Massachusettsians, What is Your Impression Of Ex-Governor Mitt Romney? (Boston: real estate, unemployment)

[beb0p]

Apology if this topic has already been raised, but I want input from people who were there, who have seen Romney work his magic and can offer some insight as to his governing ability. Any honest subjective opinion is appreciated.

I want to bring up this topic because I've been paying attention to the Republican primary and there is too much "noise" out there in the media. To me, they focus too much on petty things like what commercial each candidate ran, what each of them said, what strategy they're employing, etc; and not enough information on what each candidate accomplished in his/her life to warrant being in the highest office in the country. So I figure why not ask people who lived under Romney's reign.

I live in the west coast, and from talking to a few ex-Bostonians and reading a couple of Boston Globe articles, it appears that Romney was not well-regarded by his constituents, who were at first excited about him. It sounds like Mitt ran on promises of job creation and jump-starting the economy but when didn't happen his approval rating dived. The Boston Globe said that his approval rating at the end of 2008 was even lower than that of George W. Bush. There is also mention of him neglecting the economy but focusing his attention on right-wing moral/social issues (I'm assuming gay marriage?)?? The Globe also hinted that he decided not to run for re-election because he knew he would lose in a landslide. However, his campaign suggested that he wanted to run for the presidency instead of running for the re-election. It also appears that some blame him for the Big Dig? Is what I described basically accurate?

Romney himself claims that he did as good a job as one possibly could given the circumstance. He said he actually created jobs and improved MA's economy by a couple of spots and that is proof of his ability.

Overall what is your impression of Romney? Do you think he did a good job governing MA? Do you think he'll make a good president? I'm a firm believer that past performance is a good indication of future performance, so please jump in. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

[seeriously]

Chameleon. Won't vote for him.

[SCGMetroWest]

He basically says what he thinks people want to hear...and that changes depending on who his audience is.

When he was running for Gov of MA he focused on his moderate nature....we're obviously a Democratic state....he made all sorts of promises about not being a "partisan" republican. About being a moderate & a progressive republican. He was the one who signed our Health Care Bill that he now runs away from.

He ran on a platform of being absolutely pro-choice....I remember some story about how his mother had shaped his views on abortion....to becoming a staunch pro-lifer that wanted to deny emergency contraception to women.

He also ran on a platform of tolerance for gay rights (while not supporting gay marriage, he did say he approved of some gay unions)...that all changed to being 100% against any gay rights or civil unions.

He also spent the last 2 years of his governorship running for President. He left the state and started his unofficial Presidential campaigning. I seem to remember he spent over 200 days out of the state during his last year in office here. Many thought he used us as a platform for a national position and never really cared about MA or it's people.

I wouldn't vote for Mitt.

[Guineas]

Pretty competent guy, turned around MA's $3 billion deficit to a surplus in one term, cut spending AND raised taxes/fees to do it (few local politicians today on either side have the balls to do that). Romney closed a lot of corporate tax loopholes in MA (banks were using a real estate loophole to avoid taxes). Romney is a no-nonsense guy when it comes to finding solutions to problems that must be addressed, but that's a tough way to win love from partisans.

His poor approval rating is mostly a casualty of the profound Bush-fatigue in 2008, particularly in MA. The posters above who wouldn't vote for Mitt never voted for him anyway. They are fixated on litmus tests like abortion and gay marriage, even in 9% unemployment. It's silly.

Many from MA might rag on Romney, but they rag on his Democrat replacement Deval Patrick even more.

[mdovell]

It's a fair question in light of everything.

You have to sort of remember that he ran for Senate here in 1994 and lost but it was the closest election for Ted Kennedy. Oddly there's a bumper sticker of that campaign someone put on a stop sign in my town that still hasn't totally faded..

I believe there was generally a shift away from some charges of taxes and more towards fees.

I wouldn't pin the big dig on him as it was designed and planned decades prior..I wouldn't reward him with fixing anything either. "Fixing" the olympics in '02 might help win Utah but it doesn't matter at all to anyone else.

For quite some time we had people that would get into office and then leave midway often times leaving people that were not really elected into office. Remember President Ford? Imagine that on a state level several times.Weld wanted to become ambassador to Mexico. Sen Helms said no..so he left. cellucci came in..served two years remaining, ran and won...left after two years to become ambassador to Canada. So swift served the two years..you get the picture

Romney came in

List of Governors of Massachusetts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swift didn't run again so romney won the primary unopposed. I guess on the side note we won the world series and some superbowls so people weren't complaining that much.

He flip flops way too much on issues, I wouldn't vote for him.

[Jamesnana]

Voted for Romney for Governor. The instant he won he joined the rubber chicken circuit, spending his time bashing liberal Massachusetts while running for President. Nothing more than naked ambition in a fancy suit. Wouldn't vote for him for dogcatcher now.

[Jimrob1]

I didn't vote for him when I lived in Mass so thats enough said.

[massnative71]

The good:

Eliminated a $3 million deficit.

Attempted to work with the legislature to obtain some serious needed reforms (corrupt/incompetent legislature of course wouldn't budge, partially why I think he may have just "given up" on Massachusetts and focused on the national picture). Some of these reforms were re-introduced by the current governor and came into action (funny how now that a democrat is in charge it's all of a sudden a wonderful idea).

Strong, intelligent businessman who gets things done.

Pro-life.


The bad:

Failed to acheive any real economic growth.

Romneycare (need I say any more)

Flip-flopping on social issues: Note that he was consistently against re-defining marriage, but he had the power to stop it and....
In all fairness his position on life had changed before he ran for governor (he ran as pro-choice in the 94' senate race), and his views on that were pretty consistant from then on.

Time spent out of state and promoting himself (as does Deval).


Neutral:

Big Dig: The damage had already been done, but could have handled the outcome much better in my opinion.


All in all not a huge fan of his, but we were certainly better off with him than the current loser in there. And in the end I do think he has a fair shot against Obama.

[missionhill]

Romney is very capable, and--like Obama--he's squeaky clean. He's a little like Bush in wanting to vindicate his father's misses--in this case, George Romney's inability to get a presidential nomination. Romney's shifting positions look like flip-flops but he is basically pragmatic and moderate, and so is willing to change his positions because -- to him -- ideology isn't the thing; competence is, so he says what he has to say. As we know from 2008, campaign rhetoric is a whole different thing than being in the white house. My vote is with Obama in any case.

[Diskothek]

Will say anything for a vote. Better than Obama but I'd rather there be a salamander in office than that liar. If he gets the Republican nom, then I'm going with a 3rd party.