What Is There To Dislike?

We often hear in the media that Mitt Romney suffers from not being "likable" or that he doesn't "relate well" to common people. I have a hard time understanding these comments. To me, it sounds like schoolyard talk from the kids who envied the Captain of the cheerleading squad or football team that also had straight A's, didn't have wild parties when their parents were out of town and volunteered at the local soup kitchen on Saturday nights.

This list showed up in my email box on why Mitt is unlikable and it seems to conform to my thinking on the subject. I wish I could give credit to the authors but they were anonymous.

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Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Mitt Romney: 

1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike aura. Looks
like every central casting's #1 choice for Commander-in-Chief.


2. Been married to ONE woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her,
including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS.


3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?)


4. Twice served in high profile public roles (Head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics for 3 years and Governor of Massachusetts for 4 years) for which he did not take one cent as compensation for his service. This is the true definition of a Public Servant.


5. Highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School...and by the way, his academic records are NOT sealed.


6. Doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the
counter-culture age when he went to college. He spent over two years of his life as a missionary for his church when many of his contemporaries were partying in college. Too square for today's America?


7. Represents an America of "yesterday", where people believed in God, went
to Church, didn't screw around, worked hard, and became a SUCCESS!


8. Has a family of five great sons....and none of them have police records
or are in drug rehab. But of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom,
and that "choice" deserves America's scorn.


9. Oh yes.....he's a MORMON. We need to be very afraid of that very strange
religion that teaches its members to be clean-living, patriotic, fiscally
conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest.


10. And one more point.....pundits say because of his wealth, he can't
relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that's because he made that money
HIMSELF.....as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it from Dad. Apparently,
he didn't understand that actually working at a job and earning your own
money made you unrelatable to Americans.

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What is there not to like about these traits in a leader?

If people can't relate perhaps that speaks volumes of how far we have gotten off of the right path in this country?

If anyone wants to take a measure of the man I suggest that they begin by looking at the personal narratives of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  Paul Mirengoff of Powerline does it and concludes that Obama could be a case of someone who loves "humanity but doesn't care all that much for humans". His point is that Obama has tried to help people by organizing them in furtherance of political goals: Romney's acts for humanity were free of political content.  He has shown real heart and compassion over his life.

Rich Lowry of the National Review fills in some of the blank spaces you might not know about Mitt Romney, the good neighbor.  If you don't know the back story about Mitt Romney, you should.   If a man like this is made out to be a monster in a political campaign, what hope is left for our future?  We are unlikely to see another one like him for a long, long time.