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Mitt Romney has an opportunity to gracefully exit the national stage, transitioning back to private life after nearly six years on the campaign trail. But the failed Republican presidential candidate apparently just can't help himself.
A week after losing the presidential election to President Obama, Mitt Romney blamed his overwhelming electoral loss on what he said were big "gifts" that the president had bestowed on loyal Democratic constituencies -- including young voters, African Americans and Hispanics.
In a conference call Wednesday afternoon with his national finance committee, Mr. Romney said that the president had followed the "old playbook" of wooing specific interest groups -- "specially the African American community, the Hispanic community and young people," Mr. Romney explained -- with targeted gifts and initiatives.
In Romney's mind, college aid counts as "a big gift" that helped President Obama with younger voters. The Affordable Care Act was "a big gift" that led to all kinds of political support. Contraceptive care roped in young women, Romney added, while "amnesty for children of illegals" generated vote from Latino voters.
The candidate went on to say his commitment to "talking about big issues for the whole country" during the campaign "worked well," but he came up short because of "those who were given a specific gift."
So much for the graceful exit from the national stage.
My goal here is not to kick a candidate who's already lost and will soon be forgotten, but it's worth taking a closer look at Romney's remarks because I think they speak to a larger truth.
First, in case there were any doubts, it's now clear that the comments Romney made his infamous "47 percent" tape were entirely sincere. He really does embrace a divisive view of the American electorate. He really does hold millions of struggling families in contempt, wondering why they refuse to "take personal responsibility" for their lives, lamenting the notion that they await "big gifts" from politicians.
Second, there's a certain irony to Romney's whining. We are, after all, talking about a man whose life was largely shaped by "big gifts" from his wealthy and politically-influential family. Indeed, even in public life, Romney benefited from one "big gift" (taxpayer bailout of his Olympic games) after another (federal funds for his state-based health care reform initiative).
And finally, there's simply a fundamental flaw in the worldview that shapes Romney's explanation. He may not realize it, but Romney was offering a series of "big gifts" as his campaign platform; they just didn't appeal to the American mainstream -- he wanted to give the wealthy a big gift of another major tax cut; he wanted to give corporations (which are people, my friend) a big gift by slashing corporate tax rates; he wanted to give his Wall Street donors a big gift by loosening and eliminating pesky government safeguards; and he wanted to buy support from seniors by spending another $716 billion on Medicare.
What Romney is complaining about, in other words, is the notion that Americans weren't impressed by the big gifts he was offering, and now he's feeling sorry for himself while chastising the electorate for being, from his perspective, selfish.
In effect, Romney argued yesterday, "Obama used government as a tool to improve the lives of working families, and in turn, they voted for him. It's outrageous!"
What Republicans need to understand is that public officials are supposed to make a material difference in the lives of the American people. It's what "promoting the general welfare" is all about. Helping people go to college and/or have access affordable health care are not examples of wasteful government overreach; they're basic elements of modern life in an advanced society.
Obama taking steps to improve Americans' lives isn't cheating. It's not political bribery. It's not the president playing the role of Santa Claus, handing out superfluous goodies to lazy families with a parasitic relationship with government. The fact that Romney finds this confusing reinforces the impression that he deserved to lose.
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This is a career ender for him even with the GOP.
Let us pray!
I doubt he could get a job hustling reverse mortgages.
Nah, they don't care what he says. What they care about is that he lost. They can put up with a lot of things, but a two-time loser isn't one of them.
Er, what career does he have left to end?
Poor Rmoney. He's a loser....but he's still RICH!
Here's him singing the blues.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0q2eGAjyGg&feature=player_embedded
RimKitty, I prefer the Romney version of "Stairway to Heaven"
I wish it was for Ryan too, Lord knows I was hoping never to see his simpering face or hear his irritating voice again.
What he was offering weren't "gifts" but rather the reasoned things that the "better class of people" required so that their noblesse oblige would lead them to take care of their lessers.
the guy doesn't need a job. He will never have to work a day in his life. You on the other hand are the one that will be looking for a job as we watch unemployment rise in to the double digits by late April. DJIA down 1065 in the last month.
Winning a popularity contest doesn't make you smart. Giving free stuff only works until the cash cow is gone, then chaos follows.
chem
You always assume everyone on here other than you is unemployed. Well I got news for you they aren't. Romney lost because he was a terriblecandidate. The electorate didn't want what he offered.
"...The fact that Romney finds this confusing reinforces the impression that he deserved to lose." -Benen
We've always known this. It oozes from his persona. I'm relieved that a majority of American voters were not fooled. Romney is so condescending and pampered that he is unlikeable and he resents it. He is angry when he doesn't get his way or is made to feel subordinate in any way. (Who the hell do you think you are, Boy.")
We see it plainly and we should also know that the support he received was due primarily because of hatred for Obama and dems...not because of Romney no matter how dominating he became. Ask any of his supporters why they were voting for Romney and the first thing they talk about is what they didn't like about Obama...not what they liked about Romney. Hopefully we've seen the last of him. Lyin Ryan as been exposed as a fraud who cons without substance to back up his 'claims'. He will not be taken seriously again.
Romney deserved to lose and he proves it on a daily basis...never learning from his mistakes, unwilling to admit when he's wrong or to change instead of blame.
Romney: simply Mitt-illogical.
Huge, un-paid-for tax cuts for millionaires and billionares =/ gift.
I had a list....
You mean like a 15 % tax rate on your millions,
You mean like a cap on Social security taxes that lets you of the hook after 110k
Your gifts my friend your gifts ...and don't get me started on what is handed out to your Wall street cronies and Big Energy
You mean a tax code that lets you hide millions off shore
You mean being able to hide your tax returns from the American people.
There is a theme that was advanced in the media that Romney, like Bain was driven by data, not sentiment. There is probably some truth to this. Let's assume that in business that Romney made decisions solely on what the balance sheets said, and which restructuring scenarios would generate the greatest amount of cash for the investors in Bain and the decision makers in the target company needed to swing the deal.
If this is the way he analysed opportunities in the 2 decades prior to his entry into political life, why would be surprised if he made the same sort of analysis? In RomneyWorld, a political campaign was little different from the boardroom fight where he had to con... uh persuade enough of the board or ownership of a company to vote for his plan. These people were methodically identified, then what their interests were was identified, and the plan was adjusted to reward those individuals with what they valued most.
Which was money in most cases.
The US electorate was just a bigger boardroom fight where he had to con... uh persuade the boardroom to vote for his plan. Romney's bet was that he could offer the decision makers money- the promise of jobs and tax cuts.
The reason why he lost was that the rival investment company offered a sweeter offer.
The reason why Benen's analysis falls is that there is a substantial school of thinking among democrats that uses the frame that politics is like business where you identify what the consumers want (their interests) and you deliver it to them. So really, these democrats are thinking in the same frame as Romney- of political deliverables. Democrats might recoil about this, but really their objections boil down to this:
Democratic Party deliverables like minimum wage, fair tax burden and so on are more desirable products than the shoddy deliverables the GOP is offering. So come buy products from the Dems.
The reason why this system of thought breaks down goes back to the foundations of democracy in Greece. It was the distinction between immature, uneducated people who thought only in terms of self interest (what Heraclitus referred to with the term idios) as opposed to those who became aware of points of views alternate to their own, and the art of finding common ground as the basis of collective action with those others. This was the idea of the educated, mature citizen.
It was no coincidence that Obama made reference to citizenry, and the idea that
That is the part that Romney and a lot of democrats thinking of their work as delivering competing products don't understand. Because like the self interest of Wall Street, voter self interest drives the electorate focus on narrow short term bottom lines that are appealing from their narrow self (idios- idiotic) interest. Roman politicians decried their devolution because the idea of the citizen was declining, and the self interested was on the rise (they used the term "idiotic" in the old Greek sense of self interest). The successful politicians both among the traditionalists versus the reformers realized that that "Bread and Spectacles" is what delivered votes. It can become inward looking, the vast conservative entertainment complex delivering an insular vision of the idios. The Idios Kosmos of Fox.
This enterprise of thinking of membership in terms of what the society did for you, rather than what you could do for your society was the the difference between those who thought solely in selfish terms as opposed to those who took an interest in the politics of finding common ground and mutual benefit with those of oftentimes radically different views and values. A good society for those following the idios (private) interests was one that delivered the best Bread and spectacle. A good society for those interested in citizenry were those interested in Polis (citizenry), a much different sense of "poltics" than we have today.
Pericles was exceptionally familiar with the way that Romney and Retail Democrats thought about democracy. He opposed the ideas of Idiots (followers of idios) versus those interested in "Polis" (politics) this way. His refutation of Romney's / Democrats idea of poltical deliverables was this:
Or as Jacob Marley devastated the self interested metaphor of business to describe membership in society:
Deleting two for language. Play nice.
John,
Yes but there are another factors at work. They are compassion and caring for ones fellow citizens. They are fair play and ethics. They are an understanding of the human condition.
Romney is like the Tin Man- he needs a heart. Romney is just a walking ATM machine and it shows in every muscle in his body. Ethics and the moral issues are of no concern to him.
Obama has soul. He is humane. That's the main reason I voted for him above and beyond anything else. I think many others feel the same.
I would think those factors are included in the citizen formulation. I suppose I did not express myself very well if that was not evident.
The opposition I was getting at was the one Kennedy made famous in his inaugural, and which Obama echoed in his acceptance speech on election night is between the selfish interested individual versus the citizen. Idios vs Polis. Caring and compassion are attributes of the latter- the state of the mature individual citizen who has emerged from the Ayn Rand drama of the alienated self interested, every-man-for-himself adolescent (eg epitomized by Paul Ryan's biographical arc).
Nonetheless, it is a mistake to think of the private man as necessarily uncaring, or to demonize them as without ethics. Romney contributes heavily to causes and humanitarian work- not all of which is anti gay and mormon evangelism causes. The typical follower is more like Archie Bunker, sitting in his chair, surprised to discover life long friends are Jews or Catholics, for whom politics means reciting a set of bigoted relations between his identity as a middle aged frustrated white man and the identities of "Other" around him: Commies, Wops, Papists, Darkies, and so on.
Norman Lear created the Bunker character as someone the audience would loath, and was surprised when audiences found him endearing.
It's because many of us have Bunkers in our families and know that people who vote for Romney or echo bigotted memes are not uncaring unprincipled people. Both of my Grandfathers could go into modes of thinking and speaking far more severe than Bunker. But I knew them as honorable though flawed men who had strong compassion for others, and a fidelity to a code of ethics and behavior. Yet they were routinely unable to extend that compassion and willingness to the "Others" outside their group identity- To try to look at the world from the points of view of others they had difficulty relating to.
So I am saying that the demonization of the other that you gave voice to is part of the private world- the Idios Kosmos of the Fox World, or its counterpart bubble of MSNBC -Democracy Now- Nation magazine / New Republic. I am not so extreme that I think it fair to compare the propaganda of Fox to the journalism of MSNBC. I am saying that demonizaiton, tribal thinking and confirmation bias is common in the left.
No, I don't think so. I think in Romney's case he can contribute to charity and do humanitarian work but not really understand it. Until you get your nose rubbed in it so to speak I don't think you really understand. It goes beyond money, sympathy, and intellectual understanding. It is something from the heart. It is a sense that even the most disgusting among us are part of us.
Frankly, I don't think Romney is capable of that. Not just Romney but probably the majority of us left, right, and center. I'm not a big Christian but the Jesus figure comes to mind as this type of person and there are not too many of those types lurking around especially in politics. Ethics, morals and compassion come from the heart and Romney doesn't have one when he can dismiss half of the population so easily. I'm rambling... I'm done.
Yeah, I agree that compassion for others outside of our identity groups is tough, and that is the challenge of being the citizen.
Compassion within our group is easy. That is the kind everyone congratulates themselves on. Romney and his family are positive he is a good guy. We are all the heroes in the narrative we tell about ourselves.
The Takers voted for Obama...sheesh.
Romney. I am still stunned at what a bullet we missed with this one.
I am deeply grateful to all the Takers who did indeed Take...our country's future out of the hands of this ungrateful, spoiled selfish man.
We took our country back four years ago and Damn it, We're keeping it.
I'm a White Guy who got angry whenever I heard the GOPpers saying how they were taking their country back because it's OUR country, not only theirs.
And Romney and "gifts"? I'm a Vet who was on private insurance for about 30 years, till the Romneys of this world crashed the Pension fund and now my health care is through the VA. I have no doubt that my health care I earned by serving my country would have been seen as a "gift" by Romney and thus curtailed.
Reminds me of the story of Cain and Abel. God rejected Cain's offering and accepted Abel's. Of course, Cain's sour grapes attitude was excessive, as we remember.....
Mitt Romney knows not of the America I have come to know and love! Born in Pomona, CA in the mid 1950s, I am not amused with this man's disdain for the American Democracy I have come to love dearly!
May a pox be on your house, Mitt, if you can't descend the peak of arrogance and narcissism and humble yourself before all who see your nastiness for what it is! -Kevo
A "pox" is already on his house, he's been insulated by money which has lead to his arrogance and narcissism and knows nothing about what ordinary working Americans go thru. His continued bitterness at losing hopefully won't turn him into another angry, bitter, failed presidential hopeful aka John McCain!
And yes, my "gift" is that President Barack Obama is in the Oval Office and will work to grow the Middle Class, and keep US out of more wars of choice!
...and may the fleas of a thousand camels nest in your armpits
Do camels actually have "fleas"? I mean they live in the desert, are there fleas in the desert, anyone?
Yes, there are.
I'll happily kick someone like Mitt Romney. Poor Mittens. Still has to lie to people. I guess when you start, you just can't stop. what a whiny little man.
The worst part is, on this point he actually thinks he's telling the truth.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave . . .
The fact that this clueless jerk was within reach of the presidency should give us all a case of the cold sweats.
If there IS such a thing as "the real Mitt Romney," this is him (it) talking.
Gee, Mitt. I wonder if your utter disregard for the daily struggles of average Americans and your lack of empathy for anybody who isn't a bazillionaire had anything to do with your defeat?
Right on Steve!
Which house gets the pox? The new one in La Jolla that has the car elevator? The 2 homes in Boston? The ski lodge in Utah? The 2 summer homes in NH?
A pox on both... errr... ALL your houses.
Just pox his magic underwear, they're everywhere he wants to be.
Pox his houses; put the fleas in the magic underwear!
That's our Mitt!! No class in campaigning. No class in defeat.
This man has proven time after time that money can't buy class. Come to think of it, his haughty wife proved it over and over again as well.
Average Americans living paycheck to paycheck or even on the brink of personal financial catastrophe everyday, could teach him a thing or two about dignity.
The only reason he'll ever have a microphone again is that he will have bought it.
It's a small wonder Romney is so widely disliked. Just an arrogant snob. Good riddance!
Face it Romney you and your GOP party are morons plain and simple. It was just like I said in the beginning what the Republicans, extremists of hatred, and extreme wealthy were power craving, corrupt, greedy, hypocrites, arrogant, and deceiving worthless bastards. Need I say more. We the People got you bastards.
Ah, the old suggestive sell is what did you in, huh Mr. Rmoney? It was not that you alienated 47% of the nation, nor hung out with and praised the trans-vaginal probe committee, nor your being completely forthcoming with your not having paid significant taxes for 10 years while being extraordinarily wealthy from your successful vulture capitalist business dealings. It was all from the old school "free large diet Pepsi with the purchase of a President" deal that Barack Obama offered the non-whites. Well played Mr. Rmoney, well played!
If I were a Godly man, I would Petition the Lord with Prayer: Please, Lord, whisper in his tender, Mormon ear "2016, Mittens, 2016."
Thank God you aren't a godly man, Day. Isn't 5 years of Mitt running to and fro over the earth enough?
@NMC:
But, think of the endless entertainment level!
i doubt if the repub party would make mitt romney the nominee again. it isn't his turn anymore.
And think, if Republicans somehow nominated him again, how would he possibly win in the general election? So, I agree, Mittens2016.
His carried interest loophole was a "gift" of such proportion to make ones head spin like Linda Blair. To compare that with getting the bottom feeders out of the student loan scam is astounding for even a pathological douchebag like Mittens.
Mitt you lost the race, not because of gifts, but because your tax plan sucked, your foreign policy was Bush's, you are completely discounted from the rest of us, arrogant and snobbish, and most importantly, you are Gordon Geko's, Gordon Geko although noticeably lacking Micheal Douglas' swag.
*disconnected* not discounted f'in apple an their auto correct.
In Romney's world, apparently, self-interest is paramount: It's not possible that we vote for the principle of functional government which serves all.
Awful.
A small, crappy man.
He keeps begging to get kicked. Him getting kicked on election day wasn't enough. He's saying "please, sir, may I have some more?" every time he opens his mouth. Dozens and dozens of black people shut his whole campaign down.
Numb nut.
The voters rejected Romney and he sounds pretty upset about it. Chokes me up a little.
It is sad and pathetic that Romney clings to his alternate world where the only people he understands are people like him... uber rich, male, and white. Nobody else matters to him. Young people, women, people who actually work for a living, ethnic "others," elderly people, disabled people... they just do not fit into Mitt Romney's very tiny universe. We are all invisible to Mitt. And soon, he will be invisible to us. Quid pro quo.
What is sad is that millions of his followers believe what he is saying is true. Obamacare will destroy businesses. Businesses will stop expanding if their tax rate goes up. FEMA should be disbanded, let locals handle disasters. People still believe this crap. Where is John Huntsman when you need him? I would love to engage with some moderate republicans... Javitts? Rockerfeller? Sad to see there are few willing to take the "risk", even though they have a better chance of winning the independents.
Patti, I love Jon Huntsman. I had such high hopes....Huntsman would make a wonderful president. Can we say 2016! I wish he'd change to a Democrat and run. He is so far removed now from his party, it would make sense.
Huntsman probably couldn't even get past security at the GOP Christmas party at this point. That guy seems far too reasonable, worldly and compassionate to be hanging with that crew. His brand of conservatism is very nearly extinct.
#RINO
Further proof that all the times I woke up from a sound sleep in sheer horror of the thought of this man becoming president were totally justified.
It's not a gift when you give stuff to Republicans. It's something they've earned.
The worst part of this whole thing is the Republicans have successfully branded all Democrats everywhere as worthless sucklers at the government teat who refuse to do anything for ourselves at all. But they will certainly not refuse to take advantage of things like Pell grants, Obamacare, Medicare, and Social Security, which they shouldn't, of course, but the irony will be invisible to them.
I heard his comments this morning and just had to laugh how totally out of touch he is with America, not just the 2% that think the rules (and gifts) are for them.
Yes in deed America dodged a bullet, no an atom bomb, by not electing him.
Based on what I saw of him this election, the people I feel most sorry for are the people he has evidently counseled over the years as a Mormon bishop. I can't begin to imagine what "advice" he served up to help them.
Good riddance.
Not a surprising view point from a man who has been obsessed his entire life in the ruthless pursuit of other people's money.
FUBARRomney's Galtian resentment overfloweth.