Is Waterskiing Less Elitist Than Windsurfing?
by Ryan Sager
Mon, 7 May 2007 at 8:48 AM
updated Mon, 7 May 2007 at 8:50 AM
Remember when John Kerry was photographed windsurfing? Didn't help.
Well, Mitt Romney might want to avoid highlighting the life lessons he learned from waterskiing in his stump speech...
In a graduation speech Saturday at Pat Robertson's Regent University, Mr. Romney had this to say:
Romney opened his 14-minute talk from the library steps by recalling that Robertson, when he ran for president in 1988, said he would lead people of many faiths. Romney noted that now Robertson had invited one of those people to his home.
Then he described being towed on water skis as a child, screaming all the way, past the safety of a Lake Huron sandbar at his family's vacation spot - and finding it "exhilarating."
"In the deep waters, life is about others," he told the graduates. That includes spouses, children, church and civic involvement, he said.
"If there ever was a time for great Americans, great and good Americans, Americans who are willing to cross into the deep waters of life, it is now," he said.
Now, normally the bigger news would be a presidential candidate consorting with the atrocious Mr. Robertson. But since John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have already stooped so low, it's hardly surprising when the self-styled candidate of the Christian Right does so as well.
Given that, I'd say Mr. Romney's tone-deafness, as usual, is what's worth watching here. Also, given Mr. McCain's POW experience and Mr. Giuliani's 9/11 experience, this could also highlight a serious stature/experience gap. We have the guy who survived being a POW, the guy who turned around New York City and rose to the occasion on 9/11, and the guy who — choose one: A) fixed the Olympics, B) served a term as governor of Massachusetts, C) learned to waterski as a kid. It's not even that it's not an impressive resume (minus the waterskiing) for a presidential candidate. It's just in a primary where the standards are pretty high.
As for Mr. Romney's reception at Regent, the Mormon issue seems to have been front-and-center in the minds of many. Still, the article quoted above reports "warm if not sustained applause before and after his address."
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