." They admit imperfection and yet demand loyalty.
A priceless classic (not racist, just idiotic):
