I can't get over Mitt

The voice of my mother reproaching me from the world beyond is, to me, so clear I fear it will disturb the people at the next table, or my wife in bed. "Listen to your betters, Barry, and get over this 'Mitt' thing, already. Mitt is over the Mitt thing, Barry. Why can't you get over the Mitt thing?"

"Sorry, Mom," I try to explain. "I'm haunted by something a German boxer said in 1937." Hitler thought Max Schmeling was a Nazi. He wasn't; he rescued and hid Jews in his luxury suite in a Berlin hotel! Before his fight with Joe Louis in 1937, Schmeling kept watching, over and over, a film of another Louis fight, and then said to his manager, "I sink I see somesing!"

What Schmeling saw was Joe Louis lowering his left hand after a jab, leaving his left side, from head to belt, undefended. That little detail enabled Max Schmeling to knock Louis out. As I look at "Presidential Election: 2016" I "sink I see somesing" too!

It's fairly common for a candidate to concede on election night even though he's leading in the vote count. That candidate is sophisticated enough to realize those votes favoring him have already been tabulated and the many unreported precincts will belong mostly to his opponent. What's brand new to me, however, is a candidate who's ahead by a nice margin almost two years ahead of the voting, who's shown disinterest in running and hasn't spent a nickel campaigning, and who many believe really won his previous attempt and many more believe would have won in a square count. Add to that witch's brew the fact that said candidate has run for the presidency one time fewer than Ronald Reagan, and has been vindicated by history for his correct calls on Russia and Islamic extremism, and who is daily confronted by American voters who say, "Oh, please run again!" Oh, yes. And he's the only Republican at this admittedly remote range who could beat Hillary.

I have met people I believe can resist smoking, drinking, marijuana, hard drugs and sex. I don't think I've ever met a candidate who could resist running in the face of all the above. It's counter-human!

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And I'm highly suspicious of high-level media explanations as to why it was "wise" for Mitt Romney to withdraw exactly three weeks after plunging back in. Why did he do that?

"Oh, dear me," the litany begins. During those three weeks Romney was subjected to a jungle of sharp elbows, scorn, anger and ridicule; no welcome, no respect and onward through adventures in negativity rivaling what Dante might have written if he were familiar with candidate selection in our American two-party system. I'm shocked – shocked! – that those who nurse presidential ambitions of their own didn't conjoin for a massive barbecue welcoming Mitt Romney back into the race.

Sometimes the audience tells you more than the speaker. All this talk about "It's time for a new generation of Republican leaders!" and "Time to pass the torch!" – all that unleashed a torrent of tornadoes of love and respect for Romney, at least allegedly. I think all of that was really just that famous commodity found wherever bulls congregate. It wasn't respect for Romney's "patriotism" or "wisdom." It was relief that Romney had been successfully hounded out of the room and the race.

How about this? Mitt Romney noted the extra-fat field of GOP candidates and did a little thinking. A female comedian was moaning about a guy she met at a bar who didn't call her back for two weeks. "Do you know how long that is in girl-years?" she wailed to the delight of the crowd. The election we're talking about is in November of 2016. Do you know how long that is in political-years? A lot more than in girl-years, I assure you! It's not long enough to make a Hitler acceptable for the Democratic nomination, but it's plenty long enough to allow a Chris Christie to make brand new enemies, dredge up forgotten volcanoes about the Bush legacies, long enough to have the voters ready to re-label a Rubio or a Cruz "not quite ready yet," long enough to remind voters of the gentle strengths of John Kasich and long enough to let Scott Walker go Kersplat! into a gaffe of his own manufacture.

And it's plenty long enough to let Hillary's image come blistering through as a cantankerous aging crow with a scrapbook heavy with interesting tidbits but weightless in accomplishments.

Things change. Ask any journalist who's done time in any of those countries where they name a street after you one day and chase you down it the next!

"It's time for a new generation of Republican leaders!" Let the new wisdom ring out, ring loud and ricochet.

There's plenty enough time for Mitt to go from "You've had your chance!" to "Beloved." If he does, that particular revolving door stays well-greased. If he doesn't, then he's no worse off than he is today.

I'm not about to write a check, but I'll be happy to donate a new slogan to the Republican Party. Ready?

"It's almost time for a new generation of Republican leaders!"

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