COMMENTARY | Iowa middle-class voters are no different than others around the country who work hard for the money they earn. We understand the value of a dollar and to squander 10,000 of them on a bet is laughable and foolish. When a job needs to be done, we're not afraid to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty to do an honest day's work for a fair wage.
Iowa caucus-goers like me are willing to give a presidential candidate the benefit of the doubt when it comes to gaffes and fudging on their record, but to blurt out a $10,000 bet in a spontaneous effort to distract from a documented flip-flop may be hard for Romney to overcome with one of his grinning explanations.
The average income for a middle-class worker in Iowa is $50,000 a year. Minimum-wage earners are lucky if they top $15,000 a year. Mitt Romney wants us to believe he's one of us, but middle-class voters would never be foolish enough to make an irresponsible $10,000 bet. If he really wants to be a man of the people, come on down to the middle class and see what it's like for people who don't have money to waste on childish bets. People who live in modest "mansions" we call a home. However, there's nothing wrong with being rich, as long as you don't insult our intelligence by pretending to be something you're not.
Romney's $10,000 bet was an attempt to disprove a supposed lie from Rick Perry on Romney's stance on the individual mandate in Barack Obama's health care reform. According to Romney, he has never said the mandate would be a good model to follow for the entire country. The problem for him is a You Tube video proving Rick Perry was right. You, sir, lost the bet. How about donating $10,000 to a homeless shelter?
Iowans, like the rest of the country, value a man's word and his trustworthiness. If you claim to be a man of the people, Mr. Romney, you better understand the value we place on $10,000. Apparently, your value of money is different than ours. George H. W. Bush lost his 1992 reelection bid in part because voters saw him as out of touch with average Americans when he didn't know how much a gallon of milk cost.
It's possible Romney's pathetic wager becomes his out-of-touch moment.
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