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I've never met Mitt Romney
PERSONAL STATEMENT by Andrew Weiner
Politics at the diner
by Zach Bergson
I've never met Mitt Romney. He might have
noticed me in Iowa when he took the stage
in the middle of a manufacturing plant
during the hellish slap-fest that Republicans
called "primary season." The GOP nominee
might' have seen me standing there, silently
judging the conservatives I was packed in with.
To call the audience shoulder-to-shoulder
would be an understatement. It was really
more of a mosh pit around a stage - a boring,
all white, mostly stationary mass of people who
probably didn't know what "mosh pit" meant
and would surely disapprove of the term if they
knew, but a mosh pit nonetheless.
The signature anger was there. A round
woman in light jeans made passive-aggressive
comments behind me to her husband, whisper-
ing, "you'd think someone so tall would have
been courteous and stood in the back," just
purposefully loud enough for me to hear. Or
maybe she thought my ears were so high up the
words wouldn't travel. You'd think someone so
short would have gotten there earlier.
Mitt barreled onto stage 30 minutes late. (A
true diva knows how to keep an audience wait-
ing and anxious.) A long, slow ramp resembling
a runway took Romney from a staging area
into the warehouse-like space the thousand
spectators were corralled into. His sons and
wife, Ann, were waiting for him on a circular
stage at the end of the ramp. A Bieber-fever like
reaction erupted from the crowd at the sight of
their hero, their answer to the evil man who
singlehandedly ruined the America they once
knew and loved - but still believed could be
great again.
After being slowed by hundreds of hands
reaching out to touch their messiah and feel
what made his skin holier than thou, Mitt
reached his handsome family, who, for some
reason, seemed surprised to see him. "Honey!"
I imagined Ann exclaiming, "Are all these peo-
ple - are they here to see you?"
The crowd fell silent at their president's
request. It seemed silly to address him as any-
thing else. We call past presidents by their title,
so why not future ones?
I've never met Mitt Romney. In fact, I'm
almost positive he didn't notice me that flat
Iowa evening. Amid the sea of white, I hadn't
noticed that the short woman had wedged her-
self past me only to realize she was still shorter
than the near-40 people who stood between
her and the stage that the Romneys' actual,real
feet were touching. She must have still wished
to trade bodies with one of the folks whose
longest finger touched the cuff of Mitt's jeans
during his catwalk up. Still, by the transitive
property of mosh pit bodies, she was on stage
with him. I hope she couldn't see a damn thing.
I've never met Mitt Romney. Over the course
of the last year or so, I've read tens of thousands
of words about him - most by people who have
only heard his voice through a speaker system.
But I've never had a conversation with the
man. Not now, and not before he was a world-
touring celebrity.
On Aug. 21, People magazine interviewed
his then-new running mate, Paul Ryan. "Any
low-brow pleasures, like 'The Real House-
wives?' " the interviewer asked him. I don't
like People magazine. Maybe previously I'd
have said "hate," but I have since learned the
word should be reserved for things that actu-
ally make the world a significantly worse place.
I hate oil spills. People may make some read-
ers insecure about their bodies, but it certainly
isn't worth hating. It's mostly just creepy.
I understand the entertainment industry's
economy is dependent on the market forces of
"celebrity." But it's strange that hundreds of
thousands of people care what a person they've
never met, and can statistically reason never
will, named their child or wore while ordering
tacos.
I've never met Barack Obama. I saw the
president when he came to Ann Arbor in Janu-
ary. He seems like a nice guy. By most accounts
he is. His smile doesn't look like it was surgi-
cally implanted on a chiseled stone fade and
masks post-surgery pain. Barack Obama didn't
ask Republicans to campaign on what has to be
the most money ever spent in human history
to ruin one man's reputation. But neither did
Mitt Romney. They're both playing along, sure,
most politicians are - but this can't be the race
either respectable man wanted.
Yes, the 47-percent comment was bad, and
it's difficult to fault those who don't pay much
in federal taxes for worrying about a Romney
presidency. Yes, Republicans rake in - more
contributions from big business. Yes, their
policy reflects less concern about U.S. income
inequality, but it's a stretch to take the gaffe
as more than another in the echo chamber. In
September, Sen. John McCain said the best
advice he had for the candidates is to stay rest-
ed: "Don't get so fatigued that you lose your
temper or say something stupid." Get some
rest, gentlemen.
We've circled back to a national mood where
gut feeling based on likeability or lies has
replaced numbers, experts and logic - and
party politics encourages such substitutions.
It's not that expensive to convince the unin-
formed to vote for their favorite pair of celebri-
ties. It's creepy that Joe Biden can't eat an ice
cream cone without 17 news outlets forsak-
ing traditional fact checking to be the first to
report the red-to-pink-sprinkle ratio.
Like People magazine, America will still be
here in 2016. Our president has not ruined our
country. The Obama administration - which
consists of thousands of highly intelligent
people, not a single man controlling every deci-
sion - hasn't fixed every American ailment.
If they did, it'd be unprecedented; on a macro
level, four years is four minutes. And contrary
to conventional liberal sentiment, if elected,
Mitt Romney will not ruin the country. Amer-
ica isn't on its deathbed, and it would take far
longer than four years, botched or otherwise,
to land there.
America deserves better than a People
magazine election. Mitt Romney and Barack
Obama deserve better than having their basic
moral character judged as a lazy alternative to
their policy - by voters who really don't know
them fundamentally as people and never will.
There are highly intelligent Republicans. There
are highly intelligent Democrats. Both deserve
better than blanket hatred and dismissal.
I've never met Mitt Romney. I certainly dis-
agree with many of his policy positions, and
I'm probably not going to vote for him. But a
bad guy? Months ago, standing in that Iowa
warehouse, I looked at him and said, "Yes, a
bad guy." In hindsight, I was standing way too
far from that stage to see a thing.
Andrew Weiner is a Public Policy junior and
the managing editor for The Michigan Daily.
The city of Ann Arbor is as liberal as it
gets. Ann Arbor hasn't had a Republi-
can mayor in 12 years, and the last time
the city voted for a Republican president was
back in 1984.Even in the 10-person city coun-
cil, a Republican hasn't held office since 2003.
Despite Tree City's liberal voting record,
it's difficult to put in words what drives Ann
Arbor's voting decisions. Is it the city's liber-
al-minded atmosphere? Background? Educa-
tion? Upbringing? But what about Ann Arbor
residents who aren't affiliated with the Univer-
sity? Are they driven by the same issues that
University students and faculty hold dear? In
an election that has been so focused on larger-
than-life figures and intricate policies, these
questions often go unasked. Sometimes it's
easy to forget that, in the end, this election will
be decided by ordinary people.
Without administering a Gallup poll, I
thought the clearest barometer of the Ann
Arbor psyche could be found at Fleetwood
Diner. Open 24/7, Fleetwood acts as a micro-
cosm of this city, where students, faculty
and townies gather to trade stories and dis-
cuss issues. At any time of the day, you can
find all walks of life eating "Hippie Hash" in
Fleetwood's tiny, greasy, sticker-filled space.
I thought spending time talking to patrons at
Fleetwood could give me the closest thing to
a random sample poll of Ann Arbor residents.
2:25 p.m.
Tia Gough, 20, has an easy smile. Turning
her head, her eyes follow an elderly man in
worn-out jeans who had the telltale signs of a
wedgie.
"That ain't hot," Gough says with a grin.
But despite Gough's quick propensity to
laugh, the Ypsilanti resident is tired.
After graduating from Pioneer High School
two years ago, Gough rented out aone-bedroom.
apartment in Ypsilanti. To keep up with her
rent, she began to work multiple jobs: one as a who he'd support.
teacher's assistant in second and third grade
classrooms, another asa cleaning lady. But these
jobs still aren't enough to keep up with the bills -
"bills on top of bills on top of bills," as she puts it. It only takes a f
Gough is constantly looking for work. She with University L
repeatedly checks her phone throughout our Hugh Manahan t
conversation, expecting a call ffom a potential educated. They b
client. why they are sup
And on top of her financial pressures, Gough Frank Act, health
is working toward a degree at Washtenaw Ryan-reformed-M
Community College. Though she doesn't have "I'm voting for
a major yet, Gough is determined to get her to do with this el
degree so she can get out of Michigan. understand his po
"Of course, I want to go to California," she may be frustrated
says. She has her sights set on a fashion school offers a construct
in Los Angeles. Manahan says:
Gough cites financial and time constraints of Dodd-Frank ar
as the main reason why she isn't voting in this like capital requ
election. She says she has shied away from money banks hav
keeping up with the election issues because ments."
she has so many stressors in her personal life Roth, 24, is a D
already. And because she hasn't had the time to han, 25, graduate
develop an informed opinion, Gough says she'd sity in Washingto
rather not vote. their family backg
"I've got no time; I don't got the time," she es at school have n
stresses, repeatedly. vote Democratic o
When pressed, Gough says if she were "I don't favor p
participating on Nov. 6, she'd vote for Presi- ocratic; I vote Den
dent Barack Obama. But even this hypotheti- tain policies," Ma
cal situation seems to bring her discomfort. Manahan says h
The thought of her candidate losing, she says, Georgetown leans
makes her feel like her vote wouldn't count. factors haven't in
She cites this nervousness as another reason They ask me w
why she isn't going to vote. Fleetwood patror
Her companions at Fleetwood, Darien Scott about how Gough
and Anthony Ellis, also say they don't plan on on voting because
voting. Both of them;
Ellis, a recent Pioneer High Schoolgraduate, understand why
has a legitimate excuse - he's only 17. choose not to vot
And Scott, Gough's close friend from high tion period.
school, says he would vote if he had registered It would be nea
on time. But the 19-year-old says he has diffi- dent not to vote,:
culties keeping up withthe issues and isn't sure Law students s
few minutes of conversation
Law students Will Roth and
to tell that they are highly
oth give intricate details of
porting Obama: the Dodd-
care vouchers under a Paul
[edicare, election cycles.
Obama, and it has nothing
lection cycle," Roth says. "I
licy failures and why people
d, but I don't think Romney
ive alternative to those."
"Some of the core stances
e fundamentally important,
irements about how much
e on hand to back up invest-
artmouth grad, while Mana-
d from Georgetown Univer-
n, D.C. They both agree that
rounds and their experienc-
not defined their decisions to
on Nov. 6.
rlicies because they're Dem-
mocratic because I favor cer-
nahan explains.
his father is conservative and
right. But he adds that these
fluenced his decision.
vhat sort of responses other
ns are giving. I tell them
and her friends didn't plan
they say they're busy.
are taken aback. They don't
anyone would purposefully
e, or even miss the registra-
rly impossible for a law stu-
Roth and Manahan explain.
;end them endless e-mails
Travis Hughes and Grace Trinidad are both
enrolled in the University's School of Public
Health. Hughes has blond hair and blue eyes
and sports a white and blue beanie on his
head. Trinidad has dark hair and is wearing a
brown-suede jacket adorned with fluffy white
wool.
Hughes is from Oklahoma, a state he says
is as "red as it gets." He went to a Christian
school and grew up in a very socially conserva-
tive environment. But Hughes says he has defi-
nitely drifted away from his Republican roots.
"I think there are a lot of sincere people
in Oklahoma who believe deeply in faith and
freedom and all of these things that are entan-
gled with politics," he says. "There's definitely
a cozy relationship between faith and politics
that is unhealthy."
Prior to coming to Ann Arbor, Hughes
worked for a Tea Party think tank. Joining up
with an organization that he disagreed with
fundamentally, he says, was the only way to
get involved in policy in Oklahoma.
"I was never a Tea Party faithful; I was
always a closet Democrat," he says. "(The
Republican party) is the only place you can do
policy work in Oklahoma."
Hughes and Trinidad are firmly in the
Obama camp. Trinidad points to Obama's
health care law as a major selling point for her
in making her decision, especially since she's
going into public health.
Despite their firm support of Obama, both
of them say they have become disillusioned
with the president.
"Sometimes I think it would be better if
Romney won because I think people would get
pissed off enough that they would actually do
something," Hughes explains.
reminding them to register and emphasize the
civic duty that everyone has to vote, they say.
7:30 p.m.
Midnight