Can you tell I’m a political news junkie? I found a really interesting study into the father-son dynamic between George Romney and his son the Mittbot, and how the latter seems to somehow be a Hamlet-like reaction to the traumas of former’s parabolic political career. I think it’s obviously just speculation, but it’s quite interesting.
Note that George Romney was probably farther left in the late 60’s than Obama is now, in all kinds of ways, but the subsequent evolution of the Democratic and Republican parties since the 1960’s means that he was perceived as being rightish back then while Obama is perceived as leftish now. Also, somewhat interesting, is the fact that Romney the Elder was born in Mexico, yet no one seemed to really question his eligibility for the presidency in 1968. How did things change such that Obama’s Kenyan father is a problem now?
“When you want to win the hearts and minds of people, you don’t kill them and destroy their property. You don’t use bombers and tanks and napalm to save them.” – George Romney, while campaigning against Richard Nixon in 1968 (he was talking about Vietnam, of course).
There’s this funny quote about Romney’s 1968 campaign, too, in the wikithing article: “Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football.” – Jim Rhodes, once governor of Ohio. Perhaps one could view the current Romney presidential aspirations as being the unholy spawn of that weird fly-by-night romance between duck and football.
