By Hayley Goldblatt Posted February 15, 2012
Mitt Romney: entrepreneur, author and leading presidential candidate for the Republican Party. Romney has run businesses, which causes many people to think it will help him run the United States. But is he really ready? Does he have what it takes to be the next president of our country? And if the Republican Party thinks so, will he be able to beat Barack Obama?
Romney has always had it all because where he comes from money is no object. He went to a prestigious boarding school in Michigan, known as Cranbrook. After graduating from Cranbrook, Romney went to Brigham Young University to get an undergraduate degree in English. Then, Romney went to Harvard where he got a law degree and an M.B.A. In 2002, Romney took over the Winter Olympics and made it a profitable venture.
Many people don’t see some of the good things he’s done. They just look at the fact that he’s a Mormon, and some think that he doesn’t connect well with the “common man” (an average, hard-working American) which makes up about 53% of the United States population. He does try to connect, but since Romney has always run a business he doesn’t know how to talk to people.
If Romney wins the candidacy for the Republicans, will he be able to stack up to Obama? Romney is more conservative than Obama; he is also pro-life, although he has been a little wishy-washy on this idea. He is against the fairness doctrine, against capital punishment; he is for No Child Left Behind and thinks that stem cell research is ethical but is against research for cloning embryos and opposes federal funding for it. (Time Article- What Romney Believes)
Romney took Florida by a double-digit victory and won the Nevada Caucuses by over 50 %. He used this victory to tell supporters that Obama’s “misguided policies made the tough times last longer.” (USAToday.com) He also said that the decrease in unemployment was due to business innovation “and not to you Mr. President.” By Sunday morning, 71% of the Nevada Precincts had been tallied with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul vying for second. Along with Rick Santorum, Gingrich and Paul were looking forward to other contests later this month to keep their chances alive, including Colorado and Minnesota. Romney won just a little over 50% of Nevada’s Caucuses votes according to CNN.com. In the Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado primaries and caucuses, Santorum beat Romney, giving the supposed inevitable Republican candidate a run for his money. These wins supported his argument that he is the most formidable conservative opponent to take on Obama. He was quoted in St. Louis saying “I don’t stand here and claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.” (CNN.com, Santorum jolts GOP presidential race with a 3-state sweep) After Santorum’s 3-state win, Romney will have a rough time trying to come back. According to the Yahoo news article, Romney is looking ahead to the Arizona and Michigan primaries coming up later this month and then Super Tuesday in March when ten other states will vote.
Romney is not the best bet for the president. If he does win the candidacy, he could conceivably become the President because on any given day any person can beat any other person, but I think he is going to have a harder time with Santorum winning three states in the middle east. I personally think that Romney could not beat Obama without improving his people skills.
