COMMENTARY: Mitt Romney is the rare Republican who seems willing – sometimes – to put country over party, writes Michelle Cottle.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, talks briefly to reporters after attending a bipartisan barbecue luncheon, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021.They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This aphorism now leaps to mind every time I hear that the White House and congressional Democrats are trying yet again to win Sen. Joe Manchin’s backing for this or that proposal.
Which is why it has been a nice break to watch the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, working to hammer out a new COVID relief deal with Mitt Romney, R-Utah. Certainly, this wasn’t Schumer’s first choice: Democrats had wanted to move this pandemic package along party lines, as part of the government funding bill being passed using reconciliation. But that plan abruptly fell to pieces in the House.
Going forward, Democratic leaders should consider drawing Romney into the center of the action more often, taking some of the heat — and light — off Manchin whenever possible. Romney’s situation is slightly more nuanced. Utah is a blood-red state but not a wildly Trumpy one. Plenty of Republican voters there remain skeptical of Trump’s vulgar charms. In the Senate, Romney has worked to build his brand as a reasonable elder statesman rather than as a MAGA sycophant — a position with renewed appeal for nonwingers and swing voters still recovering from Trump fatigue.
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