Mitt Romney summoned all the righteous indignation he could muster after a Newt Gingrich ad called him “anti-immigrant.” Romney blasted the ad shortly afterward in an interview: “It’s just inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate.” For Romney, that qualifies as a stinging rebuke. He also regretted in the strongest possible terms the Gingrich ad’s “terrible terms.” The Republican campaign now pits, in Newt Gingrich, a man expert at channeling and expressing emotions, against a man, Mitt Romney, who can’t or won’t.
“I have emotion and passion,” Romney said the other day, in an assurance an overtly emotional and passionate person would never have to make. In Gingrich, Romney is fighting fire with reticence. He is a throwback to a cultural archetype that lost its purchase in American culture decades ago. Mitt Romney is the last WASP, Mormon edition.
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Romney skeptics worry that he’s another John McCain or Bob Dole. Maybe he’s another Leverett Saltonstall, his mid-20th-century predecessor as Massachusetts governor. “Salty,” as he was known, was of, by, and for the WASP ascendancy. His family had been here for centuries. He rowed for the Harvard crew team and won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. One of his daughters became a horse breeder. Saltonstall apparently had a common touch as a politician, but he still might understand Romney better than many Republican primary voters do.
In his book The Way of the WASP, Richard Brookhiser summarized the main traits of the species as “Conscience,” “Industry,” “Success,” and “Civic-mindedness.” All can be seen in Romney, the private-equity titan and Mormon bishop who served as the head of the Salt Lake City Olympics and once swept the floor of an aide’s garage when he had an idle moment. The same charges that were leveled at the long-ago, buttoned-up WASP establishment are now directed at Romney — stiff, boring, inauthentic.
There is an inherent politeness to him. Interrupted by a heckler in New Hampshire, he says she lacks “courtesy,” obviously an offense he takes seriously. Whenever he resorts to trash talk — at one debate he promised to take President Barack Obama’s attack on his wealth and “stuff it down his throat” — it feels awkward. It is as if the Marquess of Queensberry briefly strayed into a mixed-martial-arts octagon.
It’s not that Romney won’t fight. His super PAC filleted Gingrich in Iowa, and his entire campaign apparatus is now working to crush the former House speaker in Florida. Yet, Romney himself has no relish for the task. In the first Florida debate, he worked early on to hit Gingrich with his entire opposition-research file. Rushed and uncomfortable, he seemed to enjoy it as little as Gingrich did. When he got off the attack, he shifted back into his accustomed measured and unflappable mode.
Gingrich is unburdened by any inner guardrails. He loves combat. As a campaigner, he can be loudmouthed, unscrupulous, and angry. It’s a style that fits the public mood, and it has been validated through the decades in our culture. We’ve been taught to trust a let-it-all-hang-out spirit over an ethos of emotional restraint. Unfortunately for Romney, if there were a yearbook for presidential candidates, he would be deemed “Least Likely to Weep in Public.” It’s an irony of Romney’s candidacy that his genuine reserve is taken as confirmation of his inauthenticity.
If Romney doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, he doesn’t wear his riches there, either. He seems uncomfortable with his own success, a classic WASP trait. When he says he makes no apologies for his wealth, he clearly would rather not be talking about his wealth at all. Donald Trump surely would advise him to mention his net worth, and inflate it, in every interview. But he lacks the brassiness of the natural braggart.
If Romney seems alien, it’s not his Mormonism or bank account so much as his adherence to a code of conduct that was overthrown long ago, and now feels quaint and odd. His is the plight of the last WASP.
In the literal sense of the word "WASP" he pretty much is - White and Anglo-Saxon, and Mormonism is very similar to mainline Protestantism, in attitude if not theology. Genetically he is not just Anglo-Saxon but a descendant of the country's early Puritan settlers of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. He attended Harvard for grad school and has lived in Massachusetts for 30+ years. And given the cultural changes of the last 50+ years he's about as close to a WASP of that time as anyone living today.
Having lived in Utah and having been a Mormon, I can say for certain that there is a Mormon version of WASP, and they act and behave very similarly to the original East Coast, Episcoplian/Congregationalist version.
This election isn't about who has the best personality! We are not electing a talk show host! This is the most important election in our lifetime and what we need is someone who has the leadership and experience to bring our country back from the brink. We don't need an erratic, egotistical candidate who has been wrong on a lot of issues, attacking fellow Republicans on free-market capitalism and business success! Newt Gingrich is too risky to put up against Obama. He will never win in a general election. Mitt Romney is the best candidate who can and will beat Obama in November!
I didn't realize...it's not that he supports abortion, I'm just livid that he's so much better than me at everything!
Thanks Rich, I should have known I was just being evil for not embracing Obomney!
Seriously though, I bet you ten thousand dollars youre wrong and we don't like him because he's a northeastern leftist disguised as a RINO who just wants your votes and hopes you won't mess it up for him by rambling about your pro life beliefs during the general (the RINOs are the big boys and we need to just go sit at the kiddie table and shut up)!
Actually he doesn't support abortion, that's a canard that should be allowed to expire. He once was pro choice, saw the light, and is now solidly pro life. Sort of like the same road Ronald Reagan walked. Cordially, Bill
I believe you are on to something here, but I do not necessarily believe that it's limited to WASP. I believe what Romney projects is called class. If we look at the state of our culture today, it's quite easy to see why Newt is so popular with this crowd.
Oooh---NICE.
Romney is what used to be called a gentleman--not just in terms of opening doors and saying please and thank-you, but, in 19th-century terms, a man of quality. We could use him, but we probably don't deserve him. And we probably won't get him.
Gingrich is rabble, and a rabble-rouser. And the rabble may very likely vote him in.
Lest I sound elitist, I've worked waiting tables and doing data-entry, I live in a studio apt. in the Midwest, and I am by no stretch of the imagination a blue-blood. I don't want to be led by people I can relate to; I want to be led by people I can look up to.
Does anyone really look up to Gingrich? Or do they just cheer him on, like a pro wrestler?
I'ts odd to see Lowry critique Romney for the qualities that Lowry portrays in his own public persona. Is it just me or does Rich seem to be the WASPiest guy at NR. I dont think this buttoned-down persona is a negative anyway. Don't give into the culture that increasingly needs men to wear their emotions on their sleeves and view it a virtue to cry in public. Give me a steady hand at the helm please.
I thought the same thing, Scotty. When I read the descriptor for Mr. Lowry's piece on the home page, "Mitt is too buttoned-down," I smiled to myself as I thought of those preppy button-down collar shirts I always see Mr. Lowry wearing on TV. Though not a preppy/WASP myself, I went to college on the Main Line in the '80s, so I was exposed to a lot of them. While preps do have elements of the ridiculous about them (as do all groups!), that conscientiousness, civic-mindedness and honesty are refreshing -- not to mention beneficial to our society! It's nice to see that WASPs are still around.
I agree, Scotty! When I read the descriptor for this piece on the homepage, "Mitt is too buttoned-down," I had to smile as I recalled those button-down collared shirts Mr. Lowry often wears on TV. While not a preppy/WASP myself, I went to college on the Main Line in the '80s, so I was exposed to a lot of them. And I'm glad to see Mr. Lowry's defense of them. Sure, WASPs have elements of the ridiculous about them -- as does any group! -- but that conscientiousness, civic-mindedness and honesty are not only refreshing, they are also beneficial to society. It's more than you can say for the OWS groupies.
Thanks, Rich. This column makes a lot of sense. I was raised in a household (albeit Southerm) in which we were expected to exercise restraint, especially in anger. We were not allowed to yell, scream or slam doors. My parents told us that civilized people didn't behave that way. That was difficult for me, because I am a passionately exuberant person, yet I learned to temper that passion and exercise self-control. In retrospect, I am very glad.
Still, I am drawn to people who are bombastic, especially in my politicians. I want to see passion and righteous indignation. I want to know I have a fighter in my corner. But I want him or her to also be self-controlled.
Romney has seemed too detached, too stoic, but Gingrich is too bombastic and reckless. Would that we could create a hybrid of them plus Santorum. But, alas, we are stuck with this bunch.
I will eagerly vote for whoever gets the nomination, but with less exuberance than I would like. I wish we had a candidate for whom we could be truly passionate.
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