Candidates Have College, Spicy Chicken and ‘Star Trek’ in Common
By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: June 2, 2012
WASHINGTON — Points of unity: Mitt Romney and President Obama both like process-driven decisions, iPads, ABC’s “Modern Family” and chicken.
Grilled chicken, not fried, in keeping with the shared body-mindedness of the combatants (Mr. Obama does treadmill and hoops, Mr. Romney elliptical and bike). Spicy, too, as Mr. Romney (who often peels the skin off) has demonstrated with his endorsement of the jalapeño chicken sandwich at Carl’s Jr. and Mr. Obama has praised the grilled chicken tacos made by the White House chef.
While a few shared tastes do not erase the general distaste of this campaign, the candidates do have a surprising amount in common. Granted, little of it concerns how to fix the economy, shrink the deficit or deal with Russia.
But interviews with people from the candidates’ overlapping realms — at Harvard, in the health care policy arena and in politics — yield similar observations about their personalities and their leadership and decision-making styles. Both are analytical introverts operating in a province of extroverts.
“Neither is the epitome of the backslapping pol,” said Edward G. Rendell, a Democrat and former governor of Pennsylvania who knew Mr. Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts. “Both of them are almost shy, which is amazing in this business,” said Mr. Rendell, who is a supporter of Mr. Obama.
Neither candidate has much stomach for small talk or idle chatter. They have both been called difficult to know and even aloof at times. But if they were to convene for, say, a chicken barbecue — not likely, but whatever — they could explore some shared affinities and experiences. After-dinner, for instance, maybe over plates of pie (enjoyed by both), Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney could play the “did you know” game from their Harvard days or name-check the policy experts they consulted during their respective health care overhauls.
They could compare counties visited in Iowa, activists fawned over in New Hampshire and the irritations of dealing with blowhard colleagues in state government.
They could exchange trivia about “Star Trek” (liked by both) or complaints about the press (disliked).
Supporters admire them as confident and disciplined leaders. They are described as cautious and deliberative decision makers who distrust gut instinct and the emotional tenor of the modern political debate. In previous jobs, as governor of Massachusetts (Mr. Romney) and senator from Illinois (Mr. Obama), both were viewed as short-timers passing through to headier stations. Each served one term in those posts, or less (in Mr. Obama’s case), and spent much of it plotting or actively running for the next.
Mr. Romney “struck me as someone who was more interested in having the job as governor than doing the job,” said Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, a Democrat and close friend of Mr. Obama who succeeded Mr. Romney. Mr. Patrick said his predecessor, whom he describes as “a gentleman,” seemed to be someone who said to himself, “O.K., I won that, now I’m going to move onto something else.” Former Senate colleagues of Mr. Obama said the same about the future president.
There is a restless quality to both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney, people close to them say. They spent formative periods living abroad and attended several colleges before carving out political careers as above-it-all outsiders. They had their convictions questioned by ideological purists in their parties (and their religions, too, by others).
Each suffered tough losses in early campaigns that might have, in retrospect, been ill-advised: Mr. Romney lost a 1994 Senate race in Massachusetts against the incumbent, Edward M. Kennedy; Mr. Obama was crushed in a 2000 Democratic Congressional primary in Illinois by the incumbent, Bobby L. Rush.
While each was the product of a doting and strong mother, the candidates forged their identities in part through the specters of their fathers - or the absence of one, in the case of Mr. Obama.
While each was the product of a doting and strong mother, the candidates forged their identities in part through the specters of their fathers - or the absence of one, in the case of Mr. Obama.
- Excerpt from a recent New York Times article (6-2-12)
