Just as Mitt Romney was scrambling to get his message back on track yesterday, yet another shoe dropped. Mother Jones released this video which was secretly recorded at a Romney closed-door event. In the video, Romney tells donors, "... and so my job is not to worry about those people. I'm not going to convince them."
Really? You don't worry about "those people," almost half of America?
That would be a shocking sentiment, if it weren't so disappointingly predictable coming from Mitt Romney.
We've all seen this before:
$10,000 bets. Corporations are people. Let the housing market hit rock bottom. Yada, yada. Now, I don't want to play armchair psychologist, but it seems to me -- taking him at his word -- that Mitt Romney isn't concerned about the 47 percent because he doesn't even see them. That's because he came into the world in a protective bubble and he's basically stayed there for his first 65 years.
Now, lots of people are born wealthy and stay that way. That's not the point. The point is what have you done to pierce the bubble? To see and feel how the other half lives?
There's a Zulu greeting that says: "Sawubona." It means "I see you." The response, "Ngikhona" means "I am here." It's an acknowledgement that you exist now that you've been seen.
I just don't think Mitt Romney has really tried to see those who struggle. But don't take it from me. Mitt himself said, "My job is not to worry about those people."
No, Mitt, your job as president, should you be lucky enough to buy it, is, in fact, exactly to worry about all of the people in this country. Every single one. From a secretary in the company to the CEO. From the hairdresser to the hedge fund manager. From the crack addict who lives in the streets to those who have streets named after them.
A leader makes hundreds of decisions each day. And while Mitt Romney may never consciously consider the 47 percent during a specific decision, his attitude towards them -- who he sees when he sees America -- those things are present in each and every decision that a leader makes. That is what character is all about.
That is why it matters. If a president is guided to favor 53 percent of his people and disregard 47 percent, slowly, but surely, over hundreds and thousands of decisions, his policies and the arc of opportunity will bend away from them.
"My job is not to worry about those people." Well, Mr. Romney, it is our job to worry about you.
Originally aired on The War Room with Jennifer Granholm. The War Room airs weeknights at 10 p.m. EST on Current TV. Follow Jennifer Granholm on Facebook and Twitter, and The War Room on Facebook and Twitter.
Follow Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenGranholm
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
every little bit helps and there are peoplewho may decide that the only way to suggest that they are not "freeloaders' is to vote for someone who will then, somehow "recognize" their independence...there's one born every minute.
When my husband heard that he was stunned - a man worrying about his wife "tiring" people??? Another example of Mitt's being out of touch - even with his own wife!
man is even in consideration to be leader of this country.
CitiBank paid up...but the "sub prime" loans, and the student loans, and the auto loans and a few other interest producing instruments began to look good enough to the banks, as marketable entities in themselves that a couple of new words or three entered the finance realm...securitization, and CDO...and derivatives...leveraging of course was already there but kinda got on steroids.And then there was that little bit of legedermaine practiced by a few ratings experts whose expertise became at one point...just "opinions...".It's complicated, but several factors, of necessity contributed to the bubble's bust...mostly greed and arrogance
wtf are homeless people doing with dogs?
How about that unemployment rate?
Sometimes words are important...so some are careful how they use them.
What so many of them forget is that it's "those people" who actually work crazy hours in factories making their products, who clean their houses and businesses, who staff the restaurants and bring them their foie gras and quail, drive them around, build the buildings and pick the food? I'd love to see those guys who whine about paying people so little money that they don't get taxed on it have to deal with having to either deal with a world where they either went without the fruits of "those people's" labor and/or had to do some of that crap themselves. Can you imagine Adelson and the like having to cook, clean and wash their own clothes?
But then, the Romneys do not really see the "little people." Which is what makes it even more amusing that this video was pretty obviously shot by one of the staff at Daddy Warbuck's mansion. Poetic justice.