Romney Lags In Polls After Trouncing Obama By Millions In Fundraising

Black Star News Editorial - 07-09-12

Mitt Romney and Co. is celebrating the record $106 million in fund-raising last month and cheering the $160 million of cash in hand. President Barack Obama's campaign on the other hand is reported to have raised a mere $71 million.

Romney is lauding his campaign's record fund-raising as signs that he's gaining momentum. President Obama leads him in most polls by about 47% to 43%.

More importantly, while Romney has gained momentum financially and outpaced the president in raising money, in all the key 12 swing states that will determine the election, President Barack Obama is in the lead. Romney has been using his financial muscle to carpet bomb the 12 swing states with advertising. With relatively limited resources, President Obama's ads seem to be much more effective.

So the more money Romney raises the more he drops back in the polls.

This is because Romney has serious credibility problems. Americans don't fault a very wealthy person who made his money in business. But Americans don't necessarily want that wealthy individual to become president, especially once it was revealed that Romney had parked some of his money in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and in Swiss accounts. This is one of the most un-American thing that a national leader could do.

Romney has also correctly been shown as someone who cannot connect with the working class. This is not surprising -- in his line of work in finance, he saw workers as the "enemy"; they were part of the "cost" variable.

Romney has been defined as the job-slashing profit-maximizing CEO of Bain Capital. He made hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and his Bain Capital partners. These wealthy individuals targeted companies for acquisition. Employees were either laid-off or jobs out-sourced to foreign countries. In some instances workers who kept their jobs were paid less and also enjoyed diminished health and retirement benefits. Romney's priority wasn't maintaining of creating jobs; it was maximizing profits.

It is hard to imagine that such a CEO could develop compassion for America's 13 million unemployed people overnight, just because he is running for President. Where does Romney stand with hard-working Americans? He has already answered that question resoundingly. Romney wrote a November 2008 Op-Ed in The New York Times called "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," deploring the federal government's $18 billion bailout of the Detroit auto industry. The auto industry would have died without the rescue. Now Detroit has created tens of thousands of jobs, including for suppliers.

No wonder Romney's hundreds of millions of dollars in fund-raising hasn't narrowed the gap. Maybe Americans are actually paying attention.