Ann, the Woman Who Seeks to Humanize the Image of the Presidential Candidate

Published in Clarín
(Argentina) on 29 August 2012
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Soledad Gómez. Edited by Peter L. McGuire.
"Tonight I want to talk to you from my heart ... I want to talk to you about love." From the podium at the Republican convention, Ann, wife of Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, tried to humanize her husband’s robotic image, presenting him as the head of a family facing problems like any other American family.

"I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a ‘storybook marriage.’ Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called Multiple Sclerosis or Breast Cancer,” said Ann, who was diagnosed with both diseases. “A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage.”

Mitt and Ann Romney have known each other since they were in high school. "This boy I met at a high school dance… his name is Mitt Romney and… I fell in love with him," said Ann. They have been inseparable ever since. Ann has become one of his senior advisors; she is always with him at campaign events and often takes the floor.

Romney's advisers have used Ann to reverse the idea that he is a distant billionaire who does not understand the needs of the average man, that the only thing he cares about is his Cayman Islands investments. Blonde, with easy smile, Ann is not afraid of large audiences. But her task is never easy.

Romney has been presenting himself as a successful businessman who has the capacity to implement economic policies that will lead the country out of the crisis. But, by placing emphasis on his past business, he reinforces the idea that his only interest is money and becoming the target of the Democratic opposition that accuses him of belonging to that 1 percent of the privileged population that pays a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

"I want to talk not about what divides us, but what holds us together." Ann mentioned that her husband's father never graduated from college. "Instead, he became a carpenter. He worked hard, and he became the head of a car company, and then the governor of Michigan."

It was a clear reference to the typical American dream and also the way, according to her, Mitt followed in his father‘s footsteps.


“Esta noche quiero hablarles desde mi corazón....quiero hablarles sobre el amor”. Desde el podio de la Convención republicana, Ann, la esposa del candidato a presidente republicano, Mitt Romney, intentó anoche humanizar la imagen robótica de su marido, presentándolo como el jefe de una familia que enfrenta problemas como todas las demás familias estadounidenses.

“Leí en alguna parte que Mitt y yo tenemos un matrimonio de libro de cuentos de hadas. Bueno, en los libros de cuentos de hadas que yo leí nunca había tardes largas, lluviosas de invierno en un hogar con cinco hijos gritando todos a la vez. Y esos libros de cuentos nunca incluían capítulos de cáncer de pechos y esclerosis múltiple”, dijo Ann, quien fue diagnosticada con ambas enfermedades “¿Un matrimonio de cuentos de hadas? No, para nada, yo y Mitt tenemos un verdadero matrimonio”.

Los Romney se conocen desde que estaban en la secundaria: “Nos enamoramos inmediatamente”, contó Ann. Desde entonces, son inseparables. Ann se ha transformado en una de sus asesoras principales. Está siempre junto a él en los actos electorales y muchas veces toma la palabra.

Los asesores de Romney han utilizado a Ann para revertir la idea de que es un multimillonario distante que no comprende las necesidades del hombre medio, que lo único que le importa son sus inversiones en las Islas Cayman. Rubia, de sonrisa fácil, Ann no le tiene miedo a las grandes audiencias. Pero su tarea nunca es fácil.

Romney viene presentándose como un empresario exitoso que tiene capacidad para instrumentar una política económica que le permita al país salir de la crisis. Pero, al poner el acento en su pasado de negocios, refuerza la idea de que su único interés está en el dinero y se convierte en el blanco de la oposición demócrata, que lo acusa de pertenecer al 1% de la población privilegiada que paga menos impuestos que sus secretarias.

“Esta noche no quiero hablarles sobre lo que nos divide, sino sobre lo que nos mantiene unidos”, dijo Ann, contando que el padre de su esposo nunca se graduó de la Universidad. “Fue carpintero…trabajó duro y terminó siendo el presidente de una compañía de autos, y luego el gobernador de Michigan”.

Fue una clara referencia al típico sueño estadounidense y a la manera que, según ella, Mitt siguió los pasos de su padre.

“Este es el hombre que se levanta cada día con determinación para resolver los problemas que otros dicen que no se pueden resolver! ¡Este es el hombre que Estados Unidos necesita!”.
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