Mitt Romney's Doofus Factor

      Krugman on Romney's "smashing" trip to Britain:

      "On the whole, I’m not big on the whole “seeming presidential” thing; for the most part, you should judge politicians by what they do, not by appearances. That said, Obama wears the office well: he has a natural dignity that makes him a really good figurehead, quite aside from substance."

      "And then there’s Mitt Romney"

     http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/the-doofus-factor/

     Yes, of course you should by what politicians do, not appearances Though let's be real,, often that's not what politics is decided on. Right now, Mitt Romney is in Israel, trying to make what he can out of the appearance that the President has neglected Israel, somehow mistreated Israel. Krugman himself got it right before about Bain. Liberals should focus on Bain as it crystallizes Romney's policies-essentially enables us to "pivot" from his personal history:

     "The point is that talking about Mr. Romney’s personal history isn’t a diversion from substantive policy discussion. On the contrary, in a political and media environment strongly biased against substance, talking about Bain and offshore accounts is the only way to bring the real policy issues into focus. And we should applaud, not condemn, the Obama campaign for standing up to the tut-tutters.

     http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/opinion/krugman-policy-and-the-personal.html

      Romney's travails in Britain fit well within a larger narrative. Namely, that he is out of touch with the world that most Americans live in. That he struggles to show even the most basic empathy. What happened to Romney in Britain is what happens so often to him.

      Let's be real: this is hardly the first time he's flopped. He got booed in front of the NAACP and then laughed it off on Fox News by saying "If they want free stuff, they should vote for the other guy."

      That sentence-if you are on Romney's campaign team how do you allow your candidate to ever say that-vote for the other guy?!!-it's not the first time Romney has used it. At a speech in front of college kids a young woman asked him about healthcare and he told her to 'vote for the other guy if you want free stuff.'

      Romney gets in a lot of trouble when he tries to loosen up and be a regular American-yes, I'm turning it around on John Sununu. I mean how can you accuse the President of not being an American when you're guy says things like "I like it here in Michigan where all the trees are the same height", "I like cars" and "I like sport"-no I didn't forget the s he did.

     Maybe the problem is his "loosening up" if fake. Remember when he went to that Pittsburgh bakery? He insulted their cookies, asking them if they brought it at a 7-Eleven. This was the most popular bakery in the area.

     Yeah, I know the answer from the GOP will be 'Americans aren't concerned whether or not Romney likes a cookie it's about the economy' but I disagree. Often it's the little things that elections are won on.

     I say that as a liberal Democrat that has seen enough not go my way based on "small ball."

     Call it cynical but even Karl Marx said something about the idea that to move the masses you have to make your attacks "ad hominem." In talking to people in daily life in the last few days I notice a lot of people are talking about Romney's flop in London. Again, pace Krugman, I think this shows us how to get past the media filter. It means as liberals we can't be too unrealistic about making campaigns about issues.

     They matter and ultimately they're all that matters. But sometimes the small things crystallize a much larger point.

     Think of it this way. The whole purpose of Romney's trip was to get a break from questions about Bain and why he won't release his tax returns as every Presidential candidate since his father, George Romney, has going back to 1968.

     This trip offered the opportunity for an extended, glorified photo-op. I mean the Britain stop in particularly was total soft pitch softball. And he managed to hit into an inning ending triple play.

     This was due to his congenital lack of tact as we saw above-getting booed at the NAACP, insulting a small business owner's cookies, the jokes about "I'm unemployed." As he wants us to picture him as leader of the Free World, how do you feel about him so far?

     Is this the face we want to show to the world to represent us for the next 4 years?  Remember that Briain is a friendly country with a Prime Minister who ideologically you would expect a friend. And look how badly he flopped. Are we going to have pr disasters like this in the international news every day? Do we need this?

     It's taken enough time to get the bad taste out of the mouth that many of the rest of the world felt towards us after Bush. Now we want someone so challenged in even the most basic aspects of etiquette much less diplomacy representing us?