Not your father's political millionaire

[Tom Rinaldo]

There is a long tradition of super wealthy leaders in American politics. Think FDR and JFK. Think Nelson Rockefeller and Michael Blomberg. All are/were seen as men who no longer cared about increasing their own personal fortune. If anything they were seen as men who entered politics liberated from self serving impulses, because of their rarefied position in life. They were believed to have no further need or desire to game any system to gain more wealth. Agree or disagree with their politics, they were/are accepted as legitimate public servants. Now think about Mitt Romney.

His legacy is irrevocably tarnished by greed. Romney is now defined by the tax loopholes he ceaselessly exploits. Ultimately it won't matter whether he did or did not literally break any laws in the pursuit of wealth. What will stick is Romney's crass use of every wrinkle in the law to pad his personal accounts, both at home and abroad. At the very moment when Mitt Romney was preparing to enter politics in Massachusetts, he was consciously gaming the system; claiming his legal residence remained in the state he planned to seek office in while enjoying $48,000 in tax savings by declaring Utah as his primary residence. Romney had to be worth over a hundred million at the time. Even if it was legal, was it really necessary?

Americans traditionally have a soft spot for the super wealthy who decide that life and their nation have treated them well, and it is now time to devote their days to giving something back. Mitt Romney expected to be grandfathered into that select group of multi-millionaires turned public servants, even while he aggressively pursued his own personal vested interests. Now the public ponders whether he is simply another self centered multi-millionaire, or could he be crooked also?

Mitt Romney is a man who could not bear to turn his fortune over to a "blind" blind trust, who could not resist using off shore tax havens even while seeking to govern his fellow Americans. Romney may be a shrewd businessman, but he is not your father's millionaire. He is not the sort of rich man who working class Americans once enthusiastically voted for. Mitt Romney's wealth is now a warning label, and it will remain so through November.

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. Romney repudiated his political legacy, now his business legacy is shifting to a liability

What does that leave him with to appeal to voters? Obama's reelection team is turning this race into a referendum on Romeny - a total reversal of the Republican game plan.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. The Obama team, Thank God, saw this early and realized Romney could be attacked as out of touch

The Romney team was complacent AND boxed in. What a wealthy person in politics normally does it tout all of their public service credentials but Romney is hiding from his record as governor due to Romneycare and a lousy job creation record during his term in office. He is 1) running on his record at Bain and 2) running as "not Obama".

As for number two, the President is generally well liked outside of the hard core Republican base so it is a tough slog to rally voters against him personally. And by running as an "anti-body" (e.g. "somebody other than Obama) Romney did not put a positive focus on himself - in other ways he did not define himself convincingly to the public other than as a businessman who obviously knows how to make lots of money. Romney assumed he could morph that in the public mind into him being someone who knows how to create jobs - but he left himself wide open to letting Obama define Romney first in the public mind.

Mitt Romney couldn't run as a new form of Nelson Rockefeller - the Republican base wouldn't let him. So now he is being turned into a new form of Daddy Warbucks instead. No one needed to see Rocky's tax returns. Everyone knew he was rich as God. But Mitt Romney is compelling to public to want to see his because of every cheap nickle and dime money grubbing move he is exposed as having made to pad his own wealth. A one hundred million dollar IRA? Give us a break. Actually he's given lots of Democrats a break - foremost being Barack Obama.