Of Mitt Romney, President Abraham Lincoln, and "A More Perfect Union"

[Ramona L. Hyman]

Ok, so I am at home working. Thinking and writing and thinking about the Late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28 was the anniversary of the March on Washington . . . . My mind keeps drifting to the late President Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Mitt Romney, and the Republican Party.

 

Ok so I keep thinking about this Republican convention. I am not there; I am probably not an invited guest because, well, I am a Democrat; my parents raised me that way. They taught me to be true to traditions, and to be committed to the American idea concerning the importance of voting.  I would not dare think of going against any of my father’s tradition, especially the ones that seem right. That is, indeed, the American way. Both of my parents served as poll watchers. In fact, my father who is 84 will serve as a poll watcher this year; he is hoping that the folk come out and vote. He believes President Obama must not be left hanging out in a backyard to dry. My dad is hoping that Americans keep President Obama in the front yard until 2016. Enough said, right now I am thinking about Mr. Mitt Romney and the late President Abraham Lincoln. 

 

 I am a watcher also--of a slightly different nature. I am watching the candidate the Republicans have named the Republican nominee, Mr. Mitt Romney. I am told he accepted the nomination. Now that's good. I like Mr. Romney; he is a fellow American, and I believe that he loves his family and his country.  And, I am happy that he did address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VspxfjfQ6Zo). With that being said, I keep asking myself, what would Abraham Lincoln say to Mr. Romney. Now of course the question is rhetorical; I am not expecting the late president to rise up and greet Mr. Romney; however, I would hope that Mr. Romney's advisors and speech writers and friends would admonish him to meditate on President Lincoln's Republican party, and more importantly, the following line that President Lincoln spoke at his first inauguration:  ” . . . one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was 'to form a more perfect Union.'" 

 

"To form a more perfect Union": Mr. Romney represents one who will not, in this season of presidential politics, form a "more perfect Union." It does not seem that he has the authentic support of his own party. If he did, why would Mr. Chris Christy, the governor of New Jersey spent 14 minutes talking about himself instead of Mr. Romney, and why would the party scramble for an African American representative of the likes of Artur Davis? Sure, I believe as Americans we all have a right to change our party affiliation. In his article "Artur Davis and the Crucial Role of Party Switchers,"  Reihan Salam says:

 

Party switchers are a staple at these quadrennial affairs. They dramatize the case against the opposition by offering dispatches from within the belly of the beast and signal that it's safe for voters to forswear their old allegiances. And so they serve the double function of rallying the base and wooing the center. (http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/30/column-salam-idINL2E8JU336...).

 

However, Mr. Davis's dramatic rendering seems to be a campaign about and for himself. A better choice for Mr. Romney would have been President Obama (Yes President Obama!). He would have come from a more honest place. And indeed, I am sure he would have reminded Mr. Romney of this:  The healthcare policy is not called "Obama-care." The policy is not owned by Obama; it is an American policy called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We can not be sarcastic or cute when it involves the health of Americans. That is what the members of the NAACP wanted to say to Mr. Romney.

 

With that being said, I have a suggestion for Mr. Romney; I do believe he is an American who loves his country. My suggestion: He needs to follow his wife's advice; he needs to prepare himself to love and respect the next president of the United States, President Barack H. Obama.  Indeed, then he will be helping to continue Lincoln's idea of the "more perfect Union."