Friday, November 25, 2011

Mitt Romney: Not flashy, but a fearless, focused, and determined family man

The following op-ed was written by Nick Tzitzon a former driver of Mitt Romney during his 2002 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts. It gives a peek into the Mitt Romney from behind the scenes. I LIKE what it tells me:
What did I learn about the real Mitt Romney?

First, he is a voracious back-seat driver. He hated getting stuck in traffic and would routinely inquire about why I had taken one route over another. If I couldn’t give him a good rationale, he would step up his involvement. “Gosh, we’re going to get stuck at that awful rotary. Take a right in two miles and we’ll go around it.’’

Translation: Romney likes to focus on the immediate challenge and pays attention to every detail surrounding it. If someone couldn’t demonstrate a grasp of the problem, he got personally involved in finding the solution. It has been overlooked in this campaign, but Romney’s turnaround of the Salt Lake City Olympics was the result of this instinctive behavior. The guy loves challenges and devours details.

Second, Romney isn’t afraid to make an end-run around obstructionists. The driver’s seat provided a convenient place to monitor high-level campaign strategy and policy development. On one occasion, Romney was advised by campaign officials to give a “generic campaign stump speech’’ to a professional trade conference. “Don’t you think I should share some insights with these folks relating to their specific areas of interest?’’ Romney asked repeatedly and with increasing frustration. Finally, after being told to avoid specific issues, Romney hung up the phone and began researching specific issues on his own so that he could be responsive to the crowd.

Translation: Romney knows his own mind and acts on his own instincts. Campaign advisers or business associates can present their views, but Romney usually has a confident idea of what he thinks is best and isn’t afraid to ignore the conventional wisdom.

Third, Romney loves his wife and his family. I can’t even count the number of occasions that I observed Romney interrupt his campaign activity to speak with Ann or one of his five sons. What’s more, the conversations were never transactional or “check the box.’’ This guy knew about everything about the lives of his family. If he’s guilty of anything, it was getting too involved.

Translation: Romney will do anything for his family — including thankless campaigns for public office. Anyone who believes that his political ambition is about anything other than building a better country for his grandkids simply does not know the man.
Be sure to read the rest of the article HERE

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6 comments:

Alan said...

There are all kinds of heart-warming stories out there about the non-political side of Romney. The campaign would do well to gather these together and leak them out from time to time.

The reverse view of this story is that Romney is a micro manager, which is a neutral term often twisted to be derogatory. There are good micro managers and bad micro managers. Bad micro managers don't trust other people to do a good job and try to control things from step 1. Good micro managers get involved after step 1, 2, or 3 has failed. Romney is obviously the latter.

Anonymous said...

I don't think people care about this side of Romney. The people against him, such as the social cons who recently met in Iowa to stop Romney, already acknowledge that Romney is a decent man personally. They refuse to make the connection that the way a man lives in his personal life, directly correlates to his political life.

Indeed, we are simultaneously told that Romney is a good person personally, but has 'no core' politically. And then we are told that Newt's disgusting personal behavior has nothing to do with his political life. For added comedic value, they use Bill Clinton as their example.

This view is just too nonsensical, and transparent to me. We all know what the real opposition is to Romney. The fact that even Newt the wife-cheating-slimeball-get rich off gov-egomaniac-ultimate establishment guy is acceptable to some of these yahoos says it all.

-Martha

PS. If anyone would have suggested a year ago that Newt would be our man, most Republicans would have gagged at the mere suggestion.

Anonymous said...

So anyway, Alan. I don't think a million stories from people who really know Romney would do any good.

Romney will win this by the sheer force of organization, perseverance, and ignoring the liars and naysayers. Common sense is on his side, I truly believe the adults will step forward and prevent Newt.

-Martha

Bobinator said...

I love these back-room glimpses into Romney's character.

If we saw the same from the other candidates, I wonder what we would see?

Anonymous said...

I loved that---at least what I was able to read!!! Thanks for sharing!!

I do agree Mitt's organization, getting his message out about the jobs/economy is what, hopefully, will cause good, honest Americans to vote for the best!

Alan said...

In terms of social cons, Martha, your point is well taken. Nothing will convince open their closed minds. Romney understands that now after being schooled in Iowa four years ago. Hence his low effort in there this year. However, besides the social cons, I still think that such stories would help with independents and other open minded people. And even if has no effect on any voter, at least it has the value of irking liberals.