Why Romney lost

Of all the events that took place during the presidential election, perhaps the most telling took place after the votes were counted. That’s when Mitt Romney, in a conference call with big-dollar donors, attributed his loss to President Obama’s having followed the “old playbook” of giving special-interest groups—meaning African Americans, Hispanics, young people and women—certain “gifts” that attracted their votes.

According to The New York Times, he mentioned “free contraceptives” for “college-age women” and the DREAM Act for Hispanics. He said Obamacare that allowed young people to remain on their parents’ health insurance plan until age 26 “was a big gift,” as was forgiveness of college loan interest for young people.

His comments echoed those he made early in the campaign to a similar group of wealthy backers, when he said, in effect, that 47 percent of Americans were moochers who paid no income tax.

Instead of seeing the growing groups—Hispanics and young people, especially young women—as vital parts of the American organism with needs government rightly should address, Romney saw them with the mind of a salesman, as interest groups for sale to whoever was able to give them the most “gifts.”

As Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, like Romney a Republican, later said, “If you want to be liked by the voters, you have to like the voters.” Romney, whose entire life has been spent among the wealthy and privileged, didn’t like the voters, and they knew it.