More On Mitt Romney

I read two interesting articles today on Mitt most notably by Terry Eastland at The Weekly Standard, and boy does he have a resume as a finacial genius. I am becoming more convinced we need this guy in the Whitehouse. A self made man, conservative fiscally and socially and a darn good speaker, a man of workable solutions to complex problems and the leadership to pull it off with bipartisan support. He's also a federalist believing in the rights of the states to deal with most social issues and rightly so. As of now, I am in his camp unless things drastically change.
Some cuts from Eastland's article:

"WILLARD MITT ROMNEY is a native of Michigan, the son of the late George
Romney, CEO of American Motors, a three-term governor of Michigan in the 1960s,
Nixon's secretary of
Housing and Urban Development, and, briefly in 1968, a
presidential candidate. Mitt Romney went to Brigham Young University (he was
valedictorian in the College of the Humanities) before collecting business and
law degrees from Harvard. Staying in Boston, he worked for a consulting firm for
three years, then founded a venture capital company. Romney acquired a
reputation for fixing troubled companies, so it wasn't surprising that in 1990
his own company, which he'd left and which was sinking into debt, asked him to
come back and save it.
But Romney's most remarkable intervention--the one
that placed him on a national stage--came with the 2002 Winter Olympics held in
Salt Lake City. In 1999 the event already was $379 million in debt, and there
were allegations of bribery involving top officials. Romney was asked to head up
the games. Under his leadership, they turned into a spectacular success,
clearing a profit of $100 million. Romney himself contributed $1 million, and
donated his three years of pay ($275,000 per annum) to charity."

"As governor, Romney has scored another turnaround, conservative in both
ends and means. Told during the campaign that he would inherit a deficit of
between $500 million and $1.5 billion, Romney discovered upon taking office a
$650 million deficit in fiscal 2003 and an anticipated one of $3 billion in
fiscal 2004. Romney balanced the 2003 budget, and he finished 2004 with a $700
million surplus. A reviving economy helped, but Romney didn't tax or borrow, and
he reduced spending through government consolidation and reform"

And from David Holman at The American Spectator:

"After Mitt Romney announced this week that he would not seek reelection as
governor of Massachusetts, the Washington Post briefly mentioned what could be Romney's biggest hurdle in a
presidential run: "Another problem could be his Mormon faith -- which
strategists say might turn off some evangelical Christian voters." Accompanying
its front page article on the announcement, the Boston Globe speculated about Romney's "viability." The Globe listed "overcoming
prejudices about his religion" among two other deficiencies, foreign policy
inexperience and being perceived as a Northeast liberal. And over at NRO's The Corner, where writers have taken a particular interest in
Romney, his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS)
became topic A. So what is Romney's Mormon problem?"

Eastland also counters this in his article.

"What do evangelical leaders active in politically conservative circles say
about a Romney candidacy? Many I asked were reluctant to be quoted by name. As
one of them told me, "We have to work with Mormons." Over the past
quarter-century Mormons have made common cause with politically conservative
evangelicals (and Catholics) on a broad range of issues involving marriage,
family, abortion, stem cells, pornography, and religious liberty. Moreover,
Mormons have worked alongside evangelicals for many of the same candidates at
election time.
Someone willing to go on the record was Charles Colson
of Prison Fellowship. Notwithstanding his "fundamental" theological differences
with Mormonism, Colson said, "I could in very good conscience support Romney,"
calling him "a first-rate guy in every respect" and "a social conservative on
most of the issues we care about." Colson obviously wasn't declaring for Romney,
but simply indicating that he would not in religious principle, so to speak, be
opposed to Romney and indeed could find political reasons to support him.
Whether he would actually do so, of course, would "all depend on what the lineup
is" and "where each person stands." The other evangelical leaders I contacted
took the same view. Colson offered the likely correct forecast: Romney's appeal
to evangelicals might slacken if a competent evangelical or Catholic with social
views similar to Romney's were in the race; on the other hand, Romney's stock
with evangelicals might go up if he were pitted against candidates holding more
liberal social views, regardless of their religion. One evangelical leader
offered this succinct take on whether Romney's faith would hurt him in the
primaries: "Against Giuliani, no. Against Frist, yes. Against [Rick] Santorum,
yes. Against Arnold [Schwarzenegger, who is ineligible], no."