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<div class="timestamp">June 22, 2012</div>
<h1>The (Sort of) New Mitt</h1>
<span><h6 class="byline">By <a rel="author" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/gailcollins/index.html" title="More Articles by Gail Collins" class="meta-per">GAIL COLLINS</a></h6>
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<p>
Today: Mitt Romney and immigration. </p>
<p>
As you know, American Hispanics are an important and fast-growing voting
bloc. Romney has long had a strategy for winning them over. The key, he
explained last year, is to tell them “what they know in their heart,
which is they or their ancestors did not come here for a handout.”
</p>
<p>
Hard to get more appealing than that. </p>
<p>
This was Primary Mitt, who had a long history of whacking his Republican
opponents with soft-on-illegal-immigrants charges. In the 2008
campaign, he accused Rudy Giuliani of making New York a “sanctuary city”
and Mike Huckabee of supporting “in-state benefits for illegal
immigrants.” One of his ads called John McCain a champion of “amnesty
for illegals.” The Romney news release that accompanied the ad’s debut
mentioned “amnesty” 17 times. </p>
<p>
It didn’t work. McCain won the nomination anyway. That was the earlier
version of John McCain, before he lost the presidential race and was
abducted by space aliens who took him off to a distant planet and
substituted a cranky android with an obsession about border fences.
</p>
<p>
Last year, Romney tried the same tactics on Rick Perry. “I got to be
honest with you. I don’t see how it is that a state like Texas — you go
to the University of Texas, if you’re an illegal alien, you get an
in-state tuition discount,” he complained during one of the debates.
</p>
<p>
Perry suggested that when it came to undocumented students who had been
brought to the country as children, Romney had no heart. Also, he tried
to get some mileage out of the fact that Mitt had once employed illegal
immigrants to tend his yard. But it was, you know, Rick Perry, so, of
course, nothing worked. </p>
<p>
Now Romney is the inevitable Republican nominee, and this week there he
was, speaking to a large group of prominent Hispanics. It was his first
chance to try out his strategy, but astonishingly, Romney did not tell
the audience what they knew in their hearts about in-state tuition and
other handouts. </p>
<p>
In fact, the word “handout” never came up. Romney did tell the inspiring
story of his father’s emigration from Mexico at the age of 5, although
not the part about how the family had gone down there in the first place
to avoid American laws against polygamy. </p>
<p>
And there was quite a bit about the economy. You certainly can’t blame
Romney for mentioning it every chance he gets. But not everybody would
choose to follow “liberty’s torch can burn just as brightly for future
generations of immigrants” with a call to lower the corporate tax rate.
</p>
<p>
Plus, standard Mittspeak. We are going to have a lot of this in the
coming months, people. Let’s pause for a minute while you test your
ability to be a Mitt Romney speechwriter: </p>
<p>
“Though each of us walks a different path in life, we are united by one great, overwhelming passion. We love ... </p>
<p>
A) heavily sugared soft drinks.” </p>
<p>
B) attractive young women who marry into the British royal family.” </p>
<p>
C) cat videos.” </p>
<p>
D) America.” </p>
<p>
“This isn’t an election about two people. This isn’t an election about
being a Republican, Democrat or an independent. This is an election
about ... </p>
<p>
A) lowering the corporate tax rate.” </p>
<p>
B) lowering the individual marginal tax rates.” </p>
<p>
C) keeping dogs off the car roof.” </p>
<p>
D) the future of America.” </p>
<p>
O.K., the Ds. And not the most stirring speech in the history of the
world. Obama, who followed up on Friday, got a warmer reception. But
let’s try to figure out what Romney actually said. Except when it came
to certain lawn-mowing episodes, he’s always talked very tough on
illegal immigration. Now that he’s sniffing around for Hispanic voters,
is he going to change his tune? </p>
<p>
Answer: Romney vowed to address the problem “in a civil and resolute
manner.” That was a surprise. I really thought he’d go for “impolite yet
wishy-washy.” </p>
<p>
Like many of our big policy debates, immigration reform has dwindled
away to an argument about something less than sweeping. In this case,
it’s the Dream Act, the popular plan to let people who were brought here
illegally as kids become citizens if they get a college degree or serve
in the military. </p>
<p>
Primary Mitt was going to veto it. </p>
<p>
General Election Mitt will take the military service part, “and if you
get an advanced degree here, we want you to stay here.” (Give me your
tired, your poor, your huddled masses bearing Ph.D.’s and master’s
degrees in civil engineering or computer science. ...) </p>
<p>
As for the mere college graduates, whom Obama has now announced he will
protect from deportation under an executive order, Romney was, um,
vague. But whatever he does will be “long-term.” </p>
<p>
Also, he seems to have banished “self-deportation” and “amnesty” from
his vocabulary. Unless it looks as if they’ll come in handy somewhere
down the line. </p>
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