Jonathan Weiss: A Closing Argument for Romney

The problem that Washington has faced over the last 18 years is that Democrats in Congress still do not accept their minority status and have fought the Republican Party since the revolution of 1994.  The partisanship increased 100 fold as a result of the Democrat Party reeling that the country had the audacity to oust them from 40 years of entrenched power.  Since then, many Congressmen have come and gone, but the so-called “moderate” has evaporated.  While the Republicans tend to elect the principled, the Democrats tend to elect the partisan.

Republican presidential candidates are always labeled as extreme – the Democrats favorite label for any Republican.  In Mitt Romney, they have a hard time labeling him as such since Romney himself took more moderate positions in his race against Ted Kennedy and for governor.  In a twist of good fate, this has worked well for Romney:  Democrats cannot label him extreme-right, on one hand, or a flip-flopper, on the other, since you cannot have it both ways.  Either you are an entrenched, inflexible extremist, or you have a history of showing empathy for your political opponents.

Mitt Romney’s greatest asset, as we are now discovering in the last week of the campaign, is his ability to work accross party lines, bridge the divide, and work to resolve tough issues.  The proof is in his leadership as governor.  This was Barack Obama’s mantle in 2008 – using the the ‘not blue states, not red states’ cry – but he has proven to be the most liberal, leftist political partisan the White House has ever seen.  There is, in fact, no hope with him or for him.

Mitt Romney will clean up Washington, DC by working with anyone who is ready and willing to tackle the hard issues of today and not kick the can down the road for the next generations to solve.