Romney in 2016? Maybe…

A familiar face has again emerged in the 2016 US presidential election campaign: former Massachusetts’s governor Mitt Romney. For now, Governor Romney is playing the role of elder Republican statesman. Romney has certainly earned the right to this position; his last stint for the party was as a candidate in the 2012 election. He has said he will not run in 2016, and now in mid-year, this seems to be true. There is no official Romney candidacy. However, things might change a bit.

First some background on the Governor. Mr. Romney (Born March 12, 1947) is the son of George Romney, a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination who lost to Richard Nixon in1968 and became Regan’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Mitt Romney earned a BA from Utah’s Brigham Young University, and then went on to Harvard University where he earned a combined JD (Law) degree and MBA.

After graduation he worked for Bain & Company. His business career has been a great success, to the extent that he and his wife’s net worth is estimated at between $190-$250 million. In 1994 Mitt Romney ran against Senator Kennedy for the Massachusetts senate seat. He was defeated.

In 2002 he became President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney took charge of the floundering Salt Lake City Olympics organization and turned it around, winning praise and showing a profit. In the same year he ran and was elected governor of the state of Massachusetts.

One of his major achievements was a health care program that was later echoed by so-called “Obamacare” several years later. Romney was governor for one term, not seeking a second term so he could focus on a presidential run. Governor Romney did run in 2012, but lost to Barack Obama.

And now it is 2016. Governor Romney is not running for president. Or is he? On March 3, 2016 Romney gave a speech at the Hinckley Institute and made a scathing assessment of Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner. Some of his comments about trump include:

“A business genius he is not.”

“When it comes to foreign policy he is very, very not smart.”

“His imagination must not be married to real power.”

“He has neither the temperament or judgment to be president.”

Romney’s March 3 speech is the voice of the Republican establishment. They have made it perfectly clear what they think of Trump through Romney.

So what is the next step? The Republican National Convention is scheduled for July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio. It will certainly be one of the most watched events ever shown on television. But what will happen? There is a good chance that anti-Trump forces might block Donald Trump from becoming the party’s nominee.

And who might take his place? Who might emerge as the party’s candidate to face off against Hillary Clinton in November? Don’t be surprised if it is Governor Mitt Romney with someone like Marco Rubio as his running mate. Some people may remember Romeny’s turnaround of the Salt Lake City Olympics and think that maybe, just maybe, he is the guy to turn around the circus that is the 2016 presidential election has become and bring home a win for the Republican Party.

Romney speech March 3, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iefXdC794I

Photo: Mitt Romney twitter