I think you’re right. Romney is Obama’s quintessential “white privileged” male and in Obama’s mind, fighting for everything that Obama opposes.

I’d say what clinched it was the drubbing he took from Romney in the first Presidential debate in 2012. Remember how disdainful of Romney he was in the second Candy-warped debate, with hatred simmering just below the surface?

“I was with the [Romney] family all night. We were looking at state results. We never got down to the nitty-gritty of cities, so for Mitt to bring that up when talking to the president is absurd and not who he is.”

It really doesn’t sound like who Mitt is.

That’s what I think too. Keeping the troops ‘properly motivated’ by demonizing the opposition at every opportunity is exactly Obama’s m.o. and Jackson’s recall of Romney’s specific words fits to a ‘T’ how I would expect Romney to handle the call.

Class versus trash in a nutshell.

I’ll go with “Obama lied.”

“Romney’s former personal aide hotly disputes account of 2012 concession call in Obama adviser’s memoir.”

“Garrett Jackson, Mitt Romney’s body man throughout the 2012 campaign… said in a phone call from Houston, where he now works as a private-equity analyst: “When I read that, I was furious. … It didn’t happen. … I was right next to the Gov. Hell, it was my phone. I was the one who called [Obama aide] Marvin Nicholson. … Mitt goes: ‘Mr. President, I just wanted to call and congratulate you and your team on a well-fought race, and congratulate you on your victory.’ Then there was a silence on Mitt’s end – we weren’t on speaker.

“The president said a few quick words, and then Mitt said: ‘I know there’s a lot of tough decisions ahead, Mr. President – a lot of tough issues that face our country. And it’s my hope that you’ll tackle those issues, and know that I’m here to help in any way that I can.’ There was another pause, and Mitt responded: ‘Well, know that you and the first lady are in Ann and my prayers daily.’ And then the call ended.”

The Politico article implies that either Jackson or Axelrod is lying but there’s a third possibility; both are telling the truth and that Obama lied to Axelrod and the others in the room.

Congenital liars don’t just lie to and about those opposed to them, they lie whenever they think it will benefit them and they lie to maintain loyalty.

But at some point, an oratorical and intellectual con-man is prone to believe his own BS, which is what this passage indicates. It is a critical race theorist’s deconstruction of an innocuous conversation. For racial undertones to be deciphered from such an exchange, one has to start from the following premises:

Any and all Republicans are inherently racist (at least on a subconscious level); therefore, a Republican leader (i.e. Presidential nominee) at a minimum tacitly espouses racism.

From such a perspective, it is not absurd to interpret Romney’s comment as racist.

Romney referenced two cities with large African American populations. Yes, there are many major cities with higher percentage of black citizens, but they are mostly in states that are deep blue (Baltimore, MD), lean blue (Detroit, MI; Philadelphia, PA); lead red (Atlanta, GA) or are deep red (Memphis, TN; New Orleans, LA). St. Louis is on a par with Cleveland, and in a swing state, but Missouri went for Romney. Thus, not worth mentioning. Cleveland is in the ultimate swing state, which was crucial in delivering a second term for Obama.

Milwaukee’s African American population is significantly lower than all the above referenced cities, but it is highly segregated with a bitter racial history which still carries over to this day. And so, Romney mentioning Milwaukee was a deliberate trigger, a tacit reference to race. The implication: “Yeah, you got your base out effectively, and swung these states for you, but you and I both know why.” It is not hard to envision the pejorative “boy!” after such a sentence.

Or maybe Romeny was simply referencing two crucial states in which he was competing hard to get to 270. Ohio is always the pinnacle swing state. Wisconsin isn’t always, but Romney was attempting to capitalize on Scott Walker’s recall victory and his choice of Paul Ryan. It failed, but it was a central component of his strategy. It makes perfect sense for him to reference these two states. And it is entirely logical for him to reference Obama’s impressive GOTV effort in the Democratic strongholds of those two states. Strongholds partly because of blacks, but also due to the strong union presence in both cities, and the significant population of young hipster types. As well as many other factors.

The second premise, I think, best conforms to Ockham’s razor. But not if one accepts the above premise about Republicans and racism, which is accepted as a “first principle” by virtually all leftists, a significant portion of Democrats in general and, of course, Obama himself.

We’re under two years to go, my friends. Stay strong.

That was my point when I wrote:

Does Obama not admit that part of his victory was his success in getting out the black vote? I thought that was understood, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with it. When a candidate has over 90% support from a demographic group, it behooves that candidate to do his/her best to get those people to the polls. None of this is any kind of secret to anyone who knows the first thing about politics in the US and the 2012 election in particular.

There’s nothing wrong with saying, “You did a great job of getting out the Democratic vote, including the black vote.” Romney could just have said that if he meant to say it; nothing wrong with saying it. Why speak in code? And why would “Milwaukee,” not all that black a city, be one-half of that code?

Sure, it’s possible that’s what Romney meant. If so, it’s a very odd way to say it; that’s my point. But if he had said it, there’s no reason Obama should have been peeved. Is there now something wrong about an effort about which Democrats have never been shy (and which Obama was dedicated to even before he went into politics, as director of Project Vote in Chicago in 1992, one of his first efforts in public life)? I should think he’d be proud of motivating so many black people to vote.