Why People Don’t Like Mitt Romney?

I Tweeted an item by Nick Chiles at the Atlanta Black Star that was probably making the rounds. I had to read the cached copy. While not agreeing with the precise conclusion, I think there's something there if the interview went down as Chiles claims. Political junkies may not care as much about personality, especially if we're motivated by principles and policies, but your average voter wants to feel a connection to a politician.

This is Obama's ace in the hole in his contest with Romney. Most know it, many have said, or written it -it's why the time or two Romney has given a strong speech, or appearance when you felt him connecting with voters it seemed like a big deal.

I don't think Romney's a liar. I think he comes across to the public as remote, aloof, detached, however you want to describe it. He could swim around all day in every Reagan policy that existed and he still wouldn't be Reagan – the epitome of a politician who knew how to connect with people, likely due in part to Reagan's previous career, as well as his personality.

If Romney could learn to connect with people consistently, he'd probably be in like flint when it comes to the Oval Office. But I doubt he can, or ever will. This one is going to have to be won on the merits. And, damn, that's hard in politics with so many Americans so casual about their voting choices. Too many intuitively just vote for the guy they "like," feel they "know," or just "feel good" about. It isn't new, or distinctly American. It's just politics and that's the arena we have to win in, such as it is.

Rather than talking about the family being proud or excited about this special moment, the Republican presidential challenger instead threw his wife Ann under the bus and pretended he barely knew anything about her horse—whose name is Rafalca, by the way—and its big Olympic moment.

“I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport,” he said, preferring to not even say the word “dressage”—which is a French word meaning “training” and sometimes described as horse ballet.

“I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on,” Romney said. “She will get the chance to see it; I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”

So let me get this straight—your family has invested probably millions in dancing horses, supposedly as a way to help Ann treat her multiple sclerosis, “her horse” is going to compete in the globe’s most prestigious event, and we’re supposed to believe you don’t know anything about it? The subject never came up at the family dinner table or in the marital bedroom? Really, Mitt?