WASHINGTON, November 28, 2012 — Stuart Stevens, the chief strategist for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, made headlines today with an op-ed defending his candidate and the Republican Party.
The comments on Twitter made it seem Stevens’ piece was going to be incendiary. It wasn’t, although GOP Strategist Rick Wilson tweeted that his “BRAIN IS BURNING WITH FIRE.” Now, that’s an image.
Stevens made the case for Mitt Romney, one last time, almost like a reflex that can’t easily be abandoned.
If you’re a Republican, you’re ready to move on from a campaign that only received 29 percent of the Latino vote - down from 40 percent in 2004. You’re ready to move on from other percentages like 47 percent or the 1 percent. You’re ready to look forward to a more inclusive party. One that includes Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and more.
If you’re a Democrat, Stevens didn’t make any friends by leading with, “…characteristics of the Democratic Party and the left in general has been a shortage of loyalty and an abundance of self-loathing.”
No one will argue that Mitt Romney is not a good man. They will debate the rest of Stevens’ claims. They will debate his claim that Romney “carried the majority of middle-class voters.” Look up the union vote. They will debate “Nobody liked Romney except voters.” Fox News was a fan. They will debate that the media “often felt morally conflicted about being critical” in regards to Obama. A simple Google search will prove otherwise.
Stevens wrote a calm, reasoned piece. It takes courage to defend a campaign that lost and he didn’t make excuses. He acknowledged losing. Still, he made a dated argument by blaming the media elite - that somehow all of the media is biased and biased against his candidate. That’s simply not true.
I’m not elite. I own a snuggie and wear it regularly. I still use my College ID to get a discount at the movie theatre, even though I graduated in 2007. I voted for Obama, yet I found points in Stevens piece where I agreed and valued his opinion. When he was optimistic, I could relate.
We are not defined by red thoughts or blue thoughts. We are not constrained to having only one opinion. We are 50 States of Gray. There is far more that unites us rather than divides us.
Jeff Barrett is the CEO of Status Creative, 2011 PRNewswire winner for Best Use Of Video In Social Media, a former volunteer for Obama For America and was included in the 2010 Census.
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