Mitt Romney Faces Narrow Window as He Lunches With President Obama

[DonViejo]

by Howard Kurtz Nov 29, 2012 4:45 AM EST

His lunch with Obama gives the defeated candidate one more opportunity to redefine his battered image. Howard Kurtz on Romney’s stark choice—slip into a waiting car or face the microphones.

Mitt Romney may have one more brief moment in the sun.

Having disappeared without a trace after losing the election—except for some clumsy leaked comments that made him sound bitter—the Republican nominee will visit the White House on Thursday, though not in the way he had hoped. President Obama is having his defeated rival over for lunch.

It’s a gracious move that makes the president appear bipartisan just as he is calling on the Republicans to compromise on his tax plan to avert the fiscal cliff, a central issue in the campaign. But it also presents Romney with a stark choice.

He can attend the private lunch, slip into a waiting car, and say nothing to the media stakeout on the White House driveway, retreating into the cone of silence that has enveloped him since the night of Nov. 6. Or he can step up to the microphones, sketch out his vision of working with the administration, maybe do a television interview or two. It’s not that Romney needs to do this to salvage his political career; that part of his life is over. It’s that he needs to recast how he is remembered as a 2012 candidate.

So far, Romney has been defined by many in his own party, and not in a flattering way. Prominent Republicans such as Bobby Jindal have assailed his comments to donors on a conference call that Obama won by handing “gifts” to such favored constituencies as women, Hispanics, gays, and young people. The remarks were about as smart as writing off 47 percent of Americans as freeloaders, which Romney did in those infamous taped remarks to another group of fat cats.

more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/29/mitt-romney-faces-narrow-window-as-he-lunches-with-president-obama.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. Willard is going to ask if he can still buy the White House

[UncleYoder]

2. Your women.

Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters... sell them to me. Sell me your children!

[Angry Dragon]

3. Where the heck did that come from??

[tnlurker]

6. The Blues Brothers Movie

[csziggy]

11. Here's the clip

[libdem4life]

10. He really just wanted to get the listing...and sell it to the highest offer and make a commission.

[bemildred]

4. Desperate media trying to stir up trouble.

Yawn.

[dballance]

5. Romney has already well defined himself as the arrogant rich prick he is

No amount of pretending to be magnanimous about an invitation to lunch and trying to follow it up with TV interviews to seem supportive will do a damn thing to improve his image. Besides, Mitt couldn't make it through a series of TV interviews without saying something totally offensive to some segment of the US population. He needs to get in the car and slink away back into oblivion.

He has already written his legacy with his stupidity like the 47% comments before the election and the sour grapes "gifts" comments after the election. He's a pathetic leopard who cannot change his spots now.

[mzteaze]

7. +1000

I disagree with this article for many of the reasons you have summed up.

I do think the media will be clamoring to see how Robme skewers what was said during this visit.

[Johnny2X2X]

8. LOL

Romney will do nothing of the sort, why? Because he doesn;t care about anyone but himself. He'l slink off back into the world of vulture capitalism and continue to ruin the lives of workers just to turn a buck.

The Presidency was never about serving America to Mitt Romney, it was about serving Mitt Romney's giant ego.

[santamargarita]

9. That Willard stink was hard to get out of the White House.