Mitt Romney Meets the Press

Today, former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, went one-on-one with Tim Russert and emerged looking confident, articulate and, well…, in a word, presidential. Russert, who is well known for his even-handed administration of tough-love journalism, knows how to ask the tough questions and persists until he gets a cogent answer. But to his credit, Russert focuses primarily on those questions that are prominent in public discussions. He is very good at what he does and is head and shoulders above his journalistic peers.

One of the knocks on Romney, of course, is that his current positions on an assortment of issues have changed, especially since his days on Beacon Hill. Russert emphasized the point by waving a pair of colorful flip flops at Romney. I guess what goes around comes around. We still have our pair of John Kerry flip flops from 2004. God save us from cutesy slogans.

But Russert is a professional and, as usual, he was well-prepared with video clips to illustrate a position where Romney is thought to have lately changed his views. The issues included: abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, gun control, and immigration. Romney readily admitted that some of his views have changes and painstakingly spelled out where appropriate how those changes evolved. Some of the answers were complicated, but then, these are complicated issues. I thought his response to the criticism he has received concerning the people who work on the landscaping of his Belmont home was particularly succinct. This is, by itself, is a silly “gotcha” flap, but it speaks to the larger issue of immigration which may end up being one of the most important issues of the presidential campaign. Some people demand simple declarative solutions to complicated questions, but simple answers aren’t always the best. By the time the interview concluded, I felt that he had fully addressed all the questions. More importantly, Tim Russert, who does not suffer weasel answers gladly, seemed satisfied.

I had only two criticisms of the program and they apply to the subjects of the questions asked. Entirely too much time was spent was spent discussing Romney’s faith. There are some people who, under the guise of enforcing the separation of church and state, would like to banish any trace of religion from our culture. But we remain a country built on a tradition of faith and I, for one, admire individuals possessing strong beliefs, but see no need to examine those beliefs, or the church from which they are espoused, to judge their merits. I would also have like to hear more of Romney’s views on international affairs. With the exception of one brief exchange dealing with Mike Huckabee’s criticism of President Bush for what he calls an “arrogant bunker mentality" in foreign affairs, there was little discussion of foreign relations. Romney, by the way, rejected Huckabee’s assertion and thought, rightfully so, that he owed the President an apology.

Well done, Mitt.