Romney vs Obama Sound Clip Compare

The most interesting part about the debate of the 47% Romney comment is the comparison of what the press did with reporting it and the leaked Obama tape.  They rallied the wagons around Obama and sent out the wolves (e.g. assassins) against Romney. But a second important consideration is what it exposes about the candidates.  For Obama it is an exposure of a core foundational belief.  For Romney it was an observation of a political reality.  A reality we will see is an actual claimed strategy for Obama.

Barack Obama speaking in 1998 at Loyola University http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0PUUpa5X4E

"And my suggestion, I guess, would be that the trick - and this is one of the few areas where I think there are technical issues that have to be dealt with as opposed to just political issues - I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution," he said, "because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level, to make sure everybody's got a shot."

It is not really a huge surprise, as Obama has made similar, admissions before.  From "you didn't build that", to Joe the Plumber, we see Barack Obama's deeply held belief in redistribution through government.  Forcibly taking from one segment of the population that he both despises and demonizes and yet has become a member of (but doesn't seem to suffer from the demonization or forced taking there of, unlike small business owners do), and encouraging the other segment to increasingly demand ever more taking.

NBC was actually refusing to air this until well after it was obvious it was Barack Obama, as is shown in the video of the event, that actually puts face to match the singularly well known voice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusnNQBQkwo

Perhaps they learned more caution from the doctored tapes, fabricating a false story, they had created to demagogue those who didn't fit their ideology, with Zimmerman and then again with a previous Romney tape about his visit to a sandwich shop.

In his leaked tape, Mitt Romney's basic claim was:

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them

It is clear that Romney had stated an analysis (one which the media has created a distraction argument about by over-analyzing the minutia), that has been often presented throughout our history.  And he was in good company in stating the issue.  In a phrase attributed variously to Alexander Tytler or to Alexis de Tocqueville

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing

Ben Franklin even presaged it with the answer

“A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.”

Or Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." 

In fact Romney is simply explaining a statistical observation that Barack Obama describes as a actionable strategy in the complete version that same 1998 Loyola tape.

what I think will re-engage people in politics is if we are doing significant serious policy work around what I will label the working poor, although my definition of working poor is not simply those making minimum wage, but is also families of 4 making $30,000 a year.  They are struggling. And to the extent that we are doing research figuring out what kinds of government actions would successfully make their lives better we are then putting together a potential majority coalition to potentially move those agendas forward. One of the good things about welfare reform … it essentially desegregates the welfare population .. vs the working poor which are the other people, now we just have one batch of folks  …  that is increasingly a majority population

Perhaps some, like Obama, see this not as a serious problem facing the country, a problem that must be reversed to take people out of poverty by creating the environment for a dynamic economy with jobs like we had during the Clinton and Bush eras.  But as a goad to force ever more redistribution until everyone is "equal" (except the rulers, like Barack Obama), and no one has a job other than under the government.  That would be the ultimate in serfdom, as hinted by Franklin.  No avenue for individual initiative, no forward, no hope, no change, the realization of the dystopian society of "Metropolis".