Written by Robert S. Becker   

This election is already historic for, win or lose, Mitt Romney has shaken up the game by expanding the talent pool. With a surge that notched his credibility, Mitt gained no small victory against a skillful professional second in brand promotion only to Bill Clinton. Hell, the self-righteous Bishop could win, and that doubles down the damage.

My question: is Romney a one-off outlier, or do the floodgates open for like-minded, ruthless, more charming members of his exclusive corporate club? Who could be less charming in retail politics? Okay, the entire GOP primary field. Yet if Mitt the besmirched “vulture capitalist,” a pedestrian campaigner at best, imperils a personally-popular incumbent, what office holder won’t shudder when improved “outsiders” come forth, bristling with unlimited insider fortunes?

Though only the lead warrior, Mitt’s success thus expands the second stage of the Citizens United contagion: first gobs of money, now higher caliber, corporate generals taking the field. Why suffer dim bulb prima donnas in office when business heavies can command power centers from which they’ve been exiled for nearly a century? That makes this election a game-changer, even if Obama survives. Think smarter versions of Herman Cain who insure how to lock in our under-regulated, under-taxed, heavily subsidized capitalism.

Thanks to Romney, never again will the once-unelectable 1% be summarily excluded from running. Today you can’t be too rich, with too many extremist billionaire backers, a past littered with shattered companies and outsourced workers, too low a personal tax, too many certified offshore accounts, and too many hidden tax returns. What astonishing resume reversals, all in one season!

Bets are Really Off

All bets, 10K or otherwise, are off, thanks to the Romney-ization of Citizens United in the field, as moneyed personhood covets the presidency, the Senate, state houses, indeed, the political landscape. CEO candidates, after all, need neither education nor motivation to enact a zealous belief system –- making government run like a business. Mere candidate Romney already distrusts government (like FEMA) more than the Reagan-Bush faction. Why not dig up Calvin Coolidge from the grave, broadcasting “the chief business of the American people is business”? Or sing out, “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country, and vice versa"?

Second, scary Romney achievement: utterly banishing meaningful content from the campaign, even the facade of talking issues, programs or numbers. That’s worse for me than his somersaulting like a crazed monkey. Mitt’s obstinacy to detail anything makes this an “election by faith alone,” founded on the shifting sands of his windy bromides. Obama’s certainly no model of clarity (both vague and deceptive), nor guiltless in betraying the letter and spirit that won him office. But let’s distinguish crass contempt (“just trust me”) from an Obama re-election narrative approaching a Rorschach inkblot, where there’s some outline upon which fans project? It ain’t much, but Romney outpoints even his GOP ancestors as a whirling top spinning in his own void.

False Narratives, False Players

Frank Rich describes this rightwing vacuity as the “rise of false narratives:” with “fewer facts available to get wrong . . . I don’t think it matters when [Republicans are] called out. That’s the really interesting thing. The right always was against moral relativism but now they’ve embraced it. ‘With our facts, there is no climate change.’” This disease qualifies as making reality up as you go along and Romney breaks new ground in what a candidate can get away with – without mysteriously getting tarred and feathered.

Of course, as politics becomes a multi-billion dollar growth industry, “investors” insist on experts in finance and banking to protect their outlay and coyly fudge very large numbers. What master of the universe entrusts billions to inept politicians who “never ran a business, made a payroll, dealt with regulators, or fought off creditors”? Especially as America declines, so goes the pitch: we need tough CEOs who respect hard facts and the bottom line, convinced that the end (efficiency, cost savings, or agency “profit”) justifies whatever (horrendous) means are brought to bear. If the “chief business of the American people is business,” why not hire less conventional politicians to function as American CEOs?

So I say the plutocratic paradigm informing Mitt’s every breath has triumphed. If he wins, the field widens for otherwise suspect “cult” Mormons, or even more gung-ho sectarians. And if he loses, get ready for sharpies better skilled at selling “public service” while claiming immunity from bribery or selling out. Recall Wisconsin: nothing, as they say about Iran, would be off the table. Romney and his ilk are shameless, zeroing in on cost benefits, agency slashing, shredding employment, and feverishly cutting “waste” like pensions, vacations and sick pay.

Katy, bar the door

Sure, we’ve had wealthy presidents like JFK and FDR, and small-time operators (both Bushes toiled at business). But no one before Romney so blatantly pitched his “private sector” prowess (not public office) as perfect training to "rationalize" government bloated with entitlements. And that message alone, absent plans or details, has magically advanced his credibility, no doubt tied to Obama’s tired re-election bid.

Of course reality lives elsewhere: democratic governments aren’t (so far) run for profit, nor cash flow, nor debt avoidance, and their “deliverables” propel an entire citizenry’s quality of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A government that no longer serves the majority gets enslaved by the paying minority, especially when newly-imprinted CorporateThink wins elections – hard-nosed, bottom-line, market-tested CEOs simply know better, about everything, whatever the complex, planetary challenges they deny.

Finally, there’s one final Romney-plutocratic blessing. With all that noblesse oblige, multi-millionaire politicians won’t grumble if not sufficiently thanked when departing, scoffing at rousing send-offs or fancy bronze monuments. Hell, like William Randolph Hearst, they’re rich enough to built statues to themselves. Few fat cats will cry over self-shredded government pensions, nor will life-styles change if they lose office or, like W., crawl away in disgrace. W. lives an affluent life of Reilly, with fat payoffs for hoodwinking hopefuls deluded that his career captured the magic key to success. Dream on, unless you change your last name and find a Karl Rove.

Indeed, many condescending hundred-times millionaires might scoff at conquering the low world of electoral politics. It’s not like a real career, to be enshrined on the ornate family mausoleum. Some, like W., will learn that fame is a bitch, as their grandchildren shudder at his disgraced memory, reinforced by irate historians. Though Romney has opened the way for the super-rich, there is hope: enough humiliation and failure are disincentives for healthy adults. On the other hand, when plutocrats are blinded by the triumph of Mitt the Mendacious, maybe not. Gosh, anybody for a statutory limit on how many houses or offshore accounts a president can own?