If you grew up in the '50s or '60s, you may remember the nerdy classmates (I was one of them) in grade school who eagerly volunteered to run the movie projector whenever teacher made you watch some dull 16mm Coronet educational film. Lately I'm envisioning Mitt Romney as the modern-day equivalent of those classroom nerds. More and more, like the Republican noise machine in general, Romney seems preoccupied with threading the film of his own record, failings and weaknesses into a metaphorical movie projector. Bill Clinton focused like a laser on the economy. Romney instead spreads blinding white light, but not much of it illuminates anything or anyone beyond himself.
Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly clear that Romney's movie shows are lousy re-makes. His most egregious act of projection came after commentators noted that the GOP ticket's proposals on Medicare and the Affordable Care Act would weaken health coverage for millions of Americans. Romney has taken those unsavory features of his own platform and projected them onto his opponent, Barack Obama, warning that it's the president who is really out to gut health care.
But the biggest projection of all may be the simplest. Expressing heightened frustration at Obama's campaign attacks on his candidacy, Romney now regularly spends much time complaining that Obama isn't discussing the issues. Never mind that a favorite Obama target is how Wall Street recklessly fleeced America and caused the meltdown, not failing to cite Romney's own, years-long financial wheeling in that environment. But that, says the Mittster, amounts to "personal attacks," not debate on real issues.
This week, the Romney rant finally broke down into perhaps his ultimate (third reel?) projection, when he told a crowd: "This is what an angry and desperate president looks like."
Except, the ever-relaxed, ever-smiling Obama simply never looks angry or desperate; that is much more the Romney mien, these days.
At this rate, it won't be long before we can entitle Romney's final projection. More and more, it seems we'll be calling it The Last Picture Show.