Jeff Smith: Romney’s Convention Speech

I think that’s about as good as the guy can do. He can’t really offer specifics, because his policies are incoherent. Balance the budget, but cut taxes, reverse Medicare cuts and increase defense spending? Balance the budget by killing the wind energy tax credit? Riiight.

But of course, style trumps substance. And on those grounds, well, he’s no Rubio. He’s not even a Rob Portman. He’s just terminally incapable of appearing genuine.

My high school basketball coach once sat in on a meeting with a college coach who was recruiting me. “Too bad you can’t teach height,” he said. The college coach nodded grimly, much as Romney’s speech coaches likely did last night. 

Jonathan Chait said it best Friday morning:

“I don’t get the sense that Romney came across as sincere. To be perfectly clear about this, looking sincere is not the same thing as being sincere – John Edwards and Paul Ryan are both incredibly good at looking sincere….The best he could do was a furrowed-brow expression that made him look as though he were about to cry at any moment for his entire 45-minute speech.”

(Cross-posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena)