(Photo courtesy of Reuters.)
In yesterday’s Washington Post, E. J. Dionne portrayed Presidential candidate Mitt Romney as a "product" commenting “…when it comes to politics, Mitt Romney treats himself as a product, not a person.”
Unfortunately for Governor Romney, Dionne makes a sound case pointing out a slew of Mitt’s 180s.
Here are a few:
Immigration – He moved to the right of Governor Rick Perry in the Primary only to then trail back in order to attract Latino voters.
Taxation – Again during the Primaries, he went from modest tax proposals to a supply-siding tax cutter today.
Abortion – Romney has declared he is for a woman’s right to choose in one breath and in another that he is completely opposed to it.
But the one that Dionne left out was his latest turnaround - on Israel.
Within the last month footage from a private fundraiser revealed where Romney spoke out against the Palestinians calling Middle East peace “almost unthinkable,” and said he would simply “kick the ball down the field.”
“I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there''s just no way. And so what you do is you say you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that it''s going to remain an unsolved problem.”
But then on October 8th in a speech at Virginia Military Institute he advocated a “two state” solution to the vexing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, echoing what has been official U.S. policy for decades.
“I will recommit America to the goal of a democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel.”
Perhaps Romney is a product as Dionne concluded. But what Mr. Romney is not is a brand. That’s because brands stand for something. As I pointed out in an earlier post, from last May...
"Brands stand for something and Mr. Romney never gave a clear consistent brand message. He was, from the outset, defined as being inconsistent."
So now where does he stand? On so many issues, he’s veered all over the map. And when it comes to Israel, the borders on its map cannot be subject to whim.
Abe Novick is a writer and communications consultant and can be reached at abebuzz.com.