Ann Romney just didn’t shine at the Republican National Convention when she spoke Tuesday night, she rocked the hall, owned the stage and won the hearts of conservatives and –dare I say undecided voters. In telling America why she fell in love with Mitt Romney, Ann not only humanized a man who can seem distance, stony at times but also made the case why Romney “will not fail” and is the best man “to lift up America.”
If I was a member of Obama’s re-election campaign, I’d be very afraid after the GOP Convention’s opening act. There were other speakers who set the stage on fire, Utah Congressional candidate Mia Love, Artur Davis, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie but Ann Romney was the star who paved the road for Romney’s acceptance speech Thursday.
Dressed in patriotic red, as she breezed onto the stage, Ann clasped her hands in her knees and just smiled for a moment, taking in the crowd’s excitement for her. “I want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts, she said, “I want to talk to you about love.”
She acknowledged these are tough times for parents who are working harder, longer hours and multiple jobs to take care of their kids. Then almost thumbing her nose in the face of Democrats, who tried to accuse Republicans of waging a war on women, Ann caringly reminded the audience it’s moms and women who are the glue that hold things together.
“It's the moms of this nation -- single, married, widowed -- who really hold this country together. We're the mothers, we're the wives, we're the grandmothers, we're the big sisters, we're the little sisters, and we’re the daughters,” Ann declared.
As Ann described how moms help kids with book reports, care for aging parents, she reminded me of my own mother, who was and is always there for me and my two brothers. It was my mother who cared for her mother, my grandmother diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was my mother who nursed her dying brothers in their elderly years and it was my mother who has stood by my father’s side when he was sick.
In telling the story of how she met Mitt Romney, Ann debunked the notion she or her husband always lived on “easy street.” She told us how her father came from nothing to build his own business and George Romney without a college education became a carpenter. Ann said her 42 years of marriage hasn’t been easy, from living in a basement apartment, using a fold down ironing board as their dining room table, to having five boys and her diagnosis with MS and breast cancer. She said she doesn’t have a story book marriage, “what Mitt and I have is a real marriage.”
In an attempt to run from his own record of failure, President Obama has attacked Romney’s success. Ann in a humble tone said, “Mitt wasn’t handed success.” He took a risk, worked hard and never gave up. Isn’t that what we want for our children, to teach them to strive for success not tell them, “try to do okay,” she said.
Finally, Ann explained why her husband doesn’t brag more about himself, something conservatives want him to do as he heads into the final stretch against Obama.
“Mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point,” she said.
As Ann ticked through Romney’s other successes turning around the 2002 Olympics, reducing unemployment to 4.7% in Massachusetts and improving schools to one of the best in the nation, I agreed with her “this is the man America needs.”
Ann Romney made Mitt relatable to Americans. So much of what Ann Romney described about her life with Mitt Romney reminded me of my own parents Thomas and Barbara. They were high school sweethearts, have been married for almost 50 years, and are the foundation for my success and grounding in life.
Infused with enthusiasm, charm and humility, Ann stole the hearts of Americans in talking about her husband but more importantly sold us on Mitt Romney, the quiet man who doesn’t brag. She asked Americans to “give him a chance.” After Tuesday night, I think they will. Ann’s a tough act to follow but after 47 years I think Mitt Romney can do it. I can’t wait to hear Mitt’s love affair for America Thursday night.
Republicans, especially those within the ranks of the establishment, have insisted that during this general presidential election, it is upon the policies—not the person—of Barack Obama that they will set their sights.
This judgment is understandable enough.
For one, Obama is a Democrat. As such, he has the juggernaut of the so-called mainstream press behind him. Republicans, that is, are at a considerable disadvantage in the public relations war.
Also, and at least as importantly, the Democratic occupant of the White House has been universally hailed as America’s “first black president.”
Considering that decades worth of leftist propaganda courtesy of the media and the Democratic Party has succeeded in creating the popular perception that Republicans don’t like blacks, it would be all too easy for Mitt Romney and company to be portrayed as “racist.”
Of course, Romney and his supporters are already depicted as “racist.” And as time draws nearer to Election Day, charges of “racism” promise to accelerate in both frequency and intensity.
There is another reason why Republicans may want to reconsider playing things too close to the vest.
Simply put, the voter does not live by policy alone.
The economy is the most important issue for the electorate, so talk of debts and deficits is imperative. However, most of us don’t get too terribly excited about numbers, and when those numbers are in the billions and trillions, the average person will not relate to such abstractions.
But if economic (and other issues) are situated within the context of a story, then otherwise dead facts can be brought to life.
Actually, even this is an understatement of the power of narrative in politics. Obama, for instance, spoke scarcely of facts at all in the election of 2008. Rather, he espoused glittering (yet entirely vapid) rhetorical generalities and scored a decisive victory over his opponent.
What Obama knows is what all great orators and rhetoricians have always known: the heart is much easier to move than the head.
It seems that if they didn’t know it before, Republicans are now beginning to discover this as well. This, at any rate, is what can reasonably be taken away from two recent developments: Ann Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention and Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary, 2016: Obama’s America. Together, these two phenomena may very well have swung the election decidedly in Mitt Romney’s favor.
Ann Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night situated her husband’s campaign within a larger narrative context of his life. That is, while we have known about Mitt Romney the politician, we now know about Romney the person. D’Souza’s film, on the other hand, serves the invaluable function of doing for Obama what Mrs. Romney’s speech did for her husband.
Mrs. Romney took a wrecking ball to the story of Romney “the vulture capitalist,” the “tax cheat,” the cool, merciless gazillionaire that the Obama campaign has labored long and hard to craft. She humanized her husband by recounting the tribulations and joys of their long life together. Ann introduced to the world Mitt the loving father of five wholesome boys and grandfather to ten children; the devoted husband of a wife to whom he has been faithful for 43 years, through good times and bad; the grateful son who recognized his parents’ gifts for the divine blessings that they were by working tirelessly—and successfully—to bring them to fruition.
Contrary to what Obama and his allies in Washington and the media would have us believe, the Mitt Romney of whom Ann Romney spoke most definitely does not put profits before people.
While Ann Romney is telling her husband’s story, Dinesh D’Souza continues to tell Obama’s in an ever increasing number of cinema theaters around the country. And the two stories couldn’t be more different.
D’Souza does not dispute Obama’s claim that he was born in Hawaii. However, he tries to show that although the President was born in America, he is not of it. Rather, Obama views the country with the same kind of skepticism, even indignation, with which the Third World subjects of colonial rule—like his African family—view America. Obama’s utterances and deeds since taking office, D’Souza contends, make perfect sense when considered against the backdrop of his “anti-colonial” vision. We learn that these policies are not the products of Obama’s incompetence. They aren’t even the fruits (or poisons) of conventional Democratic politics. They reflect Obama’s obsession to rectify the injustices to which formerly colonized peoples in the Third World had been subjected by Westerners.
Republicans should continue with their talk of policies. Yet they must be equally ready to tell good stories.
Those on the left like to say conservatives are waging a War on Women, but who are the real aggressors? Why do liberals cry in outrage over remarks made about Sandra Fluke but say nothing when Bill Maher and DNC officials attack Ann Romney for being a stay-at-home mom? Hypocrisy of course. Hear more as Zo exposes liberal hypocrites on this ZoNation.
Mrs. Romney used TV and Twitter to answer a Democratic lobbyist who dismissed Mrs. Romney's qualifications to address women's economic issues, characterizing her as a wealthy, stay-at-home mother who "never worked a day in her life." Further, added the lobbyist, Hilary Rosen, in a Wednesday night TV interview, Mrs. Romney's husband "does not view women as equals."
Mrs. Romney opened a Twitter account late Wednesday to fire back. "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work," she wrote, quickly drawing 10,000 followers, many furious at Ms. Rosen's remarks.
Democrats ran for cover. First lady Michelle Obama tweeted: "Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected." Top political adviser David Axelrod called Ms. Rosen's remarks "inappropriate and offensive." Ms. Rosen, after first seeking to explain, later apologized Thursday.
Ann Romney just didn’t shine at the Republican National Convention when she spoke Tuesday night, she rocked the hall, owned the stage and won the hearts of conservatives and –dare I say undecided voters. In telling America why she fell in love with Mitt Romney, Ann not only humanized a man who can seem distance, stony at times but also made the case why Romney “will not fail” and is the best man “to lift up America.”
