On Mitt Romney.

Recently, I read an essay comparing old- and new-social media to the Classic Rock of the 70s when confronted by Disco. The latter being the new, hip, flash-in-the-pan, while the former was pretty much considered ... for old white guys only.

Now you and I both know: Zeppelin, RUSH, Skynyrd -- say what you will, but they've withstood the test of time. And 'tis not true that only white males can appreciate those hard-driving guitar rhythms, anymore than you might believe rap is for black people only.

But the essay missed something important. Well, two things musically important in those days really. 1) The alternative two forms of music still appreciated by many in rural areas, and working-class regions alike: Country and Western. (remember the great trucker rock? like Red Sovine's "Come on back truckers, and talk to Teddy Bear" or C.W. McCall's Convoy -- "I said, Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck and we just ain't gonna pay no toll/So we crashed the gate doing 98, I said, "Let them truckers roll, 10-4!")

But nevermind that. (I just mention it, because anybody who would tell you it was solely a Rock v. Disco genre fight in those days leaves out a good chunk of those of us in the middle. Still do.)

The other thing left forgotten? The other surprise! musical success of those days? That brings me around to number 2) Donny Osmond.

Well, the whole family really. Donny and Marie, the Osmond brothers, (with appealing little Jimmy like little Nicholas in the Bradford family on Eight is Enough).

To me, Mitt Romney is the odd Osmond of the 1970s musical scene. Cutting their teeth as a barbershop quartet (the brothers) on Andy Williams, and Jerry Lewis' shows before getting their big break with their own "Donny and Marie" variety show.

Now who could have imagined, in those hipper-than-thou days of disco and rock, that a clean-cut, egregiously ... odd, toothy, happy family singing-and-dancing-and-joking could make a name for themselves?

It's the same as what the essay writer, and liberal media propagandists, would have you believe about Mitt Romney's presidential campaign: there's no room, in the coastally defined world of cool, for people like that who aren't even trying to compete in the cool kids popularity olympics.

To me though, that's what separates Romney from Al Gore, say. I think Mitt Romney is very comfortable in his own skin. In his own underwear, if you will. Like many people of faith, you yourself can take it or leave it, but I don't think you'll see Romney -- like Gore -- looking to change his essential image anytime soon.

We've already elected the hippest, coolest, most fun president you ever could imagine, afterall anyway. Whether that's the toothy smiling man currently in office (when he flashes that grin, you know there's nobody cooler), or the man who presided over such economic boom times in the late 1990s that had us all celebrating our successes never expecting the end times to come or the bubble to burst, is up to your own personal preference.

Point is: just as the country was indeed "ready" for those non-cool siblings who gave us a little bit of country/a little bit of rock and roll... during the formative period of what can only be considered the coolest generation in the World of Cool, I'm betting there is indeed a place for the Romney wholesomeness and political calculating that led him to bi-partisan success in Massachusetts, and business success in resurrecting the Olympics.

Those who would tell you: polls show X percentage of people will never ever vote for a member of the LDS (Latter Day Saints) must never have bought an Osmond album. But somebody out there did.

And if there's one thing that our current ... leader (?) has collectively taught us, it's that you don't count anybody out based on identity politics. America is often more ready than you might think, especially those passive/cautious souls "leading from behind" as the current meme seems to be.


I foresee: Romney / Bachmann 2012. (who said conservative women are flakes or jokes, or incapable of advancing nationally; let's show 'em, eh?) Winning America's Future for a change...