Slippery Mitt

I heard part of Mitt Romney's remarks following the Florida primaries, and one particular line caught my attention. Here's the line from the transcript in the Washington Post:

"We look to Washington for leadership, but Washington has failed us. . . . We asked them to end our dependence on foreign oil. They haven't."

Statements like this typify what annoys me about Romney. Here he is speaking to Super Tuesday voters, making the argument that you can't expect a Washington insider to fix Washington. While it may sound good, there are quite a few problems with Romney's logic, such as the fact that it is McCain's maverick status in DC that has made it difficult for the Republican establishment to line up behind him and the fact that it often takes someone who knows the game to beat the game. To a casual Silicon Valley voter who may not be following the Romney campaign very closely (and who is likely to be in favor of increasing fuel efficiency), Mitt's statement has the added benefit of implying that Mitt is actually in full agreement.

Just a scant two weeks ago, however, Romney said something very different to the Detroit Economic Club:

"In fact, in face of all of the existing burdens that weigh down our domestic auto industry, instead of throwing over a life preserver, Washington has dropped yet another anvil on Michigan with higher CAFE standards. And now, it's passively sitting back to see if the car companies can swim."

What's Mitt's problem? He identifies our dependence on foreign oil as a problem, but he rails against a rational solution to that problem. Why does a guy as smart as Mitt take such an odd position? Because he was trying to court Michigan voters. If that's not politics as usual in Washington, I don't know what is. It's exactly politics like this that prevent Washington from taking real action to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

To underscore the point, here's a Romney quote on the same subject from back in 2005, when he was governor of Massachusetts:

"Dad was a man ahead of his time. . . . He also coined the term 'gas-guzzling dinosaurs.' That's what we're driving today and that's got to change."

When it comes to oil, Mitt's one slippery guy.