Regarding Weatherdude's post on Ann Romney saying she worries about Mitt's "mental well-being" if he should win the presidency, I think it needs a closer look. Because I think what we just saw was a moment of candor, and one we should be grateful for.
Here's the exchange (and it's on video, toward the end):
Asked what her primary worry would be should her husband succeed in defeating President Obama on Nov. 6, Mrs. Romney replied, "You know, I think my biggest concern, obviously, would just be for his mental well-being."
"I have all the confidence in the world in his ability, in his decisiveness and his leadership skills, in his understanding of the economy, in his understanding of what's missing right now in the economy - you know, pieces that are missing to get this jumpstarted," she continued. "So for me I think it would just be the emotional part of it."
She doesn't say, "But he can handle it." She doesn't even imply it.
In answering the question of "what her primary worry would be should her husband succeed in defeating President Obama on Nov. 6," Ann Romney starts with her worry about whether Mitt can withstand the pressures of being president, which of course must be tremendous, then talks about other things that she thinks he would be good at—and finishes by reiterating that she worries about his mental/emotional ability to handle the pressure.
How do you, as the spouse of a presidential candidate talking to the public about that husband/candidate, NOT finish that statement with "But he can handle it" - unless you actually worry that maybe he can't? I mean, that just seemed like candor. It is very difficult to take anything from that answer except that Ann Romney is herself worried that her husband may not be able to handle the pressure of being president. Based on what? Your guess is as good as mine—but she's been married to the guy for decades. She knows him. And she has undoubtedly seen him under pressure.
Take a closer look at the way she constructs her response:
"I have all the confidence in the world in his ability...
..."So for me I think it would just be the emotional part of it."
'I have all the confidence in the world" about that other stuff..but on the emotional end—confrontation with Iran, perhaps—put me down as "iffy".'
That's just spine-tingly.
Should it count in our assessment of Mitt Romney that his wife—his very devoted and caring wife, I might add—appears to worry about her husband's ability to handle the pressures that go along with being president of the U.S.? I think so. When you consider the fact that Mitt Romney apparently has no moral aversion to lying, that he has changed political positions so drastically and so many times that it's almost impossible to tell what he as one human being actually believes about anything—that he put the family dog in a carrier on the roof of his car, for Christ's sake—the fact that his own wife worries about his "mental well-being" under pressure means something more than if all those other weirdnesses were not present: Mitt Romney is one messed up motherfucker.
Ann Romney is Mitt Romney's wife of 43 years. She knows Mitt Romney better than any of us can ever hope to. It should not only count that she, of all people, appears to be worried about Mitt's ability to handle being president—we should be profoundly grateful she got the chance to let us know. (Before the election, thank God.)
P.S. Imagine if Michelle Obama had said that.