Romney's business skills face a political test

WASHINGTON -- Ever since George Washington, a former surveyor, mapped out a new nation, presidents have been defined by their original occupations.

Ronald Reagan, the former movie actor, became the Great Communicator. Herbert Hoover , former engineer, organized one of the most complicated relief missions in history, saving millions from starvation after World War I. Woodrow Wilson, former college president, brought academic idealism to foreign policy with his Fourteen Points.

But history also teaches that presidents who had long careers before entering politics developed blind spots that professional politicians -- think of Bill Clinton -- don't have.

Reagan's devotion to stagecraft masked a dangerously inattentive approach to governing. Hoover's logical engineer's mind couldn't perceive the public craving for reassurance during the Depression. And the international boundaries set by Wilson's Treaty of Versailles continue to cause friction around the world.

Add in the current president's "CEO approach" to the Iraq war and one could make a good case that private-sector work is as much a predictor of a president's destiny as past political offices.

The potential 2008 contenders include the usual mix of former military men (John McCain, Chuck Hagel), lawyers (Hillary Rodham Clinton , Rudolph Giuliani ) and longtime politicians ( Christopher Dodd , Joseph Biden ), along with a few others who had careers that don't often appear on resumes for high office.

The skills that made John Edwards a successful personal injury lawyer also elevated him to political prominence.

During his 2004 presidential campaign, Edwards reached out to voters like an attorney pleading his case to a jury.

"You know those letters from credit card companies that you get in your mailbox?" Edwards asked at one gathering in New Hampshire in 2004. "What do they say on the cover? That's right -- zero percent. And what do you see when you read the fine print? That's right -- 20 percent. And that's wrong. It's wrong."

Edwards' s ability to talk to voters as if they were friends was a strength of his campaign; but his beseeching manner seemed almost too obvious a disguise for a lack of substantive experience.

As the former North Carolina senator launches a second presidential campaign, Edwards is hoping for better. At 53, he's four years older, wiser -- and further removed from his career as a plaintiff's attorney.

Then there's the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, who is billing himself as a turnaround artist, a reference to his career as a venture capitalist.

Romney put his and his partners' money into new, struggling, or undervalued businesses and then ordered up changes that led to higher profitability.

The venture capitalist is different from a chief executive, whose portfolio includes matters such as preserving the brand name, maintaining quality, and boosting employee morale.

The venture capitalist may touch on these niceties from a distance, but his strength is having the detachment to spot obstacles to profitability that the CEO missed. This often includes cutting off less profitable arms of the company, and chopping pay and benefits. It also can lead to a healthier company, which, in turn, can provide more opportunities for both investors and employees.

In his book, "Turnaround," Romney writes of how he applied his business approach to the faltering 2002 Winter Olympics.

After learning of the 9/11 attacks, Romney writes, "I knew instinctively that the events of that day would have a profound effect on our work. There would undoubtedly be calls for the cancellation of the Games. It was even possible that individual athletes, teams, or entire national delegations would make the decision to stay home. Security and transportation, particularly air travel, would be more complicated than before."

This venture capitalist's ability to size up a situation and take all necessary measures has defined both his message and his campaign. The implicit message is that Romney will be a far shrewder master of the Iraq war than Bush -- making clear-headed judgments and achieving maximum results.

But Romney, in preparing for his presidential campaign, made moves as governor that often appeared bloodless and cynical -- vetoing spending programs while knowing his successor will restore them; ordering police to round up illegal immigrants at just the moment that immigration becomes a big national issue; denying protection to a visiting Iranian politician to demonstrate toughness on Iran.

These moves may get him closer to the Republican nomination, but whether they reflect deep principles or merely a venture capitalist's professional sense of what's required to achieve his goal is already the defining question of the Romney campaign.

Peter S. Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief. National Perspective is his weekly analysis of events in the capital and beyond.