A weekend with Tony Blair and Mitt Romney (kind of)

Theirs:

Ours?

No, I am not one of the VIP's who spend time with the movers and shakers. But on Labor Day weekend I bought the DVD of the fascinating 2006 film "The Queen". It is an engrossing, well-constructed film. And one of the joys of the DVD is that you can easily view the most interesting scenes over and over, and then the whole film over and over with the accompanying commentaries.

The film deals with the events surrounding the death of Princess Diana in 1997 (also on Labor Day weekend 10 years ago). It focuses on the clash between Queen Elizabeth II and her new Prime Minister- the bouncy, energetic, talkative, emotive, and energetic Mr. Blair- on how to deal with the death and the funeral.

Michael Sweeney turns in a superb performance as Tony Blair, so true-to-life that sometimes you think Blair was cast in the film. So what does this have to do with Mitt Romney? Well, it kept occurring to me that the Blair character is so like Mitt - bouncy, energetic, youthful, talkative, and emotive. And like Mr. Blair, somewhat at a loss to deal with the steadier aspects of tradition - in Blair's case, the monarchy and its customs, in Mitt's case the conservative tradition of the past four decades of Republican political thinking.

The Queen got it wrong about how to deal with the phenomenon of Diana's untimely death, and Blair got it right. But over time Blair, despite his admirable stance on the GWOT, has acquired a reputation for glibness and spin-doctoring on many issues, ably assisted by the Bright Young Things that surrounded him, and the movie hints at the potential for this. Likewise Mitt, in his evergreen desire to please and to close the deal - perhaps a legacy of his venture capital days- has accumulated quite a train of conflicting statements and policy positions. The Romneyites also seem to project a rather cultish, automaton-like persona as they stand by their man.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mitt Romney is qualified to serve as President of the United States. But he has made little progress in attracting broad-based support for his candidacy. I think one of the reasons for this can be found not in the man, but in the stars - well, an actor anyway, portraying a man who seems Romney's Anglicized twin in personality. As an intrigued follower of the Special Relationship, it seems to me that what doesn't work over there anymore is going to have a hard time working here.