Many Democrats looked forward to first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. Her performance was a genuine yet expected testament to her husband’s character.
For me, the most touching moment was a video tribute to Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had taken part in the Democratic National Convention since 1960, and who is still regarded as a revered icon in the party.
The seven-minute video highlights Kennedy’s major legislative achievements, his championship of universal health care and his mentorship/endorsement of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.
But the former “Lion of the Senate” had one last roar.
The video included clips of Kennedy debating, and figuratively wiping the floor, with Mitt Romney when the latter challenged the incumbent Massachusetts senator in 1994.
The clips start with Romney, who stated that day what he then thought about the abortion issue: “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country ... ”
Kennedy jabbed back with artful ruthlessness, “I am pro-choice. My opponent is multiple-choice.”
The former senator continued to assault Romney’s political convictions in another clip, saying of the wealthy businessman, “Now he’s for family leave. Now he looks like he’s for minimum wage. Now he’s for education reform. If we give him two more weeks, he might even vote for me, because those are the things I am for.”
There are two things that we can be absolutely certain of:
First, the Republican or conservative talking heads and political commentators will be enraged about the use of a dead senator to bluntly call out Romney.
Second, this is exactly what Kennedy would have wanted; he would have loved every minute of it.
Conservatives’ real objections to revisiting that campaign are not due to the ghosts of Kennedy’s past. Rather, such trips invoke the apparitions of the many different Mitt Romneys who have come and gone over the years.
What keeps them up late at night are the ghosts of every diverse position Romney has taken on many of the major issues of the day.
Pro-abortion rights Romney, pro-gun-control Romney, pro-gay-rights Romney, pro-individually-mandated-health-care Romney, pro-letting-the-auto-industry-fail Romney, anti-Reagan/Bush Romney and pro-stimulus-and-bailout Romney are some of the classics.
Although viewing all of Romney’s faces leads to speculation about his core beliefs and motivations for seeking office, it reveals something more important.
Republican leaders’ urgency to embrace a man who has shown poor commitment to their most defining values is in line with the spirit of their own rightward shift since the president took office.
They are too willing to adopt any ideology that increases their contrast with Obama. Policy positions that the Republican Party endorsed in the not-too-recent history are labeled Marxist when Obama touts them.
Today’s Republicans have been working diligently to rewrite history throughout this administration, from the role their prized unregulated markets played in crashing the economy, to a total amnesia concerning the eight years of the Bush administration.
The GOP has put forward a lot of talk about how Obama has not done enough to prevent an increasingly stagnant recovery, while simultaneously blocking his jobs legislation during the last two years.
They say the president is too ideological and unwilling to work with them as they take pledges to never raise taxes.
The GOP claims the deficit should be our top concern when its safety-net-slashing budget funds additional tax breaks for the rich.
Our country entered into the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, and countless people lost their quality of life through no fault of their own.
Many Americans are still deciding whom to trust to lead this nation with conviction. The themes struck at the party conventions may play a role in framing that decision.
Perhaps the Kennedy tribute’s most valuable impact will prove to be that it reminded us what Mitt Romney, today’s GOP and ghosts have in common:
They all exist only in fantasy.
Ford Dwyer is a history and political science senior at UF. His column appears on Thursdays. You can contact him at opinions@alligator.org.
