Washington Diary: Romney road report

By James Fallows

Some scenes from this weekend's Romney for America bus tour through hard-pressed (but very beautiful) areas of small-town Pennsylvania.

At a WaWa, in Quakertown — where Romney ordered a hoagie and mixed with the crowd. That is The Bus in the background.

Romney on the stump, at a historic iron furnace in Cornwall, near Lebanon, using the hoagie-ordering experience at the WaWa as a parable for what's right and wrong in America. (Wrong: a doctor told him that he had to fill out a 33-page change-of-address form, several times, to get the post office to send his mail — including reimbursement cheques — to his new location. That is what happens with government-run organisations where you have "no competition". Right: at WaWa, great hoagies. Also, very efficient touch-pad ordering system. This is what you get with competition.)

The shop at Weatherly Casting, south of Hazleton, where he talked about the need to reclaim America's industrial greatness, etc.:

The substance of this trip is for an upcoming article in The Atlantic. Snapshot points:

1) Typical comment from (age-appropriate) female members of the crowd as Romney mingled: "Oh, he is even better looking in real life!" If slighter in build than you would guess from TV — in sporting terms, more like a lightweight rower than a tight end. Romney has perfect-posture carriage, a very strong jaw, and (as with Bill Clinton) a large head that makes him seem bigger than his actual size. There is no doubt that he is a very good-looking man, especially for age 65.

2) His campaign has distilled its message to its purest possible essence, and with remarkable discipline and clarity that essence came through in every comment at every stop, by Romney and every one of his traveling associates: former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, plus current Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey and Governor Tom Corbett. The pure message is:

• The president said he would fix the economy;
• He didn't;
• Give us a try.

Or as James Carville might have put it, "It's the economy, stupid". You can tell when campaigns have figured out their theme, and how to express it — and how to get the crowds to react. At least for now, this campaign has figured those things out. The Obama team is crazy if they take anything for granted in this election.

3) Romney's trademark small-talk exclamation, "Oh my goodness!" seems completely genuine. But I am trying to think of the last time I heard a 21st century person use that phrase — as opposed to all the other possibilities, which, when you think about it, range from coarse to profane. (Jeez louise, WTF, Holy shit, and on through a long list you can fill in yourself.) When combined with his Don-Draper-in-the-'50s, very dapper personal style, it adds to a retro atmosphere that some people will find reassuring and appealing and others will find odd.

John McWhorter has an interesting piece on this antique turn of Romney's phrasing, in TNR. Thanks to Yair Rosenberg for pointing it out.

This post was originally published at The Atlantic.

19 June 2012