Panic in Romney’s Camp

The anti-Romney documentary financed by the super PAC close to Newt Gingrich could cost the Republican candidate dearly next November if he becomes the GOP candidate. With his incessant changes of heart, Romney has already had trouble (a euphemism) standing beside the Republican electorate and notably the tea party electorate, but his past at Bain Capital risks becoming a ball and chain as big as the Ritz.

For two weeks, Romney’s past at the head of the private equity society became a massive blow that helped his opponents delay his selection by Republican voters. The Mormon has been a champion of this virtual economy that has destroyed millions of jobs, which Americans attribute to the crisis that deprived them of employment opportunities and often of their homes.

Above all, it will be difficult for Romney to present himself as the defender of the middle class. As the very influential joker Andrew Sullivan notes, Romney has amassed a fortune of a quarter of a billion dollars, while putting billions of employees in the trash. The layoffs were not carried out to improve the business, rendering it more competitive, but only to enrich Bain Capital’s investors. Two examples are taken from 100 cited by the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, and few suspect it of supporting Marxism-Leninism:

“Bain in 1988 put $5 million down to buy Stage Stores, and in the mid-’90s took it public, collecting $100 million from stock offerings. Stage filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Bain in 1992 bought American Pad & Paper (AMPAD), investing $5 million, and collected $100 million from dividends. The business filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Romney’s Bain invested 22 percent of the money it raised from 1987-95 in these five businesses, making a $578 million profit.”

It is difficult for him to call himself an ally of the middle class and a job creator. On top of his greed, Romney is clumsy. The majority of jobs he got rid of were at the center of the former America, which is precisely what he will need to manage his way to the White House. But instead of giving meaning to his capitalist work, Romney is disdainful. He explains, defending himself, that those who attack him are jealous of his success. In a country where a very strong populist wind blows, it’s fanning the flames that risks sparking off a fire that will carry it. Destroyer of jobs with the charisma of a wooden mannequin and disdainful — Romney has a real job on his hands if he is to convince Americans if they criticize his economic policy, beyond all that. Americans appreciate the character of Barack Obama, who still has a very strong side of personal popularity almost four years after his election.