Romney would organize his administration on the model of an Abbasid Caliph (ii)—OR: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

November 25, 2007 in 2008, analysis, argument, Blogroll, campaign communications, campaign communiques, campaign literature, campaign management, election 2008, GOP, mitt romney, policy, republicans, rhetoric, romney, strategy, stupidity, the dark soul of Mitt Romney, triumph of unreason
Tags: bruce wilson, case method, case methodology, case pedagogy, harvard method, Michael Luo, NYT, opinionjournal.com, salt lake tribune

“As governor, Mr. Romney did little direct managing, delegating much of that to his staff, Mr. Kriss said. When addressing challenges, including solving the state’s budget crisis and shaping its universal health care plan, he took an analytical approach. Both efforts began with Bain-style strategic audits,” writes MICHAEL LUO for the NYT in an article titled For Romney & Company, Campaign Is All Business

His style in the campaign is similar, his aides said, with Mr. Romney relying on a circle of lieutenants, many of whom are longtime friends from Bain, the Olympics or the Statehouse, who are familiar with what he expects.

“He describes himself as the chairman of the company and me as the C.E.O.,” said Beth Myers, Mr. Romney’s campaign manager and former Statehouse chief of staff. “He does not manage this campaign.”

Romney’s small-circle of lieutenant-adepti management technique is also the way Romney addressed the health care question in Massachusetts

BOSTON–Only weeks after I was elected governor, Tom Stemberg, the founder and former CEO of Staples, stopped by my office. He told me, “If you really want to help people, find a way to get everyone health insurance.” I replied that would mean raising taxes and a Clinton-style government takeover of health care. He insisted: “You can find a way.”

I believe that we have. Every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health insurance and the costs of health care will be reduced. And we will need no new taxes, no employer mandate and no government takeover to make this happen.

When I took up Tom’s challenge, I assembled a team from business, academia and government and asked them first to find out who was uninsured, and why. What they found was surprising … etc.

Here is the result:

Pipes: RomneyCare a spiraling fiscal disaster; does not deliver universal coverage or meaningful structure of cost controls

Here is impression that Romney and Romney’s methodology leaves upon voters:

“It’s often true that our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses,” writes Bruce Wilson in a Salt Lake Tribune release titled Is Romney’s business background a blessing or a curse?

And so it is with Romney. His admirable record of accomplishment in the business world was enabled by the application of analytical skills and business acumen he acquired as a consultant and executive of Bain Consulting and later Bain Capital.

But something else Romney acquired from Bain – dispassionate detachment – makes for a rough campaign road. Anyone who has worked with consultancies and investors like Bain would likely acknowledge they are hired primarily for their minds, analytical skills and access to capital – not their hearts.

Don’t get me wrong. They aren’t heartless. It’s just that the job requires them to keep their hearts in check so tough business decisions – even painful layoffs – are considered.

Dispassionate detachment is necessary in the consulting and investment worlds, but it can be a fatal liability in the political world. In fact, the opposite approach – passionate authenticity – is often more attractive to voters.

There are many examples of this phenomenon, but Ronald Reagan is probably the best case in point. Many voters disliked some of what Reagan stood for but voted for him anyway because they liked the fact that he actually stood for something. They believed Reagan not only because of what he said and did, but also because of how he said it. To many it seemed Reagan’s heart, mind, words and actions were all in-sync … etc.

For our own critique of Romney’s method see:

Romney would organize his administration on the model of an Abbasid Caliph according to Fred Barnes

Who was it who once said, “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail?”

yours &c.
dr. g.d.

Gelzinis: “Make-believe is reality in Mr. Romney’s Neighborhood”

July 23, 2007 in analysis, Blogroll, election, election 2008, mitt romney, republicans, romney, the dark soul of Mitt Romney
Tags: mittwits and mittiots

The estimable Peter Gelzinis writes:

For those of you who want to believe that this was some sort of aberration, that Mitt and his pocket-sized Karl Rove – my former Herald amigo, Eric Fehrnstrom – knew nothing about what Jay Garrity was up to . . . think again.

Mitt Romney hasn’t had a spontaneous moment in his whole life. Everything is scripted. Every move is either geared toward the bottom line, or a specific result. So if a fraud like Jay Garrity was clever enough to make the press believe he was OFFICIAL, then more power to him.

After all, how could a guy who masqueraded as governor while plotting his run for the White House hold anything against a hustler who was eager to give the Mitt campaign an extra veneer of self-importance? Remember, Mitt was the governor who always made sure that – along with the phone and the flashing blue lights – his Crown Vic was stocked with plenty of hand sanitizer … more

yours &c.
dr. d.g.