Howler of the campaign season so far. President Obama, speaking in Dever yesterday disparaging Mitt Romney's oft-touted business experience:
And the notion was that somehow the reason people can’t pay their bills is because they’re not working hard enough. If they got more productive, suddenly their incomes would go up. Well, those of us who’ve spent time in the real world — (laughter) — know that the problem isn’t that the American people aren’t productive enough — you’ve been working harder than ever.
Where exactly is this "real world" of which he speaks? I've lived in what I would call the real world all my life, and I never encounter people like the president in it. No one who reaches the level of presidential candidate has the faintest idea what the real world is like, even if they started their careers with a nodding aquaintance of it.
Not that Romney's private-sector experience isn't fair game. He's made it the centerpiece of his resume, rather than his term as a governor, so it's entirely proper to examine his record and ask how exactly that qualifies him for the presidency. Running a venture capital firm isn't exactly like punching the clock five days a week and hoping you get home from the assembly line in time to watch the last two innings of the afternoon ballgame. Brother, that's real.
