After his landslide victory in Florida over Newt Gingrich on Tuesday, it appeared that Mitt Romney’s nomination for President by the Republican Party was inevitable. In the words of that venerable sage, Yogi Berra, however, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over!

Yesterday morning, Mitt Romney was interviewed by Soledad O’Brien on CNN.  A certain sentence of Romney in the interview has created a firestorm among the press and the public, and I have italicized the sentence in the following description of the interview:

“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor — we have a safety net there,” Romney stated. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich — they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

O’Brien asked him to clarify his statement that he’s not concerned with the very poor. “I think there are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say, ‘That sounds odd,’” she stated.

“Well, you had to finish the sentence, Soledad,” Romney responded. “I said, I’m not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, then I will repair it.”

Mitt then added, “But my campaign is focused on middle-income Americans.  My campaign — you can choose where to focus. You can focus on the rich. That’s not my focus. You can focus on the very poor. That’s not my focus.”

The following is a link to a video of the interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqSrpynRTlk

To be fair to Romney, one can make a strong defense for his major thrust:  that the federal government, while addressing the plight of the poor, has ignored the needs of the middle class.  When taken together with some of his other statements and actions in the campaign, however, his sentence, "I’m not concerned about the very poor — we have a safety net there” only reinforces the growing public perception that Mitt is an out-of-touch corporate fat cat.  Among these other statements and actions are his equivocation about releasing his tax returns, the revelations about his Cayman Islands accounts, his implication that the $375,000 in speakers’ fees he earned was not a lot of money, and his $10,000 bet offer to Rick Perry in a major debate. 

In assessing the effect of Mitt’s unfortunate phrase on his campaign, presidential election historians will no doubt take notice of the fact that the use of the word ”brainwashing” in a television interview in 1967 cost former Michigan Governor George Romney, the father of Mitt, any chance he had for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.

In a taped interview on August 31, 1967 with the late talk show host Lou Gordon of WKBD-TV in Detroit, Romney stated: "When I came back from Vietnam [in November 1965], I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get….I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia."

This is a video of that famous George Romney interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSdSiBehQpI

George Romney’s statement, taken as a whole, was a reasoned explanation of why he had changed his position on the Vietnam War.  His use of the word “brainwashing” backfired on him badly, however, as that word connoted the techniques of interrogation and torture used by the Chinese in the Korean War to make American soldiers defect.

Prior to the Lou Gordon interview, there were doubts among Republicans regarding George Romney’s foreign policy experience, especially when compared with the vast diplomatic experience of his rival for the nomination, Richard Nixon.  After the interview, George’s position in the polls declined rapidly, and he withdrew from the race in February, 1968.

Will Mitt Romney’s inartful phrase derail his nomination express, just as George Romney’s “brainwashing” gaffe destroyed his campaign for the White House in 1967-1968?  Again, in the words of Yogi Berra, will this be déjà vu all over again?

Stay tuned.

Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Region 2 EPA consists of the states of New York and New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Indian nations. Under former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, he served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. He currently serves on the political science faculty of Monmouth University.