‘Look At My Record’
Romney wants to fix the economy and Washington, but first he has to repair his own reputation.
Behind Mitt Romney's bland smile, there is a steely drive and a hint of bitterness. Talking to NEWSWEEK's Howard Fineman in Florida last week, Romney complained that his GOP rivals were fighting dirty—even as he launched waves of "comparative" attack ads against John McCain. Dogged and disciplined, Romney has worked his way to the front of the pack. Now he seems to have settled on his pitch: he'll bring an investor's cold-eyed discipline to a beleaguered American economy and the "broken" city of Washington. Excerpts:
Fineman: What do you say to people who think you will say anything or be anything to get elected?
Romney: Well, first of all, let me tell you where that comes from. It comes from one of the opposition campaigns, before we even got going. They did a terrific job of salting the water with that perspective. I prefer not to mention which one, but you can probably figure it out. [It was Sen. Sam Brownback, an ardent pro-life conservative who has since endorsed McCain.] … One place of significance I did change—and I'll acknowledge that—was with regard to abortion. I was effectively pro-choice.
What can you do about that image?
I'm not a political consultant. I can't describe how you rectify the perception that people have obtained other than by letting them do what I tell people to do who ask the question: look at my record … If you want to know where I stand on gay marriage, guns and abortion, on taxation, on balancing budgets, you can look at my record as governor.
But much of your sales pitch is based on your decades in the private sector. So you are asking people to judge you on your whole adult life.
If people are looking for a candidate who, over 15 years of experience, never makes any mistakes, then I'm not that person … I would far rather have a guy who acknowledges his mistakes, and says he was wrong, than someone who consistently stands by something that was wrong and remains wrong.
And who would that be?
I'm not going to be talking, at this stage, about other folks, but there are some folks who tend to be known as being so stubborn that they won't admit when they are wrong.
John McCain said that running against you is like wrestling with a pig. You both get dirty but the pig still likes it. Why do the other candidates dislike you so much?
What Peter says to Paul tells you more about Peter than it does about Paul. I'm not going to Washington to try and make friends with politicians.
Are your relations with these people irreparable?
Not on my part. I'm not sure how they feel. I have been very careful to focus on Senator McCain and Governor Huckabee and their records. In fact, in the Senator McCain ads, I would begin by saying, Senator McCain is a man of honor, he is a national hero, but I disagree with him on these issues and describe accurately his positions and what my positions are.
Have they gotten personal in a way that you haven't?
There's no question that what has come back has been very personal.
They would probably argue that they are just cataloging your changes in positions.
That may be what they would argue, but when they don't catalog those accurately and distort what they are and try and make jokes or light of a person's character, it's very different and personal.
Where do you get whatever sense you have of how average people live their lives?
It comes from various parts of my life. One way was serving as a missionary for my church for two and a half years in France, living not just among the middle class but the poor. It gave me a great deal of perspective on people who were living close to the poverty line. And then in my community service as a lay minister of my faith and as an adviser and participant in charitable organizations, I was able to work with people who had real challenges and problems. And as a result of those experiences, most of my life I have been very close to people of a wide range of economic circumstances. The proof of the pudding is the effort I went through to get everybody health insurance.
Do you think George W. Bush has been a good economic steward?
Yes, I think George Bush has faced some extraordinary challenges that have tested his mettle. The first was a declining economy when he came in, which shortly thereafter got hit by 9/11 and the Internet bubble burst. And he was able to take swift action to get the economy to turn around … I likewise think that in the current situation, with us having been hit by the subprime-mortgage crisis spreading throughout our economy, that he has moved quickly to reach agreement with Congress to put in place a stimulus plan … Now, are there some things I would have done differently? Absolutely.
Such as?
I think we overspent. I think Republicans acted like Democrats and America lost … I also think the decision to add a multitrillion-dollar Medicare Part D entitlement was not the right course.
How about looking the other way when the mortgage industry went nuts giving subprime mortgages to people who probably shouldn't have had them?
There are many places where I would have expected the whistle to be blown first. The rating agencies.
If elected, what would be your first priority?
Get the economy on track.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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