Editor in Chief
Born on March 12, 1947 in the city of Detroit Michigan, Willard Mitt Romney is the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney. Though he was born in Detroit, Romney was raised in Bloomfield, Michigan. He attended the prestigious Cranbrook School before getting an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University. He then attended Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, receiving a degree in law and a Master of Business Administration degree, in 1975. In 1969, Romney married Ann Davies and they had five sons: Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben, and Craig. A year before that, his father had run for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
 |
| Mitt Romney |
Before his presidential run, Romney worked in the management consulting firm, Brian and Company. Later on he founded Brim Capital in 1984. In the year 1994, he ran for a seat in the US Senate in Massachusetts, but was beaten by Ted Kennedy. In 1999 he took over as president of the Salt Lake Organization Committee. Two thousand two, he helped rescue the Winter Olympics from financial and ethical worries.
In 2003 Romney was elected as governor of Massachusetts. During his term, he oversaw the reduction of a $3 billion, deficit, and signed into law a new health care reform program that gave the residents of Massachusetts a practically universal health care. Once his term was finished, Romney declined a reelection, taking his bid for U.S. President in 2008 instead.
He made it past Super Tuesday, winning primaries in the states of Massachusetts, Alaska, Minnesota, Colorado, and Utah. But alas, Romney lost to U.S. Senator John McCain for the Republican nomination. However he still kept his options open for a possible future presidential run, maintaining many of his political staff and action committees, as he raised funds for other Republican candidates.
On June 2, 2011, Romney announced his official start for his 2012 campaign, taking in many standard Republican positions on taxes, economy, and the war on terrorists. His critics charged him with changing his position on other key issues like abortion, which he opposes, and the health care reform. Strangely enough, he publicly opposed President Obama’s health care reform program that was similar to the Massachusetts plan Romney supported in his term as governor.
From the start of the run, Romney emerged as a shoo-in for the Republican nomination and got a decisive victory in the primary with more than 39% of the votes. Far ahead of his competitors, which included Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman, his biggest competition was Rick Santorum. But Romney was able to secure a big lead in the number of delegates that were needed to seize the nomination.
On April 2012, Romney benefited from the competition narrowing when Santorum suspended his campaign. This left only two opponents: Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. However Gingrich threw in the towel in May. With the nomination practically his, Romney and President Obama began their war of words in June.
President Obama’s campaign ran ads claiming that Romney was the head of Bain Capital until 2001, not 1999 as he had stated previously. At about the same time, reports on the news began circulating around the economy suppressing practices by Bain Capital. The reports had stated that Romney’s company had invested in businesses that relocated jobs overseas. Both this and the ads were a huge blow on Romney’s campaign. But in retaliation, his campaign sent out its own ads, which claimed Obama was more interested in helping his donors then the American people.
However in late July, Romney received negative attention while attending the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. During his stay, he had stated in an interview with NBC that London’s preparations for the upcoming Games were “disconcerting”. This outraged Londoners and viewers worldwide.
It was only hours after the interview had been broadcast that David Cameron reprimanded Romney’s remarks by stating; “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities in the world. Of course its easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”
Later on, Romney retracted his earlier statement by saying, “I am very delighted with the prospects of a highly successful Olympic Games. What I have seen shows imagination, forethought, and a lot of organization, and [ I ] expect the Games to be successful.”
In early August, the criticism around his Games remake started to falter when Romney announced 42-year-old U.S. Representative, Paul Ryan as his running mate for Vice-President. Almost instantly after the announcement, ending the eight month-long coverage of potential Vice-President candidates for 2012, the media around Romney’s Campaign now focused on Ryan.
August 28, 2012, Romney officially became the Republican Party’s nominee, on the first day of the 2012 Republican National Convention. Romney and Ryan received support from other Republican politicians, including his competitor in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, John McCain. On the second day of the convention, McCain said, “For four years, we have drifted away. People don’t want less of America, they want more. What they want to know is whether we still have faith... Mitt Romney has that faith and I trust him to lead us.”
But in retrospect, exactly how much faith should we give to one single person?
Works Cited
"Mitt Romney Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/mitt-romney-241055?page=1>.
For Picture - "Why Mitt Romney Won't Apologize." PARADE.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/100221-why-mitt-romney-wont-apologize.html>.
No comments:
Post a Comment