Mitt Romney never comes to California. He knows he won’t get our votes and he doesn’t need our money. He has his own. Lots and lots of his own.
Mitt spends an awful lot of his time trying to be a regular guy. He talks about being “unemployed”…as if coupon clipping weren’t a full-time occupation. He says he knows what it means to live in fear of a layoff…this from a man who hasn't had a regular job in a decade. He says he’s working for the middle class…but his definition of “middle class” seems to be all those with seven figure incomes and above.
It was famously said that people voted for George W. Bush because he seemed like the kind of guy you’d like to have a beer with. Not only would you not like to have a beer with Mitt, you kind of wonder if he even knows what beer is.
The problem with Mitt as “regular guy” isn’t necessarily that the act is so bad…though it is. But he keeps finding ways of throwing his vast wealth in our faces. His offer to bet Rick Perry $10,000 is one example…and not for the amount of money but for the casual way he tossed it off, the way most of us would say “bet you a buck” on some point of disagreement. And his casual and cruel dismissal of the foreclosure crisis, saying that, rather than find some way to keep people from losing their homes, the process should carry on to the end, making it clear that, to Mitt, the financial process of foreclosure is far more important than the poor souls he puts out on the street.
To be sure, there’s nothing wrong with being rich and running for political office. These days it’s almost a requirement. By most of our standards, President Obama is rich. Franklin Roosevelt was rich. So was John Kennedy. But they were able to see beyond their class…and their bank accounts…and understand the needs of the nation, to understand that a strong middle class is the bedrock the country stands upon. Mitt claims to understand that. But the policies he espouses benefit the wealthy…and only the wealthy on the ground that it helps the rest of us. But it doesn’t The money doesn’t trickle down. It never has.
Mitt’s worldview begins and ends with the one percent. It always has. It always will. And Mitt will never understand why the ninety-nine percent don’t love him for it.
We’re not going to see him in California any time soon.
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