You have to step back for a moment to grasp the sheer preposterousness of the suggestion that Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital might really be off-limits in the presidential campaign.
Think about it. Romney’s presidential campaign, in the sense of his case for himself, is almost entirely based on his experience at Bain Capital. You hear extremely little from Romney about his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts. Rather, his case for himself is that he’s a seasoned manager and knows the private sector — both of which he has a pretty strong case for. But his entire private sector career was at Bain Capital. So how exactly can that possibly be off-limits. Romney hasn’t just raised the issue; it’s his entire campaign.
The history at Bain has always been a massive liability for Romney in every campaign he’s ever run — four in total. The aim here is to somehow make it off-limits early, something that would be a massive benefit, akin to Obama being able to make the unemployment rate off limits.
It’s a bluff. The folks in Chicago seem to get that.
