"The Many Shades of Mitt"

Sorry to post again on something political, but I couldn't help myself on this one. While perusing my favorite web news source- The Huffington Post- I stumbled across an article that questions whether or not the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had "dyed his face brown" for a recent TV interview on the Latino channel Univision. Seriously?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/mitt-romney-dyed-face-brown-fake-tan-univision_n_1900707.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

As many girls know there is nothing more embarrassing than a bad spray tan- and apparently, now Mitt Romney knows it too. But was this really that, just a mistaken attempt to look as though he'd gotten a little sun, or was it really a calculated political move? Did the brilliant minds behind the republican political engine really think that it would gain popularity for the white, mormon candidate if he looked a little darker? A little tanner? A little more...latino?



 http://newsone.com/2043503/mitt-romney-brown-face/

This article above, from news one, starts the title with the phrase "From the Desperate Files" and I can't help but agree. Everyone who's watched the news or read a newspaper or even checked their Twitter lately knows that Mitt's latest blunder was his comment concerning the "47%". In the video of his Univision interview he starts off by saying that this campaign is for the "100%"- that is to say, latinos included. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReelFkp3FvU

It honestly shocks me to think that we are at a point socially where wearing dark make up or dying your face brown would even be a blip on your conscious radar. Surely Latino voters won't feel as though they have more in common with Mitt just because his skin looks darker. Or would they? I don't really know. 

It's an interesting thing to think about. Sure, we have a black president now. And we've had countless white presidents. But we have yet to have a Latino president or an Asian-American president, and certainly not a female president. So I guess it could make sense in a desperate candidates mind that perhaps if they play the part of a latino- if they throw in a couple spanish words, or I guess, dye their face brown- they might be more accessible, fit in better, be more generally likable. But that also just sounds crazy. 


The other possible explanation for this fiasco, of course, is that Mitt Romney really DID just have a bad make up artist! I feel as though our culture and our society are so focused on race and gender issues- especially when it comes to the political realm- that we look for innuendo, hidden meanings, and emphasis on things that aren't really there! We are so hypersensitive to any remark, any gesture, any action that could possibly be construed as racist or sexist or insensitive to any group automatically is, despite how innocent it may have been intended. I feel that oftentimes in an effort to be politically correct and sensitive to controversial subjects, we actually emphasize them more. It is almost as though we try so hard not to be racist or sexist or whatever, that we are constantly looking for it- so we can say "ha!" and point our finger, and pat ourselves on the back for being every so much more open minded than those other folks. 

Perhaps we need to give ol' Mitt a break. It's embarrassing enough to have a make-up malfunction, at least we can rest assured that our cosmetic faux pas won't be criticized in the media for weeks to come.