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SALT LAKE CITY -- With apologies to Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
"I'm not the man they think I am at home,
Oh no no no -- I'm the MarketMan."
At this point in his long slog through the Republican nomination process, certain aspects of Mitt Romney's reputation precede him. Those waiting to hear him speak must look around and wonder how Mr. Romney will use the culture he perceives they share to try and seem relatable. Will he start by awkwardly affecting an accent and claiming a new diet? Will he make strange comments about trees and cars? Will he wonder aloud who is responsible for releasing the canines from their enclosures and use terminology with which he is clearly unfamiliar?
And when the time for pleasantries has come and gone, the attendees must wait in anxious anticipation to hear from Mitt Romney on the issues. What will he say about global warming this time? How will he explain away the obvious similarities between his and President Obama's health care plans, including that pesky individual mandate? What opinion might they hear from Mr. Romney at the event that will change before they tune in to the news that same evening?
If Mitt Romney does not seem genuine, the reason is simple: he's not trying to be genuine. He's trying to be what you want him to be.
Mitt Romney seems to have internalized market principles to such an extent that he embodies them. And who can blame him? Campaigning for President has become, in large part, an extended marketing pitch. Mitt Romney knows this and adjusts the product he's selling -- in this case, himself -- accordingly. But while people expect that politicians will try and relate to them and, when doing so, may go a bit too far, Mitt Romney's brand of high octane, supercharged, unabashed pandering is unnerving, to say the least.
It's as if, rather than being bitten by a radioactive spider, Mr. Romney was slapped by The Invisible Hand (maybe we've misunderstood this memorable moment). The result? A new superhero: MarketMan! Faster than a speeding poll result! More powerful than a focus group! Able to deal with big issues with a single non-committal response! He has the courage of your convictions.
Unfortunately, like all superheroes, MarketMan has a weakness. His kryptonite is a lack of authenticity. Put simply, he makes people uncomfortable. And people are uncomfortable with him because he is not comfortable with himself. As a result, people don't seem to trust him. People don't seem to like him. Nobody seems to know him, because his identity is so affected by, and even reflective of, the people and circumstances he is dealing with at any given moment.
Nevertheless, Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. Ron Paul does not have a chance, and knows it, but presses on nonetheless, and the nomination process is better for it. Rick Santorum seems to actually believe he has a chance, and given his public antipathy toward education and science is not likely to believe the math that leads to the opposite conclusion. Newt Gingrich is nothing more than a disturbingly gleeful saboteur at this point.
All of this is unfortunate. One gets the impression that the real Mitt Romney is in there, somewhere, yearning to get out and introduce himself. We will likely never know the kind of candidate Mitt Romney could have been. We cannot be sure that he has not traded his birthright for a messy nomination. Mitt Romney is a tragic character, or, more to the point is playing one. He may end up wondering whether he would have been better off if he had simply played himself.
