Boston.com's Francie Latour questions the GOP candidate's claim that being white is a disadvantage in the presidential race.
These days, if you are running for the office of President of the United States, it is a real drag to be white.
So says Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who has taken on the distinct color of freefall following the release of a secretly recorded video showing him communing with his high-net-worth kindred at a private fundraiser in Florida.
In the video, Romney laid out a political bottom line that has been scorching the blogosphere. It also doubles nicely as the character synopsis for Randolph and Mortimer Duke in the 1983 Hollywood hit Trading Places. To recap: roughly half of Americans are entitlement-seeking freeloaders who have never seen a bootstrap. ..
There have been 43 men elected to the office of President of the United States; 42 of them have been white, and one has not been. Given that, I'm confused by the other piece of political calculus Romney had to share with his audience. Which is, in essence: This whole election thing would be a heck of a lot easier if I could just get my ethnic on.
"My dad, as you probably know, was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company," he told the crowd. "But he was born in Mexico … and had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this." Romney went on. "But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. He lived there for a number of years. I mean, I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino."
Read Francie Latour's entire piece at Boston.com.
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