Mitt Romney's lack of caring for poor people and what is surely coming

In an interview Wednesday morning, Mitt Romney told a CNN reporter that he does not care about poor people because they have a safety net. He also does not care about rich people because they can get by on their own. He says his focus is one the vast middle class in America, the ones who have gotten hit so hard by the economic downturn. Clearly, Romney used a poor choice of words when he said he "did not care" about the poor meaning that they are not the pricipal focus of his efforts were he to become president. Romney even said that he would look at the safety net and strengthen it where necessary. None of that matters, however.

So far I have seen four articles with headlines reading something like Mitt Romney does not care about the poor! No context for these reporters; they want to take the edited sound bite and run with it to attack Mitt. Indeed, my guess is that by Thursday evening there will be articles claiming that Romney's statement is a veiled reference to racism; lack of caring about the poor is actually a plan to keep minorities down.

It is really too bad that Romney could not keep his foot out of his mouth on the morning after his Florida win. Instead of getting press for winning, Mitt got coverage for his latest statement.

It is also sad that Romney feels that he needs to express his plans in terms of the class of people about whom he is concerned. Class warfare is an Obama phenomenon; Romney ought to refrain from using the jargon of that "battle". Romney ought to be focused on all Americans not just some. Everyone should get equal opportunity to succeed.