Mitt Romney's Problem...

I would preface this by stating that no, I'm not Bill Frist, and yes, I can watch someone at length and posit that he or she may possess certain, shall we say, 'attributes', which are less than desirable as a candidate for public office, most certainly the Presidency of these United States. And no, I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist but I perform clinical interviews every single day, have performed well over twenty thousand in a practice lifetime and I will say that for the most part, I read people pretty well. See, the way I look at this stuff is that everyone has a 'schtick' and is more than entitled to have it, as it is critical for masking the inner self within a society which does not accept the 'id' very well in most situations involving what most of us would agree are 'normal people'. And please for the record allow me to state that I have treated a fair number of Philadelphians of great privilege - that is to say, the old-line money whose origins date back to the early 1800's and even earlier in a couple cases. They are, for the most part, fascinating people: they have great social skills when interacting with 'ordinary' folk, and yet not for one minute are you disabused of the fact that they are 'special'. It is a remarkable dynamic which I actually enjoy experiencing: it is a well-honed social skill which is obviously inculcated from youth. And although a number of these people hold political and social views which I find odious, the vast majority with whom I have interacted are really quite understanding and pragmatic when it comes to social issues. Now this may be due in part to the fact that here in Philadelphia, we have a Quaker tradition which pervades many non-Quaker Protestant sects - at least that was explained to me by a Lutheran minister a number of years ago.

I've been watching and listening to Romney for a long time now, and in my very humble opinion, I believe he has a real emotional lack which prohibits him from 'connecting' with the 'ordinary' citizen. The hair, the smile, the clothes, the skin, the tone of voice, and all the other characteristics which manifest themselves publically are refined to the nth degree. This is more than 'deliberate'; it is not 'incidental': this is critical to his candidacy and the perception of his public persona.

So you say, "Yes, this is all obvious. Letterman, Stewart, and Leno have been making jokes at Romney's expense for a long time now." Where I differ from the traditional point of view is that I believe that the issue is not that he only identifies with the wealthy (e.g. the NASCAR owners "gaffe&quot but that his limited script is the cover for a true lack of emotionality consistent with a position on the Spectrum of appropriate disorders - I'll leave it to you to fill-in-the-blank. He has limited range of emotion, his smile, his frown, his expressions, are all well-schooled and quite consistent no matter what subject he is addressing. For a moment, please allow me to digress: back in the old days, Nelson Rockefeller who was by almost all accounts 'successful', had been a dyslexic by some reports. Long before it was in vogue to treat this properly, he obviously was schooled and overcame this issue with vigor. He had the money, the best evaluations and treatment, and the desire to achieve his goal. Romney has done the same, but his fundamental problem is that that which he lacks, cannot be cured by treatment. At that level one form his background would require a world-class ease and serenity, and quite frankly, he doesn't have 'It'. Now before you tell me that Bush, Jr. was a first-class idjit and incompetent, may I remind you that he was not only sociopathically at ease - they possess little or no anxiety - but that everything was being manipulated at the highest levels for him - he was fully protected by an enormous machine which underlies our entire society and is the elephant in the room, so to speak.

Romney has no such ease: he 'mis-speaks' because he has no idea that what he is saying is offensive to many, he has no comprehension at a deep or at a superficial level of what anyone might infer from his statements. i would venture to say that privately, he is uneasy with himself, he is nervous and sees people (and dogs) as objects, and recites lines which he has rehearsed in his head many many many times. Many people here call him a 'liar' - this would be true if he were based in the same reality sphere in which the rest of us function, but he does not see time or events in a linear or in a planar fashion: he simply makes statements. Or sings songs: like a child who has nothing else to say who might just start singing or humming a song, romney had run oujt of words and was uneasy, so he sang. He stated that the "trees were the right height" - does that not strike anyone else as quite strange? The perception not that the trees were leafy green, or the kind he grew up with, or emotionally pleasing in their beauty, but that they had been lined up perfectly? Anyone here ever know a child who lined up his or her toys perfectly as a rule? Who sees things in that manner ONLY? I have known several and all have been evaluated and found to have 'issues'.

I know what you're thinking, but please let me state this: obsessive-compulsive behavior differs from obsessive-compulsive disorder in that the latter results in the disruption of normal existence. That you can check the stove or the light a couple times before you leave the house, but IF YOU CAN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE because you're checking the burners, then you have a problem. This man has a problem, and it is both concerning and dangerous to have someone whose range of emotion is so shallow that he cannot perform normal functions and/or identify with others. Again, in my opinion, I believe that the fact that many of his own Party members cannot endorse, accept, or deal with his inevitable nomination speaks volumes about his persona and his personality. I believe that he is moderately 'disordered' for these and other reasons. I would implore Americans to, just this once, attempt to perceive the depth and complexity of this extraordinary personality, rather than simply explaining him by using terms such as 'uncaring', 'tone-deaf', or others of that ilk.