"I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it."
[Black Star News Editorial]
Candidate Mitt Romney’s most formidable challenger may be the real Mitt Romney not Newt Gingrich.
Candidate Romney had just beat Gingrich 46% to 32% in Florida when the real Romney threw a lifeline to Gingrich and a gift for the Democrats to use in the fall should be emerge as the nominee. This is what the real Romney , gushing with confidence, told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien:
“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”
Someone should tell Richie-Rich that with 15 million unemployed and possibly 10 million more who’ve either stopped looking for work or are under-employed it means that there are very many very poor Americans.
The real Romney was not even paid by Gingrich or by President Obama’s campaign team to make this statement. He made it of his own accord, during a post-Florida victory interview with O’Brien.
If candidate Romney sticks to game-plan (he is robotic which makes it easy for him to follow the script) he could eventually prevail over Gingrich. But the real Romney has had a tendency to emerge, like an undisciplined monster, throughout this campaign cycle.
Romney’s handlers want to package him as a compassionate successful American business executive who feels the plight of ordinary Americans, including the millions of unemployed. He’s the “turn around” man who ran a successful Olympics in the U.S. and rescued failing companies and made them profitable. Presumably, he can use the same strategy to reclaim the U.S. economy and create millions of new jobs.
The only problem is that the real Romney has had a privileged lifestyle since childhood as the son of a wealthy former business executive and Michigan governor. His estimated wealth is about $300 million; he’s had no experience close to that of ordinary and has no affinity. He has yet to grasped the real meaning of the severity of the George W. Bush recession.
These are some of the things the real Romney has said:
>In the midst of the Bush recession, with unemployment at 9.5% –it’s now improved to 8.5%– and with more than 15 million Americans out of work, the real Romney said “corporations are people my friend,” and deserved compassion.
>Even though the collapse of the housing market was one of the main reasons for U.S. economic decline –leading to homelessness and the loss of equity by millions of American households — while in Florida, one of the worst hit states, Romney said a solution for the housing crisis was essentially to do nothing and let the market collapse to the bottom so people could start from scratch. Easy for someone worth $300 million to say; especially a man who recently purchased a $12 million home a few months ago.
>Romney, during a presidential debate challenged then candidate Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet.
>Even when he was already being criticized for having made his millions while at Bain, working as a vulture capitalist –stripping existing companies of assets and then repackaging them and reselling for a profit– Romney spoke about enjoying firing people; wrong wording whatever the context.
Then comes Romney’s comments to Soledad O’Brien. In all fairness, she gave him a chance to clarify his remarks. He waded even deeper into the sticky matter.
So there is a good reason, after all, why more than 70% of Americans polled believe that Romney only cares for the rich.
Will this be the last time the real Romney trips up candidate Romney? Unlikely; his campaign staff would have to ban him from speaking unless he promises to stay on script.
It’s only February and about 2,000 delegates are still up for grabs in the Republican primary race. The real Romney may destroy candidate Romney along the way.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
