Did Romney write the Chillicothe speech himself?
I have absolutely no way of knowing whether this is true, and I take everything campaign aides say with a grain of salt. But if true, it’s exceedingly interesting [emphasis mine]:
The Republican presidential candidate lit into his White House rival at a rally in Chillicothe, Ohio. Though some of the candidate’s speeches are written by staff, aides told Fox News that Romney personally wrote this one over the course of two days.
I highlighted “personally wrote this one” because it’s so unusual for candidates to do this, and because this speech was widely hailed by conservatives in particular. But I might also have highlighted “over the course of two days.” As a writer, I find that very impressive, too, especially in light of a candidate’s grueling schedule.
Didn’t Romney cancel a campaign event because he needed to rest up? Maybe he was really writing.
How Obama Writes His Speeches
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837368,00.html
Barack Obama is usually the candidate who begs his staff to let him take one more question at every event……
Four years ago Obama spent months writing the convention speech that would catapult him onto the national stage.
On the Stump: Examining the Form and Function of Campaign Speeches
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/on-the-stump-examining-the-form-and-function-of-campaign-speeches/
How important is it whether MR wrote the speech or had speech writers? What is important is that he gave the speech. Reagan had speech writers, but that did not detract from his suburb oratory? I think not.
Superb, not suburb! My bad.
parker: my point is that this speech has been widely hailed as especially good, and that if Romney wrote it himself, that says something about him—such as that he’s better at it than his speechwriters?
And Reagan wrote some of his own stuff.
Virtually all major politicians have speechwriters these days. Churchill, a great writer and orator, did not. But most politicians are not Churchill.
I see your point neo….. if RH did write the speech he does have great oratorical skills.
“But most politicians are not Churchill.”
Western Civilization is greatly in need of politicians of likes of Churchill. Nigel Garage is one I admire for his forthright oratory.
BTW, one of RH’s first acts as president should be to politely ask the UK to return the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office.
I must be going a bit daffy, MR, not RH.
I don’t believe that Obama writes most of his speeches although he may tweak them. He has given no indication of writing anything particularly impressive in his past. In addition, during the campaign the news gave several stories about one of his twenty something wonderkid speech writers as well as the man largely responsible for the Arizona speech after the shooting of Gabby Giffords. Since it appears quite likely that Bill Ayers wrote most of “Dreams For My Father” I’m inclined to believe that the “Time” article is yet another Pravda Press piece puffing up Dear Leader. Romney, I could more easily believe, writes a lot of his own stuff
It really irks me to see, that Mr. Obama thinks that all Americans are completely dumb. He has shown that beleif, recently.
Recently, Obama said something like:
[The problem with Washington is politics. Nothing gets done because Romney and his friends will not compromise on any law or anything].
Gee, what was that playground song we sang, it was:
“Down by the ocean, down by the sea, Tommy broke a bottle + he blamed it on me…”
In my opinion, that’s just what Obama is doing in 2012. He also has done since he took office as president, and when he was running as president. This has been ongoing from 2008-2012.
I do not like Obama’s political ideals, and I never have.
So, to try to help those with different ideals, I’ve been watching him + reading news about him, since 2007.
And he mostly does these bully tactics, like 1) he says: vote for my laws, or I will let no laws will pass in Congress, or 2) he does not compromise with the Republicans in the Government and Congress…at all. Not at all.
Maybe someone can find one compromise, or four compromises with Republicans, done by Obama, since he became president in 2008.
But, I’ve never seen them. I’d be glad to see them, if you find them, but they’re probably small matters, like a tax of 5 cents on all McDonald’s food items. They’ll likely be small matters, if any.
From what he has shown us, Obama is the person who won’t be reasonable and compromise with others, even on small laws, when the Federal Government needs compromises to be done.
I read a story a couple of weeks ago, during one of the recent Bain Capital brouhahas, that I found interesting and I think relevant to this discussion. The story related Ann Romney’s recollections of the Salt Lake City Olympics, and how Mitt was working literally something like 120 hours per week, until she went out to Utah and basically insisted he cut it back to like 80 hpw.
Anyway, Ann talked about how part of Mitt’s preparation for taking over leadership of Olympics was to read every book he could get his hands on about managing sports events.
Fair to say, a lot of people in Mitt’s position WOULDN’T have immersed themselves in the job the way Mitt evidently did. They wouldn’t put in those kinds of hours or take the time to personally study the relevant literature. They would delegate the hard work away and be mostly interested in reaping the rewards that come with being a figurehead.
Given the way Mitt approached Olympics job, it would not surprise me at all if he wrote that speech. He probably figures, quite simply, that a prez candidate ought to be able to write and deliver and least some of his own speeches.
Mitt has been dismissed by a lot of people as something of an empty suit, but I think this is a completely wrong impression. This is a very talented and hardworking guy. And now that the big prize is within his sights, it would be a big mistake for anyone to underestimate him.
Parker:
Not critical, but I stared at RH for minutes wondering what insider reference I was missing 🙂
Conrad, that story about Romney and the Olympics sounds completely believable to me. If you know much about the world of consulting and how it works, you know that in the top tier of strategy consulting (McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, etc.), consultants routinely work 80+ hour weeks, learning as much as they can about the companies they are advising and the fields in which they operate. The elite consulting firms are extremely selective in hiring, and hiring decisions are based partly on candidates’ quantitative and analytical skills, as well as their poise, confidence, ability to learn new things, and ability to think on their feet. Romney started with Bain consulting and eventually moved over to head Bain Capital. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Romney is incredibly bright, able to learn things quickly, able to work well with a wide variety of constituencies and able to immerse himself in details. If he hadn’t had all of those qualities in spades, he never would have risen through the ranks like he did at Bain.
Contrast those abilities, that work ethic, and that work history with that of the Golfer-in-Chief, and it should be overwhelming evident that–casting all questions of policy and ideology aside–in simply evaluating competence to perform the duties of the Presidency at a very high level, there should only be one clear choice, and that’s Romney.
One more thought about how Romney’s career illustrates his high level of competence and his ability: There will be those who point to the fact that Chelsea Clinton was hired by McKinsey after she finished at Oxford and say that it is proof that connections matter in landing a job like that. And while Romney’s family background and connections certainly wouldn’t have hurt him at the start of his career, Romney wouldn’t have stayed at Bain–and he certainly wouldn’t have risen as he did–if he hadn’t been incredibly skilled at what he was doing. Chelsea Clinton, after all, didn’t stay at McKinsey very long. And what’s she doing now? Well, she has bounced around between a few different firms, she’s dabbled in television journalism, she worked on her mother’s campaign, she’s been named to a board or her two where her connections were seen as valuable, and now she’s talking about maybe getting into politics herself. Granted, she’s only 32, but that only further highlights the differences between them. At 32, Romney was working hard at building what would become a stellar career while he and his wife were raising a young family.
Maybe I’m being overly optimistic but I’m pretty confident that R and R are going to win. Remember that, until the financial meltdown in September of 2008, McCain and Obama were neck and neck. That was the McCain who was too afraid to campaign, had no attraction to younger voters and was a lifelong politician (aside from his stellar military service).
Think about that for a second…hey were neck and neck until September. Remember the crowds for Obama? Remember the celebrity, the fainting, the viral videos (Obama Girl or whatever her name was)? I haven’t seen any of that. It may be just because I pay attention to Drudge and conservative blogs, but if Obama doesn’t have the adoring drones that are all excited to make history he’s not going to win.
Once most open minded people see how competent, intelligent and well meaning R and R are (sounds funny) they will make the right decision. Couple that with three plus years of the Obama record (really, what has the guy done as far as leadership?) and I don’t think he can win.
And, entirely off any serious subject, I’d like to know how many people outside Ohio know how to pronounce Chillicothe. I met a guy from (I think) Texas long ago who pronounced it with three syllables and a long “o”. Being from Ohio, I know it sounds like “chill a coffee”. Chillicothe gets mentioned rarely enough in the world at large that I really have no idea. Just a meaningless question…
Conrad:
Mitt has been dismissed by a lot of people as something of an empty suit, but I think this is a completely wrong impression.
It hasn’t been the Demos who have been dismissing Romney as an empty suit. The Demos tend to label Pub politicians either as dunces, such as the way Reagan was labeled, or as evil, such as Nixon. Nixon was obviously too bright to be labeled as a dunce, so he was labeled as evil. The Demos have been labeling Romney as evil: dog in a crate, job destroyer, cancer causer.
Other Pubs have been dismissing Romney as an empty suit. Not a dunce, but someone with no values.
We have a Chillicothe in Missouri, pronounced Chill-ih-coth-ee. I haven’t heard it pronounced differently, but Missouri is pronounced Mih-zour-ee and Mih-zour-uh, so I’m not saying it isn’t otherwise. I’m a “ee” guy.