Politics, as we all know, is a dirty game.
As Mitt Romney settles into his new role as the prospective Republican nominee and President Obama focuses on his re-election, both sides have begun trading barbs in what will likely be a bloodbath of an election.
Every presidential election features some sort of negative campaigning. Challengers often devote their strategies to detailing why the incumbent has performed poorly and led the country down the wrong track. Mitt Romney has done precisely this: he has taken aim at Obama’s economic record and criticized the policies he has enacted.
President Obama has been hesitant to take a stand on the economy and has, instead, attempted to highlight his foreign policy success and sell the idea that the next four years will result in an improved economy. The President and his aides have begun to fire back at Romney and criticize his flip-flopping, his lack of foreign policy experience, and his record as Governor of Massachusetts. Misleading and distracting voters with personal attacks on Mitt Romney’s wealth and family, however, demonstrate that some Democrats and their pundits have sunk to a new low with their class warfare antics.
Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama Super PAC, recently released an ad attacking Romney in four critical battleground states: Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa. The ad attempts to convey the message that Mitt Romney is just another millionaire who is out of touch with the American people. It emphasizes an Obama campaign theme and foreshadows much of the class warfare that is yet to occur this election cycle.
Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and the head of Priorities USA Action, added, “Governor Romney made a fortune on the backs of businesses he helped destroy. He profited even while thousands of men and women were fired and lost benefits they were once promised. Mitt Romney wants to double-down on trickle down. The middle class can’t afford his policies.”
The ad clearly attempts to distinguish Romney from other Americans by uniting them through the use of the pronouns such as, “us” and “we”, and placing Romney outside this group, characterizing him as a pawn for the, “wealthiest one percent”. It mentions Romney’s wealth and time as a CEO, and adds that Medicare and education will only be cut for “us”. The ad implies that success for men like Romney comes at the expense of general public’s well-being and future.
While Priorities USA Action’s ad exemplifies the type of attacks Americans have come to expect during the election cycle, there is a fine line between making a political point and getting too personal in politics. It is safe to say that, CNN commentator and Democratic strategist, Hilary Rosen crossed that line with her comments last month about Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife. Rosen said the following in reference to Romney:
Hilary Rosen’s comments are particularly distasteful considering that Ann Romney has suffered from various illnesses. She is a breast cancer survivor who raised five children and now suffers from debilitating Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, the insinuation that only women with rich husbands can afford to be housewives is insulting to a lot of women who juggle multiple roles in the home. Until recently, she mostly shied away from the public spotlight and has devoted much of her life to charitable foundations.
I wonder whether Rosen would continue working if she suffered the same medical ailments as Ann Romney, and was fortunate enough to have the same financial security. It should be noted that President Obama, the First Lady, and campaign manager, Jim Messina, all denounced the comments and distanced themselves from Hillary Rosen.
The attacks do not stop at Romney’s wealth and family, however. MSNBC host, Chris Matthews, known for his vocal, liberal views, compared Mitt Romney to Wall Street villain, Gordon Gekko:
Chris Matthews’ comparison lacks credibility because Gordon Gekko was a corporate raider who was imprisoned for insider trading charges by the film’s end. Mitt Romney has never been involved in such activities, and it is fair to say that his charitable contributions and decision to enter public service refute the notion that he would favor Gekko’s ideology that, “greed is good.”
Each attack on Romney carries the same message: he is rich and therefore, he must not care about ordinary people. This narrative could not be farther from the truth.
Mitt Romney was indeed born into a prosperous family and never had to face the financial struggles that many Americans do today. Yet, his father, George Romney, never went to a college, he was a self-made man who eventually became President of American Motors Corporation, Governor of Michigan, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Despite growing up in a well-off family, Mitt Romney still did chores and worked summer jobs, even working as a security guard at a Chrysler plant.
He attended Brigham Young University, where he served as a Mormon missionary in France for just over 2 years, at one point injuring his jaw while defending two female missionaries from a group of local rugby players. He graduated with highest honors and gave the commencement speech to the entire university. At Harvard, he was one of only fifteen students selected to enroll in the newly created joint J.D./M.B.A. program at the law and business schools, graduating cum laude.
Romney later joined management consulting firm, Bain & Company. He eventually worked his way up to found Bain Capital, where as CEO he invested in a number of enterprises, including Staples, Domino’s, Brookstone, Sealy, and Sports Authority. It was at Bain that Romney amassed his enormous wealth, estimated to be as much as $250 million.
After the deaths of both of his parents and his unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1994, Romney became the president and CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, where he revamped operations and helped make the Games widely successful. He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in November of that year, winning 50 percent of the vote.
During his career, he gained a reputation for taking charge of bad situations and turning them around. When Bain & Company faced financial difficulties in 1990, Romney was appointed CEO and made the company profitable again. Prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Organizing Committee was $400 million short of the revenue benchmarks, but by the end of the Games, they had turned a $100 million profit. As Governor of Massachusetts, he faced a $3 billion deficit which he cut in half in his first year. By the last two years of his term, the state enjoyed a $600 million surplus.
One must not forget his charitable donations, either. In the past two years alone, Romney has given over $7 million to charity, including the Church of Latter-day Saints, the Center for the Treatment of Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis, the MS Cure Fund, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the Joey Fund for Cystic Fibrosis, and his family’s Tyler Foundation.
The Romneys donate on average about 10 percent more than Americans with comparable incomes. Additionally, 75 percent of those donations were made in cash, which is less tax advantageous. Ann Romney has been involved with charities for children and inner-city youth, as well as Olympic Aid, which provide athletic programs for children in war-torn countries. Both of the Romneys personally donated $1 million to the Olympic Games on top of Mitt Romney’s $1.4 million salary, which he also donated. Upon receiving his father’s inheritance, he donated the money to BYU in his father’s honor. All in all, Mitt Romney has donated more money in the past two years than Barack Obama has made from his books.
There is also the little-known story of when Romney saved a girl’s life.
In 1998, the 14 year-old daughter of one of the Bain Capital partners went missing after attending a rave. Upon hearing the news, Romney shut down Bain operations and flew himself and the company employees to New York City to look for the girl. He got in touch with his business contacts while coordinating efforts with the police, a private investigator, and the media. After speaking with prostitutes, drug dealers, and others, a breakthrough was reached when an anonymous call was made to the tip line. That call was traced to a home in New Jersey, where the girl was found in the basement suffering from drug withdrawal. She was eventually able to return to her family.
Not quite as out of touch as he is portrayed.
It is rather ironic that the backers of a President elected on promises of “hope” and “change” have reverted to dirty politics as usual, now that he is an incumbent with a poor record to defend. The energy and passion that he rode to the presidency in 2008 has eroded as voter patience wears thin. President Obama is aware of this, and knows that he can no longer blame George Bush for all his problems. The only alternative seems to be to demonize a man who, unlike the President, has spent much of his life in the private sector contributing to the economy and giving much of his time and wealth to charitable causes. This strategy is wearing thin on the American people. The President is desperate, and it will take something much more substantial than a smear campaign in order for him to win reelection.
It is comical when detractors, such as Vice President Joe Biden, chastise Romney for having a Swiss Bank account and call him, “out of touch” simply for being wealthy. Romney was born a fortunate man, but he used his own intelligence, business-savvy, and hard work to make his fortune. I never thought that there would be a day in America when wealth and success accomplished through hard work, innovation, and risk-taking would be considered political liabilities. Those attributes are essential to achieving the American Dream.
Shrey Sharma
Political Science ‘13
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Chalian, David. ABC News. ABC News, 16 Apr 2012. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/exclusive-pro-obama-super-pac-puts-romneys-wealth/story?id=16148889>.
Reston, Maeve. “Ann Romney takes to Twitter to defend her role as stay-at-home mom.” Los Angeles Times n.d., n. pag. Web. 14 May. 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/11/news/la-ann-romney-gets-into-twitter-spat-with-democratic-strategist-20120411>.
Sheppard, Noel. “Chris Matthews Compares Mitt Romney to “Wall Street” Villain Gordon Gekko.” newsbusters.org. N.p., 07 May 2012. Web. 15 May 2012. <http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/05/07/chris-matthews-compares-mitt-romney-gordon-gekko>.
“George Romney: A Leader in Business, Service, and Civil Rights.” aboutmittromney.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://aboutmittromney.com/georgeromney.htm>.
“About Mitt.” mittromney.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2012. <http://www.mittromney.com/learn/mitt>.
Scherer, Rob. “Mitt Romney taxes show “very high” charitable giving tied to Mormon church.” . N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2012. <http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/President/2012/0124/Mitt-Romney-taxes-show-very-high-charitable-giving-tied-to-Mormon-church>.
Whittington, Mark. “How Mitt Romney Saved a Girl’s Life and What it Means.” Yahoo. N.p., 18 Apr 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. <http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-saved-girls-life-means-203300200.html>.
The American Dream hardly exists anymore, perhaps aside for men like Mitt Romney. I highly doubt a poor or working-class person living in the US today has anything in common with him, and we should stop pretending like the average American has anything in common with those of the ruling class. We should also stop pretending that Romney has even a tiny bit of intention to increase access to economic opportunity in meaningful ways for those at the lowest rung of the ladder. With Romney’s multiple billionaire backers and their interests, we’ll be right on track to an even higher income gap, further degraded ecosystem, less consumer protection and not to mention how worse off things would be for all of us who are gay or women or immigrants. It’s all so ludicrous – I can’t imagine why anyone our age believes Romney has our backs.
Thank you for your comment.
Obviously you disagree with the premise of my article, that the Obama campaign has resorted to “smear” tactics in order to win what will surely be a tough election for both sides. I think we can both agree to disagree on that subject.
I am going to go ahead and assume that you are either voting for Obama or support the President in his re-election bid. I guess its also possible that you don’t support either candidate like many Americans, so please forgive me if my assertion is incorrect, and ignore the following.
What I would like to ask you is this: is President Obama in anyway less tied to rich corporate backers than Mitt Romney? You should probably take a look at that one. Obama in 2008 and to a lesser degree today, received and still receives major donations from law firms, Wall Street firms, and other large corporations. His donors, just like Romney’s, have deep pockets. You’ll see the names “Goldman Sachs, J.P Morgan, Microsoft” and others littered in there. I imagine you detest these same corporations. And last time I checked, there are many pro-Obama super-PAC’s out there spending millions on ad space for the President. You know, the same kind of super-PAC’s that he supposedly despises.
It is a farce to say that the American Dream does not exist except for rich people. I know what your response will be- “Look at how many people from a working class background have outstanding college debts and poor job prospects”- and I don’t disagree with any of it. But what I am saying is that I know plenty of people from non-wealthy backgrounds using their talents to their benefit, even in this day and age. And since when have the wealthy not had a distinct advantage in terms of achieving success in this country? This is hardly a new phenomenon. The American Dream exists, it’s just that the realities of today make it much harder to achieve. But it is still attainable.
I wonder which sound environmental policies the President has enacted? Was it the $535 million loan given to now-defunct solar energy company Solyndra or the fact that U.S. oil production has actually been increasing? Please elaborate.
Funny you should mention the immigrant tidbit. Are you a first-generation American? Because I am. And I happen to believe Mr. Romney’s vision for America is much stronger than President Obama’s. In fact, I believe that talented, educated immigrants will find America to be much more promising under Mitt Romney than it is under Obama.
None of your assertions touch upon the fact that the economy has not improved under President Obama. Fiscally, things have gotten much worse. Gas prices have risen by over 100 percent. Unemployment is actually worse now than it was during Bush’s last term. At the end of the day, this is what most Americans are truly concerned about.
You can’t possibly tell me that the President, who has attempted to bestow upon himself the title of “Chief Investor” is any more suited to get us out of this mess than Romney. Romney has a proven knack for turning bad situations around. He has private sector experience. President Obama has experience as a constitutional law professor and a community organizer. Hardly the private sector accumen needed to make decisions such as giving the “green” light on Solyndra.
You think it’s ludicrous that a person of your age would choose to vote for Romney. I find it ludicrous that anyone would choose to re-elect Obama when nothing has really “changed” and there really is no “hope” for the future under this President. Which is why I shouldn’t be lumped in with “people of our age” to begin with. I was against electing this President four years ago.
In short, the $16 trillion question that should be asked is, “Who is really responsible for this economic mess, corporations, or unsound government policies enacted by the Obama administration?”. I know where your chips lie. For some reason, I think the American people beg to differ.
Good Man? I think you will reconsider your position on that now that the post election audio of Mitt Romney’s racist attacks against the minorities in his groveling explanation to his wealthy donors about how it was the poor people of this country who just “want free stuff” won the election of president Obama.
There are so many things that are in your article that i found ridiculously simplistic as his ” charitable donations” to the church of the latter day saints(which, by the way was officially a racist organization till the early sixties) You try to paint him as a charitable man when he has let out his tax information for just two years. He has admitted on camera on 60 minutes that he may have paid less than 15% on his income saying “I am not sure how much I paid. I will be glad to look into it”
His idiotic tax plans of going even more right-wing than Bust might make sense to you, but explain to me why the slaughter of the hundreds of thousands in Iraq by the illegal Iraq war which he has supported and then unsupported and then supported again.
He has proven himself to be a serial liar and a panderer. He is a spokesman for Wall Street and other Thugs who have tanked this country and have blood on their hands because of their illegal wars and rise in the cost of food because of food inflation in poorer countries caused by the recession triggered by Bush’s idiocy of reducing taxes while waging two wars.
Romney is nothing new, he is just further right-wing than Bush. It’s indeed a cause to celebrate that he did not win, and we have now the lesser of the two evils governing us in the form of Obama.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/leaked-audio-of-mitt-romney-explaining-to-donors-why-he-lost-election-and-guess-what-bill-clinton-told-him/
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/09/mitt-romney-tax-returns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Mitt_Romney#Iraq
http://mittromneyflipflops.com/
The 47% video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvqHERTcytI
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/mitt-romney-on-60-minutes/