WHICH MITT WILL IT BE?
Senate may see all sides of Romney
Mitt Romney appears headed to Washington as a U.S. senator; the only question is, which Mitt will show up.
Will it be circa
1994 Mitt, who campaigned as a moderate against
U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy?
How about Gov- ernor Mitt, a centrist who worked with Massachusetts Democrats to pass landmark health care reform?
Then there’s Presidential Candidate Mitt, who ran as a social and fiscal conservative but looked like an out of touch 1 percenter?
Or Never Trumper Mitt, who led the rebellion against the billionaire developer and called him a “fraud” and “con man.”
And how can we forget Trump Suck-up Mitt, who unsuccessfully lobbied the president for the post of Secretary of State?
The answer, of course, is: all of them.
Romney proved in Massachusetts and later around the rest of the country that he can twist and turn and flip and flop to fit the political mold that gives him the best chance to win.
Romney’s time in the Corner Office provides the best road map to how he’d look as a U.S. senator, because it’s the only time he’s actually served in office.
The former governor reached out to the Massachusetts Legislature on health care reform because he wanted a signature achievement to buttress his long planned run for the Oval Office.
But later in his term, Romney took a sharp turn to the right because he knew he would have to win the Republican presidential primaries.
Now that he looks headed to the U.S. Senate — needing only a victory in November against a Democrat in deep red Utah — Romney will be facing off against his one-time nemesis in the White House.
But the truth is they both need each other.
Romney, if he wants to accomplish anything in the Senate, needs Trump as an ally more than ever before. The president could easily thwart Mitt if he feels like it, or feels that Mitt has dissed him. Romney and Republicans can’t pass anything without the White House stamp of approval.
And Trump needs Romney, because the former Massachusetts governor is bound to be an instant leader in the Senate, someone who will be far more powerful than his junior senator status would have you believe.
So if Trump wants to advance his agenda, like getting funding for a wall with Mexico, Romney will be there to either block it or give it his blessing.
There are some early indications that the two will try to forge a good working relationship. Trump’s tweet congratulating Mitt on his victory showed the president is willing to meet his one-time enemy half way.
“I look forward to working together — there is so much good to do,” Trump tweeted.
Democrats may strongly disagree with that, but it will be better for the nation if Romney and Trump put their sometimes acrimonious past behind them.
Who knows, with Mitt’s political skills, maybe even a few Democrats might join them.