Well, that didn’t take long.
Under questioning from David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Mitt Romney reverted to type — the basically moderate Massachusetts Republican he was before he decided that he wanted to be the nominee of a party whose base has moved ever further rightward since the nomination of Barry Goldwater half a century ago.
As the New York Times pointed out in a piece written off the interview, there was the allowance that perhaps President Barack Obama’s health care reform is not all bad. (“There are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I’m going to put in place,” said Romney, though keep is a more accurate term in this context than put. “One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.”)
There was the acknowledgement that deficits could not be brought fully under control even in a single presidential term. And there was the admission that President Obama had made America safer with the execution of Osama bin Laden and the drone attacks on al-Qaeda targets.
Then came an exchange that got less notice but which I think is among the more revealing remarks Romney has made in a long time.
GREGORY: You know you could be a very unpopular President if you make tough choices that you say you’ll make. If it came to it, if the only way to achieve a deal on the debt, on this fiscal cliff, was to endanger yourself politically to the point that you were a one-term President, would you be satisfied with that?ROMNEY: David, I could not care less about my political prospects. I want to become President of the United States to get this country on the right track again. America is at a critical crossroads. We have to strengthen the foundation of our economy, of our values, of our principles, so we have a military that’s so strong we can defend freedom for ourselves and for others. We’ve got to put Americans back to work. And politics, and — and whether I am highly favored, not highly favored just doesn’t enter into the equation.GREGORY: Would you be — would you be satisfied with one term if you could get a deal on averting a fiscal cliff?ROMNEY: Let me tell you, if I can get this country on track again, I’d be satisfied with anything.GREGORY: As you know, there’re still questions — you acknowledged it — about, do people really know you? And I think the question is whether — Are you the … the moderate from Massachusetts who championed universal health care, who at onetime was for abortion rights, or are you the … the candidate who said he was a severe conservative? What will you be as a President?
Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/10/the-truth-about-mitt/#ixzz265DILiLT
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