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Too superior?
Does the rejection of Romney come down to envy and resentment at his obvious superiority? That’s what a reader tells John Derbyshire, who agrees. I agree, but only in part. I think the irrational animus against Romney in some quarters, especially the media, comes from that cause. But at the same time millions of ordinary people have voted for him. Which shows that he is not without electoral appeal—the problem is that he doesn’t have enough electoral appeal. So the hate-Romney syndrome is one phenomenon, and Romney’s failure to win enough votes is another phenomenon. Update: Let’s consider further Romney’s electoral appeal. Hugh Hewitt estimates the popular vote totals of the three candidates in all the Super Tuesday primaries:
McCain 3,016,739 Meaning McCain had 43.1 percent of the vote and Romney had 33.9 percent of the vote, 9.2 percent behind McCain. My first thought was that this was not a good performance by Romney. But Hewitt, always finding the sunny side of things, says:
Given that these states leaned blue, what is clear is that Mitt Romney battled to within a single digit deficit nationally of the frontrunner, making this the closest nomination contest since 1976. For a campaign that started at 3% in the polls, it came a long way.Let us also remember that McCain has been a national name and hero for decades. Romney was a virtual unknown a year ago. And let us remember that Romney—until five days before Super Tuesday—got no meaningful support from the conservative establishment, which should have been backing him weeks or months earlier, and which never treated him with respect but ignored and belittled him.
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