For Mitt Romney, it’s now essentially official. He’s the Republican Party’s guy. The question is can he defeat Obama and become our next president? And is he even the best option?
Out of all the Republican candidates including Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann, Romney seemed like the best option.
He had run before. People are familiar with him. He’s a former governor of Massachusetts and people liked him there.
He has either been the front-runner or a close second for a majority of the race since December 2011. People assumed he was going to be the candidate and were surprised at some early success by Santorum and Gingrich.
Romney in the end simply outlasted the other candidates, perhaps because he has more money than everyone else or maybe because he seemed like the safest choice.
One of the main factors in Romney securing the nomination was how much more money he had than everyone else, especially Santorum. That will most certainly not be the case against President Obama, who currently has more election money than Romney and will likely spend just as much or more.
But because of that money, people fear that he is out of touch with the middle class. They feel he can’t relate to the average American.
He has said in interviews he likes to fire people and that he also stresses over loosing his job. It is hard to imagine he would have nearly the problems a lot of Americans would have if they lost their jobs, though. If he does not win — he will still be just fine. The same can’t be said for most Americans.
That is not to say Romney is a bad candidate, because he earned his spot against Obama for a reason. Some Americans must generally like the guy and think he can do a good job. They feel he’ll bring a businessman’s perspective to the White House, and maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Besides, Obama is not likely to run away with the race anyway. Many Americans are still out of work. Gas price are outrageous at more than $4 a gallon in parts of the country. People are worried that government is getting bigger and bigger and so is the deficit.
Like him or not, Romney is the Republican candidate to try to unseat Obama. And like it or not Obama is trying to remain as president. The choices for some are perplexing. It’s almost like choosing between root canal and a getting a tooth pulled, isn’t it?

-Josh Bassett