September 18, 2012
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Romney
Romney is the one speaking most frankly about privilege in this election, and we hate him for it.
Not because we agree with him, actually – because it burns us to think that we were born ahead of 90% of the world if we were born American, and yet we have not managed to achieve our dreams.
I do agree that it’s ludicrous for a politician to give up on nearly half of his constituency, but I don’t think that’s actually what took place. The context of his comments are a closed-door meeting with a dozen wealthy industry leaders he was cozying up to. No doubt he sought to ingratiate himself by approximating their mindset, which produced this remark.
To give you some background: one of the most important business maxims is “only help those who help themselves.” It is the only rational way to do business, because there are any number of those only half-heartedly attempting to do business. They will dissipate and bog down a businessman’s attempts to climb his/her way up to the top, and so, they are to be avoided. This is not a dismissal of them as people, necessarily, but as business partners.
To be a successful businessman you must remove nearly all doubt from your mind, and you must compartmentalize charity and blame. Only by doing this can you continually give 100% to your business. Unfortunately the process leaves you less sympathetic to those who haven’t made it, giving some a tendency to assume that those who didn’t make it simply weren’t willing to make the sacrifices it took to succeed. But that mindset, as with everything else in business, is a tradeoff. It’s great for clawing your way up. It’s less great for projecting the image of a benevolent statesman. Businessmen are concerned entirely with the former and not at all with the latter.
It’s ironic, because in a way, what the media has said would happen happened: Romney’s business instincts, his ability to identify with businessmen, kicked in in a way that alienated him from everyone else.
Comments (3)
mitt’s not cut out for politics. i agree. you’d think he’d have gotten that by now. then again, smarts aren’t exactly requisite to the successful business portfolio. on the other hand, if he’s actually elected we might all be sorry he wasn’t a quicker study.
we weren’t born ahead of 90% of the world… WE BUILT IT so that we could be born ahead!
In all seriousness, I don’t think Romney nor any Republican is speaking most frankly about privilege. This whole idea that we are solely responsible for our destiny is misguided at best, egocentric at worst. The fact of the matter is, the most successful people get there by a vast network of support: knowing the right connections, employing the best people, servicing the best clients/customers, etc. Business isn’t a lonely island endeavor. A successful business requires a joint, cooperative effort that draws from a large network of partners and patrons. Smart business people know this. That’s why they schmooze and network, network, network.
At the end of the day, good statesmanship and being a good businessman require vastly different skill sets. So while Romney may have been a brilliant CEO, it doesn’t mean that he’ll necessarily be a smart President.
Jon Stewart had an interesting bit about Romney’s statement on last night’s Daily Show – including a clip of the speech. You might enjoy seeing it.