I Love You Women

Ann Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention had a well conceived message and she performed it generally without the kind of nervous, mannered delivery that typifies political spouses.  The primary theme was (directly stated) love and how that broad concept relates to women generally, but especially for women under stress.  What that stress might be was less defined, certainly including financial stress but also touching on everything from rearing screaming kids to eating off of ironing boards to breast cancer.  I was quite broke during college and shortly after, hardly received a penny from my parents, but I never had to eat off an ironing board – I feel incomplete.

The fact that Romney polls so poorly among American women, which is as much a malady of the Republican Party as it is for him, was the obvious motivation for the message she gave.  Like predictable movies; that message was expected and at the same time a bit boring, primarily because it didn’t equate the least with the reality of whom she is and what her husband supports.  With such a movie, one considers at the end that his eight dollars and two hours might have been more wisely spent.

However, her embrace of women on behalf of her husband wasn’t what interested me.  What fascinated me was how she continues to demonstrate a critical aspect of what she and her husband represent and how that may be a window on a Romney presidency.

In July I wrote of an important response Ann Romney gave to ABC news entertainment personality Robin Roberts during a special interview.  When asked about why her husband would not make public prior year tax returns (she files separately from Mitt) she said with some ire “we’ve given all you people need to know”.  I believe this was one of the most important statements made thus far in this presidential year.  What she meant by “you people” might be argued several ways, but I believe that “you people” to the Romney’s has no specific definition. I feel that to the Romney’s “you people” is anyone who isn’t “us”.  This reality has surfaced time and time again with Mitt and generally has been laughed off as his bumbling inability to relate to the so called common man.

Republicans argue repeatedly that the effort to increase top income tax brackets, even just slightly toward what they have historically been, is class warfare. What makes that such an interesting retort is that the concept of “class” doesn’t really exist in the US for a majority of Americans.  Throughout this Nation’s history the model of individual achievement has chipped away at a class structure that existed in western culture into the 20^th century, as nearly defined as the Indian caste system.  It was manifest in many ways not the least of which was who was eligible for financial resources and who was allowed to vote.  With the rise of the great Middle Class after the depression of the 30’s, class identification essentially disappeared for those Americans in that Middle Class.  In fact, the term “middle class” is really an oxymoron since the term middle more accurately describes a lack of social and economic class. The truth is that the only Americans who still view themselves as a distinct social entity are the financially privileged, and especially those who are second or third generation.  There is an irony that those who repel at “class warfare” are the only ones who believe there is “class” at all…or at risk.

When Ann Romney said with heightened passion “I love you women” she really wasn’t saying; I love you..women, she was saying I love..you women, conspicuously leaving herself out of the group.  Her husband is the same, quite a bit different than John Kennedy or Franklin D. Roosevelt, the two previous second generation privileged Presidents, who successfully became populous leaders even before their elections.  You’d have to go back to Howard H. Taft to find a second generation upper class President who embraced his elite stature, notably with little success as a President.

Mitt and Ann Romney have difficulty in connecting with average Americans because they themselves in reality feel no connection, no honest empathy.  The exclusivity and hierarchical nature of their Mormon Church and Mormon faith only intensifies this them and us attitude.  We can laugh and make fun of Mitt’s comments about his connections (NASCAR), his matter-of-fact consumption, or that “corporations are people”, for example.  We can squint at Ann Romney’s subtle “you people’ comments.  The reality is that their governance will be elitist; they will reign more than lead. They will also surround themselves with those of like kind, since their perceived class has always been fearful of those who don’t know the difference.