An Open Letter To Mitt

Dear Governor Romney;

I have been observing your campaign. I have to say that I am less than impressed. Now I am not a political professional but I have been a political junkie since 1944. As I am 73 years old now, you can see that I got hooked when I was five.  FDR had just passed and Harry Truman was president. At that tender age I sat by the radio listening to the conventions. Now all these years later I run a little conservative blog. Some place in the middle I ran unsuccessfully for office a couple of times. This is to say, I pay attention.

You really need someone who knows how to run a successful presidential campaign. I do not see any signs of such a person in your corner. Talk to people that know people, like Carl Rove, Michael Reagan, or Mike Huckebee. Find someone soon. You really need it.

Stop letting Obama control the narrative. It should be about the economy, jobs, fuel, and dumping our international friends. Those are his massively weak areas. He has you talking about Obamacare. Is it a tax or penalty? Was Bain Capital evil? Romney was Obamacare in Massachusetts before Obama picked up the idea.

Don't play defence. Play offence. Play like you really want to win. Send surrogates out to do your defence. Keep them separate from your main campaign. Like they are doing this on their own. Get a couple of business people like Steve Forbes out to explain to people how a company like Bain operates and how they save companies like a surgeon amputating a leg to save a life. A lot of people don't understand how big businesses operate.

Pick three or four points. Make that your campaign. Hammer at them. Forget 59 points to create new jobs. You will put people to sleep. One point. New jobs. Then just talk about it. Do not let anyone get you off on tangents. They will try. You don't have many friends in the media. They will hurt you given the chance. Watch some tapes of Reagan's campaign. Adapt your style to his style as best you can. Hire a drama coach. Politicians are not businessmen they are actors. You have to be an actor too.

When you speak, you speak like you are speaking to the board of directors of some company. Make yourself likable. Just talk to people ala Reagan. Then when you have that "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall" moment it will be doubly effective. Just relax and talk and project your conversational voice so that no one will miss the wisdom of your words.

I send you this little missive in all humility. I think I see things as the average person sees them. And to be honest, even more than I want you to win, I want Obama to lose before we lose our country.

Sincerely, The Cranky-Conservative