Opinion: On Leaked Romney Video

Credit: Flickr User Gage Skidmore

By Avery Naughton

Election fever is running high with the upcoming presidential election in November, and the two presidential candidates Barack Obama (D) and Mitt Romney (R) are heavily competing for the title of President of the United States. Recently, a video of Romney speaking at a private fundraiser was leaked, and he is now facing harsh criticism for his choice of words. He describes the “47 percent of people who will vote for the president no matter what” as being “dependent upon the government” and “pay[ing] no income tax.” He continues on to state that “my job is not to worry about those people.”

He explains how he is not focused on attaining the votes of such people as they generally vote democrat, but his poor choice of words has caused criticism. He has led to the public thinking along the lines that if the president’s main job is in fact to worry and care for the general public, what is Romney trying to say? Yet this statement is not the most startling piece of the speech, the underlying contradictions prove his stance to be faulty.

George Romney, Mitt’s father, was born into a wealthy family and later became the CEO of American Motors Corporation in Detroit. Mitt Romney enjoyed the same wealth of his upper class family and obtained a Harvard degree. While Romney attacks the Obama voters for relying heavily on the government, he discounts his personal wealth and contradicts his own rise to power, which was through the purchase of companies that were struggling and moving jobs overseas.

Furthermore, he classifies the Obama voters as “people who pay no income tax” while Romney himself has repeatedly refused to disclose his tax returns. The entire nation does not know what he pays, if anything, in taxes.

Although many supporters claim that Romney is a self-made man, he too, like the “47 percent of people” attained his wealth with the help from the government and may not pay any income tax. With his statement exposed and offensive terminology, his leaked video may prove to be a crucial factor in the upcoming presidential election in November.