"He may have hair upon his chest, but sister, so has Lassie²
Cole Porter, "Kiss Me Kate"
Despite my low opinion of political campaigns and their determination to avoid talking about important issues, I was actually surprised when I read that Mitt Romney's committee was showing a campaign commercial with him in a swimming suit. At best it would be irrelevant to judging his fitness to be governor; but given his tendency to treat women as servants or window-dressing (while claiming there is no reason for a "gender gap" in the race), it's either insulting or comically inept. Maybe it's actually a disguised attempt to appeal to gay men (hey guys: that's a joke).
During the first "debate," Romney repeatedly attacked Shannon O'Brien for some of the cuts in state programs that Governor Jane Swift and the legislature had made, but he wasn't forced to explain how these are the Treasurer's responsibility. He claimed that, as governor, he could find enough "waste, fraud and abuse" to save billions, and thus make possible both continued tax cuts and those program he said he would never cut.
He also kept saying, "look at my Web page," so I did. It could have had lists of programs he has identified as wasteful; after all, he had the entire spring and summer to run for election unopposed in the Republican primary, and should have been doing his homework. Nada. We're just supposed to trust him: trust his ability to make those cuts, trust that his priorities agree with ours, trust that he means it at all.
Billions of dollars is a lot of money; no one can save that much without cutting lots of services. I think any of us could make a list of things some government agency is doing that we think is wasteful, even dumb. But we also know we wouldn't all agree about what is wasteful. Bills that provide for borrowing, such as the recently-passed Environmental Bond Bill, get loaded up with "earmarks" to fund particular local projects by legislators. It wouldn't surprise me if everyone who lives east of the Quabbin would list re-paving the Norwottuck Rail Trail as dumb and wasteful; but everyone here who walks, bikes or rollerblades on it knows re-paving is urgently needed. Earmarks offend my "good government" sensibilities, but they are often the only practical way to accomplish something.
I don't believe Mitt Romney is naïve about log-rolling and trading favors in order to get things done. He has just done his horse trading in the business world, instead of on Beacon Hill. Like his Republican predecessors, will get along fine with the very conservative budget-cutting Speaker, Tom Finneran. Finneran can make even Romney look like an open- minded liberal on social issues while they hack away at social programs, the environment, and public higher education.
I'm not writing this because I think voters in Amherst will support Mitt. I'm afraid too many will vote for Jill Stein. Now is not the time for symbolic votes that have the effect of making each vote for Romney count more. We have GW Bush as President thanks to Ralph Nader; we don't want Mitt Romney as Governor thanks to Jill Stein.
O'Brien's stands on many issues are better than Romney's. She supports increasing the minimum wage, a woman's right to choose, and domestic partnerships with full rights for gay and lesbian couples. She opposes the death penalty. She supports increased funding for the state's public colleges and university. She does not support the draconian Question 2, which over-simplifies the issues of bilingual education. Her environmental platform includes preservation of open space, reduction of toxics use and emissions, protection of clean water, and energy conservation, including developing a plan within state government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, I think her experience and contacts on Beacon Hill will work to her advantage, not her disadvantage. The Governor has to work with the legislature, and we can't afford a long learning curve right now.
Romney wants to distract us with his good looks and his glib assurances that we can have it all: both tax cuts and the programs and services we want and expect to have. It's not true, and O'Brien has been too responsible to play that game. She has not promised pie in the sky. While Stein is clearly an admirable person and addresses many vital issues, it is unfortunately true that a vote for her benefits Romney and policies we oppose rather than those we support. Voting for the one we like best, when it won't hurt in the real world, is great. But whatever our connection to state government whether we work for a state agency, have children in school or elderly parents who need prescription drugs or home care, recreate in state parks, drive on roads, drink water or breathe air we can't afford that luxury now.