When watching the recently released video of Mitt Romney’s accusation that 47% of Americans are dependent on the government, one must remember the setting in which he spoke. Romney was speaking to a room of potential campaign donors. He was going to do or say whatever it took to persuade the attendees to agree with his argument. By reminding the donors that their money was supposedly supporting 47% of the population, people who are dependent on the government for survival, Romney aroused anger in his already frustrated Republican audience, reminding them why Romney is the best choice for the 2012 election. On top of that, he obviously didn’t expect to be caught by a hidden camera.
Although such a statement was a blunder on Romney’s part, Democrats are not entirely without blame. Obama may have made similar statements to a private meeting, but there is no evidence that we know of. Romney made a point in another video clip from the same speech that Obama is going to try to point out Romney’s flaws. “What he’s going to do, by the way, is try and vilify me as someone who’s been successful, or who’s, you know, closed businesses or laid people off, and is an evil bad guy. And that may work,” Romney told the room of donors.
Unfortunately, this is what politics is about today. Campaigns seem to be about one-upping the other opponent, seeing who can raise the most money. I feel like I still don’t know the positions of either candidate, but rather why Obama thinks I shouldn’t vote for Romney and why Romney thinks I shouldn’t vote for Obama. The winner of the election may not necessarily be the best candidate, but he will be the candidate who outdid and vilified the other.
In the end, however, Romney’s comments shouldn’t make much of a difference since he even said that that 47% wasn’t going to vote for him anyway.