Thursday, April 19, 2012

Out of Touch: Mitt Romney Gives His Horse a Soundtrack


I truly have nothing against the wealthy or those who are fans of horseback riding and horses. In fact, I grew up around horses and my parents had horses up through the time they moved to Virginia Beach while I was in college. And some family members in the Charlottesville area continue to have horses. But none of us ever (1) selected a sound track for our horse's dressage event or (2) were running a national campaign for president where we were trying to dispel the impression that we were utterly out of touch with what the lives of everyday Americans entail. That is not to say that Mitt Romney and his wife Ann are bad people. They are simply completely clueless when it comes to everyday concerns of most Americans - or at least those outside the tiny enclaves of the extremely wealthy. Ann Romney may have been a stay at home mother, but I suspect she had plenty of paid help to do those inconvenient tasks like house cleaning, doing laundry and/or yard work. Yes, we have had very wealthy presidents. But honestly, in my memory few would be presidents have been as seemingly out of touch with reality as Mitt and Ann Romney. Even George Bush, Sr., seems in comparison to have at least had some smidgen of empathy of average people. Here are highlights from The Hill on Mitt Romney soundtrack selection for his horse:

Mitt Romney may be running for president, but he still has time for his horse. Romney personally selected the music accompanying the choreographed performance of a horse competing in an international dressage championship beginning Wednesday.

Romney and his wife Ann co-own Rafalca, a highly regarded 15-year-old Oldenburg mare they have sponsored in numerous dressage competitions including this year’s World Cup Final, which takes place in the Netherlands. Dressage is a highly disciplined form of horsemanship that can appear to look like dancing.

The Romneys can’t attend the competition this year—due to that little thing known as running for president—but Romney kept up tradition by picking the music for Rafalca’s performance.
JFK at the wheel of a sailboat off Hyannis Port is something average folks can at least distantly understand. Choreographed horsemanship in fancy cloths to music just doesn't equate to anything most people experience in their lives. Yet Romney pretends that he's just an average guy.

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