Mitt Romney Under Pressure: He Is Vulnerable

Romney is at risk of becoming a victim of his own opportunism. Instead of quitting his job as head of Bain Capital to save the Winter Olympics in the Mormon state of Utah, in 1999, he left his options open.

Romney wanted to play it safe and have a backup plan in case the Olympics ended up being a flop. When the media instead celebrated him as a “savior,” he saw it as an opportunity to use the situation as political fodder. He negotiated a generous retirement package with Bain, dated it 1999 and acceded to the position of governor of Massachusetts.

Instead of putting his story on display for voters, the candidate is glossing over his biography, which is not causing legal issues for him, but is causing real political ones. The Republican presidential candidate comes across as someone who only does things that benefit him personally. And in the process, facts are being stretched to their limits, altered or, in the case of his finances, not being made public. An image is being created of a candidate who has something to hide.

Disclosures about Romney’s role at Bain provide the incumbent a vulnerability of Romney’s that he can use to his advantage. The Obama campaign can draw from many resources to trap the notorious flip-flopper in a web of contradictions. Those contradictions include instances of flip-flopping on political issues: Once in a while, whenever necessary, he ran in Massachusetts as a liberal to the left of Ted Kennedy.

And he is now the purported champion of the right-wing populist tea party, campaigning for the White House. His credibility has now fallen by the wayside.