Romney's End

It's done. As of an hour or so ago, Willard "Mitt" Romney is out of the 2008 Presidential race.

I'll come out and say it: I've never liked Romney. Not in the same way I've never liked cabbage or Hillary Clinton, but there was a dislike there all the same. My first reaction at hearing that he was going to make a serious run for the White House was alarm. If there's a politician who's more ready to change his stance to suit his immediate needs, I haven't met him. Some amount of flip-flopping is to be expected in any candidate who's not a complete dogmatist; but in Romney's case, it all seemed so calculated.

That's the uncharitable welling up from inside me. But to give him some credit, I will say that I found his withdrawal comments to be heartfelt and gracious. Take for example:

“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Sen. Clinton or Obama would win,” he said.

“And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

Very true. It's good that the GOP has a candidate who can come to grips with his own political mortality. What the Democrats are only beginning to be concerned about is the fact that neither of their top two has any reason yet to back down. Clinton trails in fundraising and (for the moment) delegates, but she's got a fuller resume and a big, loyal following. If Obama withdraws at this point, I suspect it will be taken as a betrayal by the movement that's behind him, and it may end his Presidential chances permanently. There's a tragic aspect to all this: not long ago, it seemed that all the Dems needed to do was run a candidate, and the top office would be theirs. It may well still happen, but someone has to be knocked to the mat first.

The big question on the GOP side is whether this will quell some of the discontended rumblings coming from the far right of the party. Romney could, in theory, have still been their man. Will they acquiesce, or abstain?

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