Behind the Veneer of Mitt Romney’s ‘47 Percent’ Comments
Fri Sep 21, 2012 by Oppenheim Law on Florida Law News
Remember when “Corporations are people, my friend!” was the strangest thing to come out of Mitt Romney’s mouth?
It speaks volumes about the problems with our political process that it took a speech we were never intended to hear to allow us to hear a politician speaking honestly and off-the-cuff.
Now I am not in the business of endorsing any political candidate. I have used this space on many occasions to criticize President Obama and his policies.
But I have had reservations about Romney and whether he has a firm grasp on the human centipede that exists between Wall Street and the regulators. And after watching the video of Romney talk about the so-called ’47 percent’, I still have my doubts. And that’s not because of anything he said on that tape. It is what he doesn’t say.
The truth is there are Americans who see themselves as victims, who consider themselves entitled to the government’s help, and have yet to take personal responsibility.
Except they are not the working poor, elderly or wounded veterans Mitt Romney tried to lump together.
The real “47 percent”? They are the bankers, the Wall Street hucksters who have happily accepted bailout after bailout, but play the victim card anytime the notion of added regulation is mentioned. It’s the banks, and not the working class, who have
brought our economy to a screeching halt, who have played fast and loose with the rules to suit their own bottom lines.
They have sucked our nation down to the marrow, and the fact that Mitt has not called them out gives me serious doubts he will consider breaking up the banks or do anything to reel them in.
Because as Mitt has already made it clear, he wants to get government out of the way, and just wait for the banks to get honest on their own.
And you know I expect that to happen about the same time pigs fly.
Romney’s comments have been dissected ad nauseam, so instead I want to call attention to a part of the tape you probably haven’t heard.
It came from an audience member, who ponied up 50K to hear the Governor speak.
This person, who identifies him or herself as someone who once worked for Barry Goldwater, sure sounds like one of my readers.
This person gave Mitt Romney the clearest chance he’s ever had to speak out about the human centipede that exists between the regulators and the banks. He served him the opportunity on a silver platter.
The unidentified audience member said this:
“The government in Washington right now is just permeated by cronyism, outright corruption. Our regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect the public are protecting the people that they’re supposed to be regulating. And I think people are fed up with that. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the tea party of Occupy Wall Street, people see that the government is working for the powerful interests and the people who well-connected politically and not the common person.”
Well there is at least one politician who gets it. Who understands it is not about left or right, but about fair and unfair. He or she goes on for a bit longer, and recommends that Romney clean house at places like the SEC.
Now here is the place I should be putting Romney’s reply to the cronyism comments. Except there isn’t one. He turns it back on the President and the ‘47 percent’ and whether or not they see Obama as a failure. He talks about how Obama will vilify him for being successful, yada yada yada.
Bottom line, even when presented with the opportunity to do so, Romney is still letting the banks slide. He just pretends like the banks didn’t seek favorable tax rates and taken every chance to gorge on America’s infrastructure. President Obama has yet to accomplish any meaningful reform, but at least he has acknowledged the problem.
The banking system has become an end unto itself, rather than a tool to be used to keep our economy going.
And I wonder if either candidate has the desire to change that.
From The Trenches,
Roy Oppenheim