But Romney’s campaign apparently felt the need to scold his rivals for dwelling on his career at Bain Capital. Rather than ignore the attacks, or offer a thoughtful response akin to what Obama did after the controversy about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Romney tried to squash the criticism with arrogance.
“President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial,” Romney said, reading from a teleprompter. “In the last few days, we have seen some desperate Republicans join forces with him. This is such a mistake for our party and for our nation. This country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy.”
Here’s what Romney and his aides were probably thinking: They knew that Newt Gingrich was going to hang around and torment Romney, focusing on Bain Capital. They wanted to make the point, at a peak moment of victory, that Gingrich’s attacks would only play into Obama’s hands — that only Democrats could benefit from this internal blood-letting. Gingrich bore all the marks of poor-loserdom — he was the original spoilsport, unpopular with his colleagues — and Romney was hoping to get GOP leaders to help shut Gingrich down.
If that’s what he wanted, Romney should have simply condemned all the negativity — claiming that the viciousness of the primaries was hurting the party — without getting into specific lines of attack. That would have allowed Romney to sound statesmanlike — above the fray, looking out for the best interests of the GOP as its all-but-crowned leader. Instead, Romney not only made the self-righteous claim that attacks on his business career were attacks on the free-enterprise system, but he suggested that those making the attacks were merely envious of him.
Standing on the podium with his beautiful wife, five loving children, and carpet of neatly turned out grandchildren, Romney might well have been a subject of envy — but it hardly suited him to say so. He seemed to be saying, “Don’t hate me for my perfect life.”
