Mitt Romney: Betrayed by His Mistakes?

The collection of gaffes made throughout the Republican primaries by an otherwise very smooth candidate reveals his true nature, say his opponents.

Gaffes or just slips? Either way, Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who led the pack in the primaries, is accumulating them. Having said in a debate several weeks ago that he likes “to fire people,” he then sanctimoniously explained on national TV the day after his victory in Florida that he is “not concerned about the very poor.”

Not very impressive for the possible future president of a country with at least 50 million inhabitants. The normally conservative Weekly Standard magazine called it “the most stunningly stupid remark of his campaign.” Even more, it completely contradicts the Republican doctrine, which maintains that a liberal economy should benefit everyone.

On each occasion, the former governor of Massachusetts explained that he was misunderstood, or that the words were taken out of context. According to him, what he intended to put across yesterday is that he is interested in middle class Americans rather than those on the outer fringes.

That may well be. After all, blunders can happen to anyone. Nonetheless, it is difficult not to wonder whether this usually smooth, controlled, clean-cut candidate is being betrayed by his subconscious every time, as these slips correspond exactly to what his opponents accuse him of — not caring about the poor and only paying attention to the interests of the rich. He also brought into effect massive layoffs when he was head of Bain Capital.

His adversaries love pointing out that his gaffes “show the true person,” as Senator Chuck Schumer commented. However, even Team Romney has started to worry about these gaffes, which are becoming more and more troubling.

They are almost characteristic of Romney. According to his opponents, his immense fortune creates a candidate “cut off from reality.” Meanwhile, Romney actually blames his finances for his lack of campaign presence this year, saying that his conferences have yielded, in his words, “not very much “only $374,000,” he explained.

It is Romney who accuses militant activists, who are against social inequalities, of being “envy-oriented.” He is the one who proposed a $10,000 bet with his opponent Rick Santorum* and who told the American people to compare their problems to those of the “poor banks.” He is also the one who explained that, “corporations are people, my friend.”

Again, it is Romney who joked with a group of unemployed people in Florida, who were telling him about their difficulties finding a job, that he, too, was unemployed. “I know what it’s like to worry about whether you’re going to get fired. There were a couple of times when I was worried I was going to get pink-slipped, he said.”

It is a long road from here to November 2012. Hardly surprising that his friends are worried — it is an understandable reaction.

*Editor’s note: According to The Washington Post, the bet was actually made with Texas Governor Rick Perry, not Rick Santorum.