Given Barack Obama’s record in the White House, it seems odd that one of the few issues where he regularly leads his Republican rival is empathy. Just yesterday, CBS News reported that their latest poll
. . . shows that half of registered voters think that Mitt Romney does not understand their problems, reflecting an empathy gap with President Obama as Romney prepares for his acceptance speech at the Republican nominating convention.
Only 41 percent of Americans said Romney understands their needs and problems, compared to 54 percent who feel Mr. Obama understands their needs and problems.
And this is not the only survey to show what CBS writers dubbed an “empathy gap.” Perhaps, the reason is simply the stories the news networks tell. The incumbent is cold, often aloof. Mitt Romney while sometimes awkward in public has a long record of helping neighbors and friends in need.
It’s just that he doesn’t boast about it.
When I asked at the beginning of July if Obama had ever (personally) helped individuals in need, no reader could come up with a single example. Maybe Obama did help out at one time or another, but the stories aren’t easy to track down.
The stories of Romney’s good deeds, however, are legion. “At every turn in his life,” his wife said last night, “this man I met at a high school dance, has helped lift up others.”
“Almost every personal detail about Romney“, writes Andrew Ferguson about reading the Republican nominee’s biography
I found endearing. But my slowly softening opinion went instantly to goo when The Real Romney unfolded an account of his endless kindnesses—unbidden, unsung, and utterly gratuitous. “It seems that everyone who has known him has a tale of his altruism,” the authors write. I was struck by the story of a Mormon family called (unfortunately) Nixon. In the 1990s a car wreck rendered two of their boys quadriplegics. Drained financially from extraordinary expenses, Mr. Nixon got a call from Romney, whom he barely knew, asking if he could stop by on Christmas Eve. When the day came, all the Romneys arrived bearing presents, including a VCR and a new sound system the Romney boys set up. Later Romney told Nixon that he could take care of the children’s college tuition, which in the end proved unnecessary. “I knew how busy he was,” Nixon told the authors. “He was actually teaching his boys, saying, ‘This is what we do. We do this as a family.’ ”
(Via Betsy’s Page via Ace.*) Mitt Romney does seem to be a man who understands the needs and problems of others. Through his actions, he has repeatedly demonstrated that understanding. The issue now is conveying it to the American people.
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*Funny indeed how reading Ace while eating my bedtime snack inspired a post and led me back to an article I had seen on the Weekly Standard‘s home page, intending to read, but never getting around to it until Ace led me back to it.
Are you familiar with the phrase to “not let your right hand know what the left (hand) is doing”? I believe it’s in the Bible. It’s about not mentioning your acts of charity or good deeds.
Obviously you couldn’t stop others from mentioning your charity or good deeds, but you don’t get to toot your own horn, or even look to be thanked.
For the same reason, you can (especially someone in Mitt’s financial class) make sure that no one knows what you have donated…That’s why I think he doesn’t release all his old taxes. You know he has them(they probably fill entire offices!) & he’s bound to have the best tax attorneys & CPAs in the business doing them and taking every legal tax break there is. But he’s the total Boy Scout. I’d bet any one of us “cheated” more on our taxes than Mitt has ever done in his entire life! There’s nothing there for the Dems to make any big deal out of. But he’s donated to churches or schools or whatever that he doesn’t want it to be made a big deal of, and releasing his taxes would show those anonymous donations…
It will have to be up to others to mention his kindness and “Good Deeds” as he won’t. Now if you could just get the press to be honest about it
I don’t recall ever hearing a story about the Obamas showing a similar degree of personal empathy and charity toward others.
Also, it’s funny how many of us here are also fans of AoSHQ. I sometimes wonder how long our thin-skinned trolls would last in that environment.
Romney is seen as cold and uncaring because the Obama campaign and the media are painting him as such.
Obama has created a cold, unfeeling and wealthy caricature of Romney and the media helps him reinforce it.
Speaking of trolls, are Vincent, aj, Levi, and rusty all butthurt over Ann Romney’s use of the phrase “real marriage?”
If it’s true (and I think it just possible) that Romney is holding back his taxes from modesty about his charitable giving… Hell just got a couple degrees hotter, for Harry Reid.
A month or two ago I saw this link to a video which shows Mitt Romney helping out a fire victim in San Diego. Not only does the incident depicted here illustrate something about Romney’s character, but it also shows other kinds of differences between Romney and Obama. Among many observations one could make, three come to mind right away: he and his staff didn’t alert anyone to the fact that he was going to come and help out, he shows that he knows how to handle a chain saw, and he doesn’t look like he’s wearing “mom jeans.”
Near the end Mr. Christie’s speech, c-span panned to the Romney box showing a close up of Mr. Romney. My partner and I said in unison, “Romney is truly humbled by this experience and the things being said about him.”
Anyone with a brain and a heart could clearly see the expression of humility. Obama doesn’t have a humble cell in his body.
V the K
Doesn´t being a community organizer count as empathy? Just kidding.
54% might believe that Mr. Obama understands their needs and problems. But how come there was no followup as to how many of those
believe that Mr. Obama can satisfy their needs and has the solution to their problems?
As the axiom states: “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” see: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/character_is_doing_the_right_thing_when_nobody-s/11106.html
Mitt Romney is loaded with character, and has “walked the walk” his entire life.
Obama and his minions have absolutely no character. How else do you explain a man that would honor one of the greatest heroes and achievements of the 20th century with a picture of himself. That little action shows he has no character, but alot of arrogance and hubris.
Well said, mixitup, very well said.
if Americans want a president to “care” for them like the pony-tailed guy in the Bush-Clinton debate then they don’t know the difference between being a free-born citizen and a subject.
What I want in a president is someone who limits himself to his constitutional duties and act in the interests of the nation (not just certain people in the nation). I want a president who knows when to stop screwing things up.
Watching the video of Ann Romney’s speech. My impressions:
– She’s bright.
– First part of the speech, platitudes about empathy, love and motherhood: she’s laying it on thick… I can’t help reading a few articles on the side.
– Middle part, talking about her joy (and challenges) in family life: Now I’m riveted. Decided to write this comment.
– 15:20, like the “He built it”. (Riffing on Obama.)
– Overall: This is an intelligent, sincere woman. She believes what she’s saying. And is NOT a bitch. I still don’t know if I can “trust Mitt” as she says, but she believes it, and her speech knocks it out of the park.
I believe they have yet to make themselves known on the issue, but Sully the Beast has his panties in a wad about it, tweeting “So who do you know has a FAKE marriage?” I wanted to respond “…at least a few gay couples I can think of…” but decided I wasn’t up to dealing with the ensuing Twitrage accusing me of being homophobic.
I don’t care whether the president empathizes with me and “feels my pain.” I want him to do his damned job.
Every Democratic candidate since Jimmy Carter has given us the Oprah Winfrey/National Mommy treatment. I think Oprah is a wonderful lady, but I probably wouldn’t vote for her for president (though she — unlike Obama — has demonstrated she can actually do a real job and run a business).
How about a president who doesn’t want to micro-manage every nanosecond of our public and private lives? Preferable to one who imagines he or she can feel our pain would be one with at least enough humility to know that no human being — however smart or exalted — knows enough to play God.
Donald Trump had some nice things to say about Mitt Romney’s donations to the Mormon Church. Comments from a guy that I don’t expect to be religious.
I think Romney is a bit shy and reluctant to talk about himself and blow his own horn. So that’s why other people did it for him. Obama, on the other hand, can’t stop talking about how wonderful he is. So how are they as people, really? Obama gives less than 1% of his income to charity. Romney gives 16%! Tell me who talks the talk, and who walks the walk. I for one, would rather have a president who is shy and a bit stiff, who gives plain speeches, who has real-world knowledge and experience at fixing serious, complex problems, and getting things done; who has a VP who knows the budget backwards and forwards and can do complex math standing on his head — than a gregarious president whose poetic speeches can make grown men and doves cry, but who has no idea how to run the government, and whose efforts on the economy will only sink us further and further into the morass he created over less than 4 years!
I really do love the array of excuses as to why Romney “appears” not to care about regular Americans in his bid for the presidency. I can remember reading here a few years back about how Bush would eventually be remembered as a great president and his policies and wars would be seen as great moments for the American people. Well, I can certianly tell that by the number of times his name was mentioned during the convention.