The Rehabilitation of Mitt Romney.

The arrogance of wealth is a heavy burden on true happiness. There's a great old Cary Grant movie, 'The Amazing Adventure', about a millionaire just like Mitt who bets that he can make his way in the world starting with just a few dollars, theorizing that common people are just good-for-nothing layabouts, and that an enterprising fellow will quickly rise no matter the circumstances. I was imagining yesterday how Mitt Romney might change from the devastating experience we hope and trust is coming his way, something similiar to the change Cary Grant experiences in the film, albeit for different reasons.

I do believe he does have some buried moderate leanings, here and there, because of his mother and father. This looming, crushing defeat that we intend to deliver to him, in probably his last campaign ever — to be consigned to the dustbin of history as a ragged, dusty puppet/antagonist to the grand tale of the growth and enlightenment of the human race, a dim gray shadow of a man connected to a dark meme — it's going to change him. And in the course of this change, he may experience an epiphany. It is a possibility.

And that would be so wonderful. Really, it would bring tears to my eyes. Let’s postulate:

Mitt, leaving his wife and children to spend a year living on minimum wage in complete obscurity, perhaps behind a beard, renting an apartment that smells like urine next to a crew dealing meth out the bedroom window. Reading. Getting to know people in the neighborhood. Really digging in to help, maybe with the guy next door dying of AIDS from a dirty needle. Helping out with some neighborhood kids who might get in a lot more trouble if he weren’t there to ask the questions, and get them thinking. Teaching himself in the process.

Mitt, feeding homeless cats with the last few dollars he has in his weekly paycheck. Learning to meditate from a book he found down at the Underground Bookstore. Going to the free friday concert down at Che Guevara Park. Maybe getting a little high from the ambient smoke, and enjoying it. Spending the night walking around the city, talking with his new friend, perhaps a guy from down the block, an elderly Vietnam Vet missing his legs whose wheelchair battery is on the blink, and who occasionally could use a push to the store.

Mitt, coming full circle, and waking up. Mitt Romney, asking for an audience with his former opponent, to apologize, and to offer his services.

Barack Obama, accepting, because that is what he would do in the face of Mitt’s epiphany.

Now imagine that they become friends, and Mitt grows to become a progressive hero that often counsels Barack from the left. Mitt Romney, who devotes his remaining wealth and years to repairing the damage he’s done, both to the nation and his family.

Goddamn, that’s a beautiful story. It begins with a crushing defeat, and ends with a soul's redemption. Classic. I'd go see that movie.

We have to make it come true.