Romneyshambles: What Americans Care About in This Election

     Although Rush Limbaugh has tried to claim that Romney's trip was a home run, few agree with that even in the Republican party. There is definitely concern:

     "Mitt Romney returns from an erratic, six-day overseas tour with no discernible boost to his foreign policy credentials, and facing fresh questions about his campaign operation as it enters a critical period."

     "Calls for Romney to reset his campaign come as he enters one of the most intensely scrutinized periods of the election contest. He will roll out his vice presidential pick in the coming weeks, and, later this month, will officially receive the party’s nomination at the Florida convention."

     "Campaign aides said the trip was a success and insisted that it will have little impact on the election. While foreign tours are a good way to help candidates bulk up their resumes in preparation for the three presidential debates this fall, voters are far more concerned about the country’s slow economic growth, said Romney strategist Stuart Stevens."

    “People understand that big elections are about big things,” he said.

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/republicans-urge-romney-focus-on-jobs-after-troubled-trip.html

     You get this a lot-that while Romney was badly embarrassed in his trip and yes he has those nagging questions about Bain and why he won't release his taxes, that Americans care about big things and that this won't be what the vote will be about-which of course, will be one thousand percent about the economy:

    "John Weaver, who advised the party’s 2008 nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, said the flare-ups that consumed Romney’s trip reflected a broader problem: With the candidate eschewing risk and offering little detail about what he’d do as president, his campaign is being defined by small things."

    “He comes across sometimes as if he’s Gulliver and he’s tied down by all the Lilliputians when he could actually stand up and exert some strength -- he just seems to be tied down by a lot of little things,” said Weaver, who advised Romney’s Republican primary rival former Utah Governor Jon Hunstman Jr.“If they were a little bolder, a little more specific and took some chances -- I don’t consider them chances, but I know they see them that way -- I think he could win

     "While the presumed Republican nominee’s string of gaffes and international mini-incidents may not sway U.S. voters, whose chief concern is the domestic economy, it has reignited some Republicans’ concerns that the troubles Romney encountered abroad are indicative of his campaign’s weaknesses at home."

      I don't agree they won't sway U.S. voters. Not so much each incident by itself, but cumulatively it's given us a clear narrative-that Romney is out of touch, and just doesn't get it. First of all, something is hurting Romney as he's now trailing significantly in Ohio and Florida now-6 points each-and is down double digits in Pennsylvania.

     I think all these alleged small things may be part of it. I don't think the British as a whole nation laughing at Romney as a "wanna be President" is from the standpoint of the campaign any laughing matter. Can the Leader of the Free World be a guy who is mocked and laughed at?

    All these small things seem to denote a large problem. Most Americans believe he's out of touch.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/video/94997391-poll-shows-most-see-romney-out-of-touch-with-voters.html

     With Romney there are so many "little things." When he insulted that Pittsburgh bakery that was a small thing but it showed someone with a shocking lack of etiquette. There was the little thing where he said he doesn't care about the poor, of when he proposed a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry, or of when he tells voters "if you want free stuff vote for the other guy" as he told a young, college woman.

    He then repeated that regarding the NAACP after they booed him. Some of this small stuff is not so small. It really shows arrogance that he thinks he doesn't have to show his taxes as every candidate since the 60s has. He seems to think that Americans will just accept this and vote for him anyway.

   To me, the trip says a lot about him, confirms a lot we already suspect about him. That he's kind of a clueless, tactless, rich guy. That he doesn't have empathy for others who are not very rich like himself. That he is very good at saying the wrong thing. After all, that London trip should have been a layup. How exactly did he end up fouling out of the game?

   We've seen him booed at the NAACP, laughed out of Britain, and denounced as clueless and racist by the Arabs. This is not a small thing when considering who you want to be the leader of the Free World for the next four years.