Romnesia

By Michael J.W. Stickings

At a campaign stop in Fairfax, Virginia yesterday, President Obama hit Romney hard for his shameless flip-flopping, for his opportunistic hypocrisy, and for his blatant dishonesty, lying to voters about who he is and what he stands for just to win some last-minute votes in swing states.

It's an old story but, for the president, a new meme. And it's fantastic. Because if Romney won't stop lying to the American people, it falls on the president now to tell them all about the real Mitt.

Here's the definition:

Romnesia [Rom-nee-zhuh] Noun – a condition affecting Mitt Romney, who has shifted his positions from "severely conservative" to "severely kidding" – conveniently forgetting the conservative promises he's made over the past six years that he's been running for president.

The way the president tells it, it has a sort of Jeff Foxworthy ring to it. And along those lines I'd add this:

If you think tax cuts for the wealthy drive the economy and help the middle class, if you think women should be paid less than men for the same work, if you think there shouldn't be laws banning assault weapons and that violent crime is caused by single-parent homes, and if you think Russia is America's #1 enemy, just to name just a few of Mitt's crazy right-wing views, then you are not -- I repeat, not -- smarter than a 5th grader.

And should not be president. Period.

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Anyway, here's the "Romnesia" clip. The president really gets into it. And understandably so. He's been more than respectful of Mitt throughout this campaign. But the only way to respond to Romney's lies is to call him out on them, as he did especially well in the second debate and as he is doing more and more on the campaign trail, and to expose him for what and who he really is:

Now that we're 18 days out from the election, Mr. "Severely Conservative" wants you to think he was "severely kidding" about everything he's said over the last year. He told folks he was "the ideal candidate" for the Tea Party, now suddenly he's saying, "what, who, me?" He's forgetting what his own positions are, and he's betting that you will too.

I mean he's changing up so much – backtracking and sidestepping. We've gotta name this condition that he's going through... I think it's called "Romnesia." That's what it's called. I think that's what he's going through. 

This is one meme that should be a big part of the last two and a half weeks of this race.

And this... (spoiler alert: the conclusion to which he builds through various indications of Romnesia)... this is just brilliant:

If you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can't seem to remember the policies that are still on your website, or the promises that you've made over the six years you've been running for president, here's the good news: Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions.

We can fix you up! We've got a cure! We can make you well, Virginia! This is a curable disease.