There is one politician who has stepped out of the political world and allowed us to see him as a family man and a person with a real opinion, and that is Mitt Romney. His 2014 documentary, Mitt, available only on Netflix, reveals behind the scene moments on his presidential journey beginning in 2006, all the way to the devastating loss to President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. The former Massachusetts governor has been seen as a very misunderstood and disloyal person to many Americans, but the documentary sheds light on a personality that we probably would never have seen on the TV screen.
The film began with the entire Romney family and their campaign staff in a large room waiting as the ballots started to come in for the 2012 presidential race against President Obama. As tension continued to rise, Mitt said the haunting words, “what do you say in a concession speech?” The film then transitioned to a typical family vacation in 2006 at a ski resort with four of his five sons, Craig, Matt, Tagg, and Josh, his daughters- in-law, grandchildren, and wife, Ann. While discussing with the family about running for president, they responded with their own pros and cons of the entire process, but at the end they were all there to support Mitt in whatever he decided to do. His son Craig said, “what scares me most is that you’ll come out and the message will be lost and people will think it’s either too good to be true … I feel that if people really get to know who you are, it could be a successful campaign.” Following that, they started growing the campaign in South Carolina and traveled across the country. Unfortunately, throughout the campaign, he was a candidate that many states had not thought of because not many knew who he was. Due to that and his tough competition with John McCain, the 2008 race for president was cut short.
The moments that were pretty surprising were the constant complaints Mitt had about the countless debates he had to do, his reactions to other politicians wanting to “kick him in the groin,” and the fact that he is such a sincere grandfather to four of his young grandchildren. While going through a presidential race for the first time, Romney definitely put his personality and soul into winning Americans’ hearts. However, all of the hard work was slightly unnoticed, as new as popular than the other republican candidates.
After Ann Romney explained how she did not want to go through that stress of the campaign again, the film then transitioned four years later to Romney back in the race in 2012 having accepted the nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention. With his creditability heightened from the first campaign, he had a definite chance to become president. However, there was a change in Mitt’s sincere personality, a bit different from 2008. The film covered his huge mistake of his 47 percent comment about Americans being dependent and not paying income taxes, as well as his downfall during the second presidential debate with Obama. The way that Mitt was perceived in this film four years later was stiff, serious, and drowned in stress, rather than opinionated, and loose during the 2008 campaign. After seeing this film, it has given a different perspective about Mitt Romney in terms of his life outside of politics since the documentary did not show much of his political views, and it has given more respect for his great work ethic from Americans who had disliked and misunderstood him for many years.
