Let me finish tonight with this.
What sort of person, do you think, would tell the President of the United States, elected by the American people, to “start packing”?
Is this some middle-weight boxer mouthing off about his title shot? Some trash-talking tackle out to sack the opposing quarterback?
Sorry, Mitt. It’s nothing of the sort, and this jive is beneath a major Party candidate for president. Know what I’m saying? Just when you’ve got the nomination locked, you’ve started talking like some hotshot.
The problem is that it all reminds us, not of the true street corner hotshot, but of exactly the public personality we’ve come to recognize in Mitt Romney the last several months: the guy who likes “firing people,” the guy who brags about his wife having a “couple a Cadillacs,” the guy who finds plans to cut programs for the poor “marvelous.”
It’s entitlement. It’s the belief that he’s from some ruling class who merely has to wait a bit to get what’s coming to him, to when it’s, as the Romneys see it, their “turn.”
I wonder if people are going to like this. I notice that those backing Mitt now are really doing it to get rid of President Obama. They don’t like him. They really don’t care who does the work of getting rid of him.
But have we ever elected a “bouncer” as president, someone who’s chief mission is the defeat of the person now there? Have we ever lowered the bar so low in terms of personality and vision that we’ve been ready to send someone to the White House just to remove someone else? Is it this bad that Republicans can get excited about a presidential candidate so low in true personal esteem yet so heady with entitlement as to suggest his main claim to getting the office is the removal of the current occupant? “Start packing.” What a line, and what a statement it is about the low level of what’s being offered here, and the high level of what’s being demanded. Elect me A) because it will get rid of Obama, and B) because I’m entitled to it. Gee. Can’t wait for this guy.
Chris Matthews Recommended
