Keller @ Large: Voters Can See Through The Nonsense
BOSTON (CBS) - If you think Mitt Romney is right-wing evil incarnate, you won't like what you're about to read.
Same if you consider our current president to be a public menace bent on the destruction of America.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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Sorry, but I'm not with you on either count.
And, thankfully, neither are a solid plurality of American voters.
Let's start with President Obama.
And let's stipulate that the president has often failed to live up to his lofty campaign promises, and has stumbled badly at times.
His vulnerable poll numbers reflect voter dissatisfaction with the progress of the economy on his watch.
But I have yet to hear a convincing case made that he has been some kind of runaway ideologue.
The left is furious with him for keeping Guantanamo open, targeting terrorist leaders for assassination, backing away from even more spending, seeking partisan agreement on certain issues.
But the polls show people still admire him personally, and will give him fair consideration for re-election, two reasonable positions to take.
Now consider Mitt Romney, a public figure with his share of flaws, which were made obvious to most of us when he was governor here.
Let's just say there were times when what was good for Mitt was deemed more important than the good of the people or philosophical consistency.
But now Romney is odds-on to become the Republican nominee for president, and the hard right is desperate to stop him.
Newt Gingrich, whose leadership failures include his time as Speaker of the House and his current campaign, accuses Romney of being "unelectable," and a group of self-appointed leaders of the Christian right say he's just not ideological enough.
But all that just seems to be boosting Romney's standing with actual voters, who see his relative moderation as the essence of electability, and won't let social issues get in the way of what they really care about, the economy, and winning.
In our kindergarten political culture, thank goodness for the adult supervision of voters, who know good men when they see them, and ignore the squealing of the less distinguished.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
