Westward, Ho!

Reports are emerging that Governor Mitt Romney is planning on headquartering his rumored Presidential bid in Boston’s North End. So apparently, we, along with our fellow Bay State denizens, aren’t going to be able to bid Romney good riddance just yet.

Five years ago, Romney swaggered onto the Massachusetts political stage a lionized celebrity. Fresh off the heels of his star turn as the efficient and corruption-free organizer of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he promised the citizens of Massachusetts that he wasn’t some Republican Party hack; he would emphasize a no-nonsense governing strategy, focusing on results instead of ideology. Then a funny thing happened: upon being sworn in as Governor, Romney decided that he pregerred campaigning to governing.

Kick-starting his run for the White House four years early, the perennially well-coiffed Mitt morphed into a talking-points Ken doll (Mehlman that is, although his handsome, rather plasticine features are reminiscent of the Mattel icon), traveling around the country and spouting Republican dogma when wound up. And when he is in Massachusetts, he utilizes his powers as chief executive largely as a mechanism by which to appeal to the Republican Party base.

About a week ago, Romney went so far as to devote his final month in office to the task of eliminating gay marriage in Massachusetts. He announced to little fanfare that he would do everything in his power to force a referendum question regarding gay marriage onto the next statewide ballot. This final goal of Romney’s is highly symbolic of his inconsequential four years in office. In fact, it may be his most shameless exploitation of a wedge issue to pander to his party base since he brazenly pushed for a “foolproof” death penalty. Such political posturing has clearly been to the chagrin of Massachusetts’ voters, who overwhelmingly elected Deval Patrick ’78 to be their next Governor instead of Romney’s handpicked successor and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey ’82.

After four years of exploiting Massachusetts’s citizens to further his political ambitions, Romney should be making plans to sheepishly flee our fair state when his term expires. And originally, if the rumors that he had plans to mount his presidential campaign from Michigan are true, that was just what he was going to do. It doesn’t make sense strategically for Romney to remain in Massachusetts either. Instead of headquartering his campaign in arguably the most liberal state in the country – a state whose left-leaning values he has spent the last four years trying to distance himself from politically, by going to Michigan he would be mounting his campaign in a swing state that may potentially decide the 2008 election. He could then also declare to his base that he escaped Massachusetts – that kooky, liberal bastion – as soon as he was able. Not to mention, unlike in Massachusetts where he is today largely viewed as a slick opportunist, the Romney name still has cachet in Michigan; his father George was a highly respected Governor there. So why is he now planning on remaining in the Commonwealth?

Certainly it’s not because he is too fond of his Belmont manse to relocate. After all, he had no qualms about moving to Salt Lake City to plan the 2002 Olympics. What it most likely amounts to is reckless hubris; the arrogance to believe that he is so likeable that even after being subjected to such cynical exploitation, Massachusetts’ citizens will champion his presidential bid anyway. If he fails to keep this hubris in check, it could prove to be his downfall come election season.

Please, Mitt, go home to Michigan. It’s in everyone’s best interest, including yours. I’ll even chip in for the U-Haul.

Stephen C. D. Bartenstein ’08, a Crimson editorial editor, is a government concentrator in Lowell House.