TAMPA, Fla. — Here are some real estate signs I’ve seen in Hillsborough County in this fourth year of our economic “recovery.”
• “No Reasonable Offer Refused.”
• “Starting in the low 100’s.”
• (This next one was hand-lettered, at an exit off the interstate) “Lots Dirt Cheap! 9K.”
You think the economy’s in tough shape in Boston, but it’s much worse down here, and in most of the rest of the country. And I hope Mitt talks a lot about it tonight in his prime-time speech. It’s still the economy, stupid.
Plus, likability is overrated. No matter what Mitt says or does tonight, it won’t please his critics. Reciting too many statistics in a speech is also deadly. Look at Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s snoozer Tuesday night. He mentioned numbers more than Rick Santorum mentioned hands. But here’s one number Mitt should definitely use.
On Jan. 20, 2009, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.89.
Now it’s close to four bucks.
That’s a number everybody can relate to. And it doesn’t matter how many times Comrade Chris Matthews says it’s racist to bring it up, and you know he will. Anything that makes MSNBC’s Sun King look bad — racist.
It’s hard to make yourself seem likable. If you’re really likable, it gets around through your friends, word of mouth. Yesterday morning, after his keynote speech the previous night, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke to a breakfast meeting of the New Hampshire and Pennsylvania delegations.
He talked about how when he was being courted for an endorsement last fall, the Romneys came to visit him in New Jersey. Christie said his two older kids shook hands with the Romneys and went away. But the two younger ones, 8 and 11, stuck around, looking for attention from the new adults, and Mitt spent a few minutes with them, asking them questions and playing.
“You know how it usually is with a politician and a kid,” Christie said. “It’s, ‘Hello little girl, that’s a pretty ribbon in your hair. Now, where’s your mother?’ ”
Everybody chuckled. It’s too bad he didn’t use it in his prime-time speech. If Chris Christie says you’re an OK guy, you must be an OK guy, right?
So Mitt shouldn’t waste a lot of his time tonight trying to wear his heart on his sleeve. Likability isn’t what it used to be anyway. Michael Barone wrote yesterday how it’s become less important as fewer people watch TV news as regularly as they used to. If you’re not in somebody’s living room every night, it matters less if they “like” you.
But if he wants to lift one line from a very likable president, and a Republican to boot, here’s the one Mitt should resurrect this evening.
“Are you better or worse off than you were four years ago?”
