Former GOP presidential nominee
Mitt Romney insists he is not running for president for a third time, but a commentary in
Politico Magazine argues he would have a reasonably good chance of pulling off the nomination for 2016.
The article was written by Emil Henry, former assistant treasury secretary under President George W. Bush. He campaigned for Romney in 2012.
Even though electoral history would suggest Romney's chances are slim, he has the advantage of being the de facto leader of the Republican Party, while no other candidate stands out in the crowded field of possible contenders, Henry wrote.
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In addition, he wrote, Romney would be the only candidate in the last 50 years who wasn't a career politician.
Henry wrote this is relevant because voters' unhappiness with Obama is driven by a perception of incompetence. Romney would provide the desired contrast of someone who has experience from the business world of successfully executing initiatives.
"Call Mitt Romney what you will, but his core competence is just that: competence. Unlike career politicians who tend to rise or fall on the level of their oratory, Mitt is, at his core, a chief executive," Henry wrote.
"No doubt Mitt is more comfortable tackling complex problems and analyzing data than kissing babies or yucking it up on a rope line. But maybe that's what America needs in 2016, and given the multitude of today's challenges, maybe the Quinnipiac poll reflects the growing view that it's what we needed all along."
According to the poll, 33 percent of registered voters said Obama was the worst president since World War II and 45 percent said the United States would have been better off if Romney had defeated Obama's re-election bid in 2012. George W. Bush was rated as the worst president by 28 percent of voters.
In a
separate article in Politico Magazine, Alex Wong, an attorney and former foreign policy director for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign, wrote that Romney's judgment on a range of foreign policy issues has subsequently proved to be accurate, in contrast to the approach taken by the Obama administration.
"Foreign policy thinkers should ask not just which issues Romney was right about, but also why he has been proven right — and consistently so — about major foreign issues. That deeper question holds lessons for the Obama administration and for future presidents," Wong wrote.
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