The Ann Romney Effect

In October Mitt Romney starts telling personal stories to get the American people on his side. On October 10, 2012 Ann Romney is on Good Morning America cooking and sharing an inspirational Equine Therapy story about a 28 year old woman she met when she won the US Championship – Ann gave her the trophy (didn’t help the woman’s achievements). There was no date on the Good Housekeeping (GH) site for their interview with Ann Romney (AR) but the comments started flying on October 29, 2012. In the interview Ann told GH: I’ve been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people’s lives if they don’t get a proper education. And we know the answers to that. The charter schools have provided the answers. The teachers’ unions are preventing those things from happening, from bringing real change to our educational system. We need to throw out the system. This is a stark contrast from Michelle Obama’s GH comments during her interview - “Reinvest in education here in the United States so that we lay the groundwork to ensure that every child has access to a world-class education from preschool to beyond college.”

GH asked Ann: What are the steps your husband would take to improve the economy? AR: Just his election itself is going to instantly turn up the gas and get people more optimistic, but he has 5 things that are simple for people to understand: One is to get rid of regulation; one is to start using our natural resources; one is to turn to human capital, which is education, and get that working again; and…oh, I’m not sure on the last two! (Ann laughed) GH: Well, 3 is a very good start. A couple of years ago, we created the Green GH Seal as a way of helping consumers figure out what products are truly green versus what are just green washing claims. Are green issues something you think about? AR: Everyone wants clean air and clean water. I mean, of course we all do. And then if you go to a country like China —GH: Where there is no regulation... AR: Where there is no regulation and you see what’s wrong there and how people are dying younger there. And the pollution and the air quality is just abysmal and people are having to live in that. You understand how important it is but you also have to recognize that we have to balance those things.

Republicans early on called the voters stupid and I believe they have a point - on October 20, 2012 Ann Romney called a white 79 year old Pennsylvania woman to wish her a happy birthday and because of this the votes went to Mitt along with other votes from people that thought this was more important than the issues at hand – right off the bat I think of - human and civil rights, foreign policy, the economy, education, and global warming.