Get Comfortable with Mitt in 2012

Last election, before deciding who to support for the Republican Party, I researched all the candidates and then went and heard them all speak in person. I saw which groups supported each, what types of people they were, and then pictured in my mind our nation being led by each person.

After all of that, I decided to throw my support behind Mitt Romney for President in 2008, and I maintain that he would have been the best choice then. Mitt had experience rescuing disaster operations, such as the Olympics, and would have been a solid conservative in office balancing a liberal Congress. He also would have run a much better campaign than Obama. He might not have won, but he would have had a better showing and if he won he would have made a better President than Obama has shown to be.

2008 is in the past now, but 2012 is quickly coming up, and my support for Mitt remains. In my post Welcome Back Carter I wrote:

There is good news though- after Jimmy Carter defeated the moderate Republicans, we responded by electing Reagan. I know we can't expect that again, but after the smashing the moderates took last election, maybe we indeed will go back to our roots and elect a good conservative. I suggest a former Governor in 2012, someone who lost his primary like Reagan did in '76, but someone who is educated and knowledgeable enough to lead us forward as a nation after the disastrous Obama years- I suggest we keep the Carter/Reagan analogy going by choosing Romney to run against Obama in '12.

In The Man Who Should Be President Gives Advice I wrote:

Some people think there is no difference between the two major parties or think that Romney wasn't really that different than someone like Obama. They are wrong. In many important and key situations Romney would have advocated considerably different policies than Obama, policies that may have led to a shorter and less severe recession, that would have lowered the cost of healthcare, and that would have led to Iran thinking twice about seeking the bomb.

And in New Faces in 2012? Nah, Make it Mitt Instead I wrote:

Republicans don't need a 'conservative Obama'- we already have seen what happens when you put an inexperienced idealistic rube in office, and it isn't pretty. We don't need a 'new fresh face' or even someone 'from outside the establishment.' What the Republicans need to do is put a responsible, solid, experienced, and learned President in the White House- not someone who is going to set the world on fire and be a revolutionary, but one who will start the task of 8 years of solid, steady, digging.

Today the Washington Post says this about Romney in its editorial Palin and Brown: Mitt Romney's best friends:

And the fact that the relatively moderate Brown is now loved by conservatives suggests that for all their talk of ideology, conservatives still value victory over absolute purity. That helps Romney.

Romney is not an absolutely pure conservative, but let's be honest- neither was Reagan. They are both solid, reliable, able conservative executives who do good things and do them well. Let's start getting more comfortable with Mitt in 2012.

UPDATE: USA Today picks up on my story and starts to get comfortable with Mitt Romney for President in 2012 with its story Step by step, Romney lining up support for 2012 . From this story:

Romney shows more gray in his hair than he did in 2008, displays an easier confidence in an interview and articulates a clearer message on the stump: Call him Mr. Fix-It.

He points to his résumé as a turnaround artist for businesses — he was CEO of Bain & Co., a management consulting firm — and for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"His profile fits the needs of the times," says Romney adviser Kevin Madden. "Many Americans see an economy that is teetering on the brink and a Washington that is out of control with spending. There doesn't seem to be any management or order, and institutions seem broken. … His whole career has been about fixing broken things, whether it's Massachusetts' budget, whether it's businesses or whether it was the Olympics."