As it was foretold here we are on a Friday and Mitt Romney baron of the end of the week news dump is once more tugging the rug beneath our feet
Former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he will not run for president in 2016.
Hugh Hewitt posted text of the remarks Romney was to make on a conference call with donors discussing his 2016 plans on Friday.
After putting considerable thought into making another run for president I ve decided it is best to give other leaders in the Party the opportunity to become our next nominee the prepared remarks say.
Well how do you like that. A few weeks ago I wrote a piece called Mitt Romney Will Have His Revenge in which I noted how Romney's latest caprice to sidle up to the 2016 cycle and for whatever reason begin flirting with it had scrambled the media's brains. At the time I thought Well for realsies what's stopping him Why NOT throw everyone and everything into disarray The guy took lumps during his last run especially during that stretch when he was steadily dispatching his primary foes. At that point a lot of people who you'd think would be lining up behind the certain victor were instead clamoring for Jeb for Christie for anyone to get into the race. So I figured it made sense for Mitt to re emerge now if for no other reason than to rattle the cages of so many who'd deign to rattle his own.
Well it didn't go as I predicted. Still Mitt Romney got us good.
Credit Jonathan Chait for getting in early and getting out quickly. Even as Romney was setting hearts aflutter with his feints Chait was writing thusly Nothing could convince me that Romney will actually run for president not even Romney taking the oath of office. In other words he treated Romney the way most journalists treat Donald Trump with his perennial bluster about his own presidential ambitions. Nah son you playing that was the correct call.
If Romney managed nothing else during this brief period of speculation he can surely say he got the rest of us goofy footed. History will remember if history cares that The Daily Beast ended up as the 1948 Chicago Tribune of this whole mini melodrama offering the world a hastily written and retracted Romneyverse version of Dewey Beats Truman.
But all of that is ultimately just the cherry atop the weird Romney boomlet sundae. The creamy stuff beneath tells a story of how we in the political media despite the initial instinct to write a new Romney candidacy off entirely nevertheless found ourselves ready willing and able to suddenly get impossibly re invested in Mitt Romney's persona.
Just think about how we all suddenly started talking about Mitt Romney's personal real estate holdings again. Romney might sell his La Jolla house screamed the headlines. You know the one with the famous car elevator Surely there is meaning in this The Boston Globe did a deep dive into Romney's post election home procurement binge noting that Romney whose last presidential bid was hampered by his image of excessive privilege and insensitivity may recognize the trouble his real estate holdings could cause in another campaign.
Elsewhere came the deep think. In The Washington Post Philip Rucker stated with confidence that if he runs again in 2016 Romney is determined to rebrand himself as authentic. Because that's what authentic people do choose a brand and then strive to become That Brand Incarnate.
All of us who read that statement probably should have recognized it as the moment when we reached Peak Obtuse. But instead reporters in the field oh yeah I guess I should point out that reporters were dispatched to follow Romney around during this time took that authenticity cue and started probing Romney's every move waiting for the moment when Romney would drop his guard and become real. And so we got tweets like this
At soda fountain Mitt Romney mixes it up A little Diet Coke and he says a little bit of the real stuff.
Philip Rucker ( PhilipRucker) January 28 2015
Moments before Mitt joined this shot he did a brief bunny ears behind Coach Mullen. Can't make it up. pic.twitter.com/4mIzNpUiBY
Jonathan Martin ( jmartNYT) January 28 2015
Romney noting the unwritten rule you don't take pictures of politicians eating bites into his BBQ sandwich pic.twitter.com/RSOv6VQPY0
Philip Rucker ( PhilipRucker) January 28 2015
This was a fervent period of Romney examination Romscrutiny during which no event however mundane could be completely ruled out as some sort of sneaky political content delivery mechanism. It was kind of like Lost was back on the air and Romney was the smoke monster and we were all squinting at our screens trying to divine the meaning of it all.
Anyway. The real story of Romney's brief do si do with 2016 is probably something simpler and less exciting He earnestly considered running floated a trial balloon watched as said balloon was ruthlessly shot down by elites from his own party and now he's bowing out gracefully. And yet The frenzy was real was silly was in a way sort of glorious.
So for one last time with Mitt Romney on one last Friday let us with all good cheer appreciate how every now and then someone comes along with the ability to gently screw with us. Quality trolling Mitt Romney Thanks for doing it at midday for a change so we can all make happy hour.
And now on to the next chapter
Can t wait for 8 months from now when the GOP primary is bitter and ugly and suddenly the 'maybe Romney will jump back in talk starts
Sam Stein ( samsteinhp) January 30 2015
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