Blowout

To say the last 72 hours has been bad for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign would be an understatement of monumental proportions. Mitt Romney's comments at a private fundraiser, captured on secret video, prove that the Republican candidate for President has effectively written off nearly half of all Americans - many of whom might vote for him under other circumstances.

Pundits and politicians alike from Bill Kristol to David Brooks, from Ramesh Ponnuru to Sen. Scott Brown to David Frum have all distanced themselves from Romney, like townspeople in an Old West movie, fleeing Main Street right before the big shootout scene. And those are just the conservatives and Republicans.

This massive mistake was far more than just Mitt Romney shooting himself in the foot. This was Mitt Romney taking a pair of big guns and completely blowing his political feet off.

There are plenty of dissections in the media of all the massive issues exposed by this 49 minute video, including the previously released five minutes of lowlights. From writing off all Palestinians, to characterizing anyone who benefits from the U.S. government as a freeloader, the list of pandering, gaffes, and arrogance is enough by itself to cause Mr. Romney scattered issues for the rest of his campaign, and possibly the rest of his life.

What almost everyone seems to have missed about the video that exposed to the world the person that Mitt Romney is behind closed doors, is one of the most basic features of being an American politician - or really any American who serves others.

If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you'll know exactly what we mean.

When a waiter or waitress works in a restaurant for a while, they get to recognize the type of customers that come in; the regular customers, the visiting high rollers, the parents escaping for a night without kids - and of course, the bad tippers.

Some servers will try and avoid the bad tippers, or treat them poorly, hoping to get them to leave right away - which is exactly the wrong thing to do.

The best wait staff knows that you treat each customer with respect, with courtesy, and with top-quality service, even those you are most certain will tip you poorly. Why? Because sometimes, you are pleasantly surprised. Sometimes, you win them over, even the ones you were most certain would never like you. Because, as we've said here for years, anything worth doing is worth doing well.

For example, being the President of the United States.

Americans are rapidly heading towards the day they choose who they want to be in the White House. To us, the choice is simple.

Should it be this man, who said to half of America, "To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."

Or this man, who said about half of America, "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Who do you want leading your nation for the next four years?

Makers And Takers

There are two different stories today, about two different political bullies, who both really showed us their true selves this week - Mitt Romney and Rahm Immanuel. While you might think these two men have nothing in common, other than their overpriced suits and their overinflated egos, you'd be wrong.

In the case of Immanuel, the Chicago teachers' strike has been a brutal rebuttal to the Mayor's constant attacks on Chicago educators. In Immanuel's latest bullying attempt on Monday, he went to court to try and force teachers back to work before their union members had a chance to review the new contract details. The court rebuffed the Mayor soundly, though the Court does expect the Teachers Union to vote today.

As we touched on last week, the teacher strike wasn't about money. It was about professional concerns, like class size and effective evaluation. Simply pinning teacher evaluation to standardized test results, as Immanuel wanted, helps neither the kids nor the educators.

Rahm Immanuel's biggest failure was in underestimating the bond between Chicago's parents and those people who educate their kids. It's obvious that Immanuel and the Chicago School board thought they knew better than the professionals in the classroom and the parents of those students how they should be educated. When polled, more than 55% of voters in Chicago backed the teachers - including two-thirds of parents with kids in public school. Meanwhile, two-thirds of Chicago voters blamed either the school board or the Mayor - but not the teachers - for the failures that have led to the strike.

In the case of Mitt Romney, he has no one to blame but himself for the speech he gave which may have put the final nail in the coffin of his political career.

That speech, leaked to journalist David Corn, contains video of Mr. Romney speaking at a private Republican fundraiser earlier this year. In his address, Romney contemputously identifies 47% of Americans, saying "[they] believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it." Romney finishes his screed by saying, "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

In saying this, Romney displays his complete adoption of the 'makers & takers' theory from the extremist libertarian right. Romney's comments also completely blow away any strain of more compassionate conservatism. Those that believe if they could just reach that 47% of Americans with the message conservatives believe in, they might be able to change the minds of the non-conservatives have no place in Mr. Romney's vision, as his attitude is obvious: "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives" - so why even try?

For the record, Jim Messina, the Obama for America campaign manager gave a pitch-perfect reply to Romney's heartless video, simply saying "It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”

What both Mitt Romney and Rahm Immanuel have in common should be clear by now. Both appear to think they know better then those they serve, and neither man seems to feel humbled about his position. Rather, both men seem to display a 'divine right' kind of arrogance, as though they deserve the opportunities that have come their way, and if others didn't catch the same luck? Well, screw them.

If there truly are 'makers and takers" in America, it's clear exactly which category both Mitt Romney and Rahm Immanuel fall into: that of failed takers.

Screaming At Giants Doesn't Work

While there may be a thread that ties together all of today's different major events, there isn't necessarily some kind of worldwide conspiracy. There is a pattern though, one of working together - or refusing to.

To start with, today marks the one year anniversary of the Occupy Movement. They began by shutting down parts of Wall Street, and in the process yanked the national discussion away from the unserious discussion of debt and towards the serious and significant awareness of income inequality.

Today, while income inequality is still on the increase, the Occupy movement has effectively faded as a political force, as journalist Joe Nocera noted this weekend. Unlike the Tea Party, Nocera comments, the Occupiers refused to "engage with the larger world" on its terms. The Tea Party may have sold out to wealthy corporatists like the Koch Brothers, but "Two years ago, 87 new Tea Party-elected candidates showed up in Washington. Much as you or I may not like it, they have largely succeeded throwing sand in the wheels of government. That was their goal."

While there are more Occupy protests scheduled in various U.S. cities today, including New York - where the NYPD already appears to have begun using questionable methods to target protest leaders - Nocera's point is still valid. As a political force, Occupy has moved a message, but not the policies behind the message.

In another major event today, while overseas protests galvanized by an offensive anti-Islamic movie made in America appeared to be dying down over the weekend, it now appears Islamic extremists are attempting to fan the flames once again. While the protests were made to appear much bigger than they really were by multiple media outlets desperate for ratings, the fact is there are some extremist elements in places like Libya that insist democratic ideals like free speech are incompatible with their particular faction of religion. For all the bluster and pictures on television, the fact remains that the extremist Christian who created the film, and the extremist Muslims who are protesting in the streets, won't likely have any more significant effect on the policies of major nations than the Occupy movement has had in implementing it's policies in the U.S.

The third major event today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It seems somewhat odd that the holiday most Jews associate with forgiveness is happening just as the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is attempting to push the United States and other Western powers into attacking Iran - a nation Mr. Netanyahu can't seem to forgive, on any level. While we hope that Mr. Netanyahu is wise enough not to start World War III, we think it's likely that his bluster is much like that of the other groups we've mentioned today: anger and invective without any thoughtful, serious, long-term effort to make things better.

In all three cases, the groups raising the alarms are not getting what they want, when they want it. The chances for them to make things better only get smaller over time because the antagonists aren't actually working within the systems. From the Occupiers, to the angry religious extremists, to the Prime Minister of Israel, they've all simply yelling at a giant who refuses to hear them.

The solution to each issue isn't an extremist refusal to negotiate. The solution is to work within the system, accept a just and fair compromise, and enforce it firmly. Speaking softly and carrying a big stick really can wake up those who might otherwise ignore you.