Romney at Odds with Patience & Ambition, by Toni Reavis, note by Larry Eder

On one hand…

As the professional fields for the 2012 BMW Berlinand Bank of America Chicago Marathons have been announced, it reminds us that the marathon requires a different combination of strengths than its shorter-race cousins where contact is the name of the game.  In the longer race you can moderate early, and still strike late.  Last year in Chicago, Wesley Korir made the first major move at 30Km, but it was eventual winner Moses Mosop who made the last.  That said, it is very difficult mentally to allow others to “get away” without responding in the initial engagement or not to get too discouraged with one’s inability to match that first move.  Patience remains key in the marathon.

The same principle holds in politics where the instant response can, in the long run, be ill-advised or misguided.  We saw an indication of that this week when Mitt Romney issued a harsh condemnation of theObama administration after the attacks at American embassies in Benghazi, Libya and Cairo, Egypt on the anniversary of 9/11.

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” the candidate said in a prepared release.

Of course, the response he denounced wasn’t released by the White House, but by the American embassy in Benghazi where hostilities were mounting outside their compound.  Also, their statement came out before the assault which led to the death of American Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

There is an old Washington adage that partisanship ends at the water’s edge.  In times of crisis, goes the theory, Americans of all political stripes rally to our elected leaders – like we did for President Bush 11 years ago on 9/11 – not only because they hold the constitutional reins of authority, but because they are privy to more information, s
o we must assume they know things we don’t which might color their decisions.

Therefore, even if we disagree with their response or policies, we wait to voice those disagreements until information clarifies the situation in the aftermath of crisis.  Only then do we assert our opposition and rally others to vote on our behalf.  But ambition is a powerful lure, especially in the heat of a presidential election, especially when your side has recently come under fire from your own partisan punditry for lack of clarity on the financial positions you propose to adopt if elected.

“A slave has but one master,” wrote 17th century French essayist Jean de La Bruyère.  “An ambitious man has many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.” This may well be the fault line of the Romney candidacy, a lack of fixed political views now subordinated to those who may be useful, but whose passions and prejudices outpace the wisdom required of the office he seeks. Read more of this post