Mitt Romney: I’m Also Unemployed

Mitt Romney told a group of unemployed Florida voters that he was unemployed, too! It's being touted as a gaffe on Twitter but appears to be a joke.

Mitt Romney told a group of unemployed Florida voters that he was unemployed, too! It’s being touted as a gaffe on Twitter but appears to be a joke.

Jeff Zeleny, NYT Caucus blog (“Romney: ‘I’m Also Unemployed’“):

Mitt Romney sat at the head of the table at a coffee shop here on Thursday, listening to a group of unemployed Floridians explain the challenges of looking for work. When they finished, he weighed in with a predicament of his own.

“I should tell my story,” Mr. Romney said. “I’m also unemployed.”

He chuckled. The eight people gathered around him, who had just finished talking about strategies of finding employment in a slow-to-recover economy, joined him in laughter.

“Are you on LinkedIn?” one of the men asked.

“I’m networking,” Mr. Romney replied. “I have my sight on a particular job.”

Still, Politico‘s Alexander Burns may be right that this “is probably not a line to keep using,” noting, “Romney is, of course, worth several hundred million dollars and unemployed by choice.” Highlighting one’s personal wealth might not be the route to success in these times.

UPDATE: I see Steven Taylor is also on this one and shares Burns’ take.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Terrye says:

    It just amazes me that people will latch onto something like this and make a big deal out of it.

  2. john personna says:

    Strikes me as mildly funny – more so, since running for Pres since 2006 or something makes him long-term unemployed 🙂

  3. Bernieyeball says:

    BIG deal??
    Looks to me like this is reporting on the remarks of a USA Presidential candidate accompanied with sober commentary.
    I agree Mr. Romney is joking.
    I’ve been out of work for 19 months.* Mitt is a real funny guy!! HA HA HA HA!!

    *This may explain why I spend so much time “disrupting” important political sites like OTB.
    Please forgive me. Other than my Unemployment Benefits work search there isn’t much left to do.

  4. lunaticllama says:

    Romney is not unemployed. He simply is not working. Is he actively seeking a job in the labor market? No, therefore he’s not counted as part of the labor force, and thus, could not be unemployed. True, it’s a semantic difference, but there’s a wide gap between not working and actively seeking a job as part of the labor market.

  5. john personna says:

    “Is he actively seeking a job in the labor market?”

    Doesn’t a permanent presidential campaign qualify? 😉

    Of course, if he really wanted employment, he might broaden his strategy. He might fail the job interview this time as well.

  6. @James:

    Yes, the perils of glib titles on group blogs…

  7. G.A.Phillips says:

    He sounds like Obama…

  8. matt says:

    I found the joke to be funny 🙁

  9. Peter says:

    Liberals fear that Romney will be able to make a strong case against re-electing President Obama!