March 18, 2012 by David K. Sutton
A Letter To Romney Concerning His Wealth: You Are Missing The Point
This past Wednesday on Fox “News”, Megyn Kelly asked Mitt Romney about his inability to connect with voters. Kelly said, “this has been a recurring theme with you.” Kelly then referred to several recent gaffes by Romney and then continued, “People say ‘He’s so rich, he can’t relate to the rest of us.’ Why do you keep doing that?” In response Romney said, “Megyn, guess what? I made a lot of money. I’ve been very successful. I’m not going to apologize for that.”
Mitt:
You are missing the point. Nobody is asking for you to apologize for your wealth. The issue is that there is a wedge between you and the average American. The life that you have led and the circles you hang around with (because of your wealth) has put you in a place where you are unable to identify with regular Americans. Sure, we’ve had wealthy candidates and presidents in the past, but the key difference is that they at least appeared to relate to the common struggles that millions of Americans face. To be sure, in all cases it was probably a lie, but they were good at it, and well, you aren’t. While it is true that this is both a problem of your branding as well as the perception of the average American voter, it is your job as a candidate to appeal to what voters are looking for. On this front you have a lot of work to do.
dks
