Still for Mitt Romney

The choice is even clearer now

Even before he won his party’s nomination for president, Mitt Romney seemed by far the best choice—not just for his party but for the country. So without further ado, on the first Sunday in May this year, our presidential endorsement appeared. Why play games with the reader?

On re-reading that editorial, its case for a President Romney seemed strong as ever, even stronger, as time has passed. So with the permission of our ever tolerant, not to say indulgent, readers, today we reprint some salient points from our presidential endorsement of May 6, 2012:

BIG SURPRISE: Today the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette endorses Mitt Romney for president. But does anyone still pay attention to newspapers’ presidential endorsements? The American voter has a long and honorable tradition of ignoring them. Independence, thy name is the American electorate. It seems We the People can make up our own minds, thank you.

To our patient and long-suffering readers, our presidential pick today must be as shocking as discovering that bluebirds are blue. Because from the first of this presidential campaign, when the line-up of GOP hopefuls filled a good-sized stage, one candidate struck us as the responsible adult in the room.

Mitt Romney wasn’t flashy on the campaign trail; he still isn’t and may never be. Good. Like many other Americans, we’re a little sick of flash by now. Instead, Mr. Romney has an air of seriousness, of solid competence, that has grown only clearer during the obstacle course and endurance contest that has been the Republican hopefuls’ long slog through the primaries this year, with one or two collapsing after each stop.

The current term of art for the quality Mitt Romney personifies as a presidential candidate is gravitas. He not only looks like a president, he speaks like one. And thinks like one. Inevitably there will be gaffes in any presidential campaign, but Mitt Romney has generally avoided the pitfalls that awaited his more colorful opponents, like Newt Gingrich, and the more ideological ones, like Rick Santorum.

In contrast to the chorus line of contenders with whom he shared those crowded debates, Mr. Romney has spoken not just forcefully but responsibly. He seems to recognize both the possibilities of American politics in 2012 and its limits. Now he’s emerged as the presidential candidate who sees this country not as a land of ever burgeoning entitlements (and ever mounting debt to match) but as the land of opportunity it can be once again.

MITT ROMNEY’S is a vision that badly needs restoring after the past four years of a failed and still failing presidency. Only someone who can look at Barack Obama’s record in the White House and conclude that this is the best America can do may be immune to Mitt Romney’s appeal.

Why accept America’s decline at home and abroad when we can reverse it, and maybe find our better selves in the process? Once there were presidents who could speak of the American destiny without embarrassment or irony. Ronald Reagan comes to mind; so does Dwight Eisenhower. They were quite different types but both proved highly successful in office. Mitt Romney could be the next such president.

Mr. Romney has a record to go with his vision, a record of practical leadership in the highly demanding worlds of both politics and business. He doesn’t just talk about creating jobs, he’s created them. He’s managed government well, too. Having inherited a big budget deficit when he became governor of Massachusetts, he quickly turned it into a budget surplus. Like any successful, accomplished politician in a two-party system, he’s made his compromises when it comes to policy—but not principle.

Romney care in Massachusetts, which his louder opponents in the primaries held against him, was an experiment worth trying in his state. But he’s never pretended that it’s a one-size-fits-all panacea for all the country’s many problems when it comes to paying for health care.

On the contrary, Mr. Romney has long recognized that the states represent 50 different laboratories of democracy, and that a country as large and diverse as this one will rightly resist being fitted into one, all-encompassing, arbitrary program that resembles a straitjacket more than a reform. . . .

The country’s underlying economic problems seem to have grown dramatically over the past four years. Much like its unemployment rate. Under this president, we’re becoming Europe Lite, and for those of us who can see Greece, Spain, and Italy wobbling like the next dominoes in a row, there is nothing to envy about Europe’s shaky economies.

MITT Romney’s background is that of a businessman who solves problems, not aggravates them. . . .

The list of Mitt Romney’s successes is long and impressive, from Domino’s Pizza to Staples and Toys R Us, and scores more. He seems to know when to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, and when to walk away. Which ought to be a useful talent in foreign affairs, too.

Even more impressive than Mr. Romney’s rescuing companies has been his ability to recognize failing ones, and to let them fail so they can be reorganized and come back strong. Rather than resort to the mainstays of this administration’s economic “strategy”— and corporate welfare. See the history of Government Motors, which had to go into bankruptcy anyway, and Solyndra, the current poster boy for crony capitalism.

No wonder Mitt Romney still believes in the American dream; he’s lived it. Shared it. Demonstrated it. And even found time to save the Winter Olympics between assignments. Now one more turnaround project awaits his attention: the American economy.

To get that daunting job done will require dedication, a solid grasp of reality, attention to detail and, perhaps most of all, constancy of purpose. Which a successful leader maintains despite all the flak that people who actually do things attract—as opposed to the kind who just talk about doing things. . . .

Our current chief executive’s specialty seems to be not success but excuses for not achieving it. Performance counts, and it’s time we the people accepted no substitute for it. And solid performance is what Mitt Romney offers the American electorate this year. No, his campaign doesn’t have any magic catchwords (Hope! Change! Audacity!) but we’re electing a president, not a magician.

The really audacious move on the part of the next president would be to keep his promises, not just make them. The steadfast, effective, well-organized campaign Mitt Romney has conducted for the presidency may be the best of advertisements for his executive skills. For by their fruits ye shall know them.

In the months since our editorial appeared, both events and Mitt Romney’s approach to them have only bolstered the case for his election. By now the problems with American foreign policy, to the extent the country has one, have become undeniable in the fiery shadow of Benghazi. He even seems able to distinguish America’s friends from her foes—rather than distancing himself from friends and signaling foes that, if elected, he’d be more open to appeasing them.

By now Mr. Romney has outlined his economic agenda for the next four years, like lowering tax rates while eliminating exemptions and deductions to keep tax revenues steady. Unlike his opponent in this election, he seems to understand the ever more imminent threat that still more national debt poses to the American future—and future generations. Since the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, the national debt has increased from $10.6 trillion to more than $16 trillion. One can only imagine how high it would be after a second term. It’s time for a new president—and a new beginning.