Two Enigmas
Every so often there appears upon the public stage some events that are simply hard to understand. Mitt Romney and Admiral Mike Mullen represent two puzzling cases.
Mitt Romney is seeking the Presidential nomination from a party that simply does not appear to want him. Romney keeps plodding along and slowly increasing his straw poll numbers. Yet, there seems no end to the GOP trying to find another candidate. Each new face is viewed as the next best thing until a very short test of time dulls voters interest. There was Newt, Michelle, Tim, and now Rick. Each was a fresh new voice. Now the calls are for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Why does Romney persevere when it seems so clear his party does not want him?
The second enigma involves retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen. Mullen seems to have served a distinguished career, capping his career as the top military officer during two land wars.
He is set to retire and in his last weeks in office, he has chosen to speak out about treacherous actions by Pakistan, a US ally. Mullen claims that elements within Pakistan’s ISI, their CIA, provided help to Muslim extremists. This is not a new charge since India has claimed that same charge with respect to the Mumbai shootings.
Why has Mullen made these charges, why now?
Mitt Romney is a very determined person. While his TV personality is at best shades of vanilla, he has a record of success in the private business world. Making big time business deals takes guts and nerve which should do Romney well if nominated. But I guess that behind Mitt’s smiles, is a deep contempt and distrust of those GOP supporters who back people like Palin, Bachmann, and Perry. It might be this contempt that keeps Romney motoring.
Mullen, on the other hand, would appear at the end of his public service. Why the bomb shell right at the end? My guess again is that within Defense and State Departments what he said is common knowledge but never said to the public. Mullen probably thinks the role of the Haqqani network will emerge soon and will make him and his watch appear naive. History is sometimes a cruel judge, especially when written by others with their own special interests.
Maybe Mullen said he would write the first page his way.
Mitt Romney is still only a hopeful. It is still early in the nomination process so having the nomination contested is what should be expected. What is odd is that one after another, but never, Romney is hailed the crowd favorite. In a few weeks there is a new crowd favorite, again not Romney, and the sequence repeats. Each time, however, Romney slowly gains ground in the overall polls. The rank and file GOP might do well to wake up and recognize the forces twisting their party’s selection process.
Admiral Mullen will retire soon and probably write a book and get a position at a University or think tank. Someday, someone will ask him why did he speak openly about ISI actions, and what was it he was trying to achieve. I wonder what he will say?
This entry was posted on September 29, 2011 at 10:34 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: 2012 election, gop, haqqani network, mike mullen, mitt romney
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