Missing Mitt

The race for the Republican presidential nomination got a lot less interesting with the departure of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. All of the candidates try to put the best spin on their performances, but Romney's efforts in that area were almost comical. After getting hammered by John McCain on Super Tuesday, Romney talked about his big victories in the states where he had lived - Massachusetts, Michigan and Utah - while conveniently ignoring the fact that he was getting his hat handed to him virtually everywhere else. He vowed to keep running right up until the convention. Of course, a couple of days later, he was out. It was reminiscent of “Baghdad Bob,” the spokesman for Saddam Hussein, who insisted during the second U.S. invasion of Iraq that U.S. troops were nowhere near the Baghdad airport. At the same time, CNN was showing U.S. troops ... at the Baghdad airport. Romney discovered that in this day and age, when everything you've said and done in the past in public life is on tape, it's not easy to pull off a total political makeover. When Romney was running Massachusetts, he was a gay-friendly, pro-choice type of guy who distanced himself from the Reagan legacy. He obviously knew that wouldn't wash with Republican voters in a national race, so he repackaged himself as a Reagan heir who was staunchly anti-abortion. We all struggle with major moral issues, and as young people our views often evolve. However, most of us have been able to sort out our beliefs before we approach 60 years old. A total lack of credibility is typically a fatal flaw for a candidate. Romney knows that now.