MITT ROMNEY AT THE VARSITY: I'm just like you, only richer and with thicker, more lustrous hair."
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Candidates for president are typically wealthy and privileged people, insulated from the demands of everyday life (shopping, bill-paying, dog-walking) by support staff.
Nevertheless, the American voting public (and the profoundly petty political broadcast media) seems to demand of candidates that they affect sympathy with perceived habits, hobbies and lifestyles of Joe and Josephine Sixpack. Millionaire lawyer John Edwards makes a point of telling people he celebrates his wedding anniversary at Wendyâs. Millionaire lawyer/lobbyist/actor Fred Thompson successfully campaigned for Congress in 1994 from the back of a rented Chevy pickup. Aw, shucks, indeed.
Last Wednesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney played faux-folksy (fauxlksy?) in Atlanta with an appearance at the Varsity in Midtown. The 250-million-dollar man delivered a short stump speech and a stiff comedy routine about naked dogs and PCs (plain chocolate milk) before heading to the airport for a no doubt similarly populist event in Florida.
Romneyâs Georgia campaign is in desperate need of populist appeal. Though heâs raised more money in Georgia than any other presidential candidate, polls show him at fourth place behind Thompson, Giuliani and McCain. If Romneyâs poll numbers improve, expect Barack Obama to be welcoming us to Moeâs any day now.