From the TPM Archives: Talking Points Memo

Mitt: I Can Dog Whistle Too

By Josh Marshall|January 22, 2012

As you can see Romney went to town on Newt Gingrich this evening in a newly aggressive stump speech taking Newt to task on pretty much all the signature Gingrich failings. But beyond the generally tough demeanor, there's another meta-message: I can dog whistle and bloody Obama as well as Newt, or I know bitch-slap politics as well as the next guy. So don't be worried that I won't be ready for that epochal debate. Mitt's new line is that we want someone in the White House who has "had a job" before. Unlike President Obama, who apparently has never had a job before?

"I think it's time we had someone in the White House who knows how to create jobs because he's had a job."

So President Obama, the self-made man, has never had a job before, unlike Mitt Romney, the guy born into the highest realms of wealth and power. That's where we're going.