>>> harris perry, and host of melissa harris perry, seen saturdays and sudd sundays here on msnbc. jo it is great to have you both, the first read puts out today team romney needs to have four objectives. one, better himself to the american people . two, he needs to convince the public that while he looks the part, he is the man americans are comfortable seeing on their tvs for next four years. and three, he has to try to close the empathy gap , with the recent polls showing that president obama holds a 22 point advantage on who people care about more. melissa , let's starts off with you, is this a good assessment?
>> yes, i think that is right. i this i it is a tough line for governor romney to walk. he has to seem to have empathy, a man of the people. that is why they built the stage out into the delegates to make him look like he is not re moved, far away . a nice piece of stage craft. the other things, he has to do that maintaining his story line . his story line is i'm a fixer, i'm mr. competent. i came in, i fixed the olympics, right? this is what i do. that personality line, is not sort of the guy with empathy, and caring, it is a little more removed. he has to walk both of those, while managing what is going on in the convention. an awfully conservative, very right platform.
>> and has he been trying to establish that he has a because story that americans are willing to get to know?
>> well, it is interesting, ann romney in her speech said he is not going to tell how he helps people, because he thinks it is a privilege. i thought that was an interesting strategy, mrs. romney says even if he doesn't say anything nice about himself, he is too humble to say it. he has to represent himself and has not done that so far.
>> phil , what do you think about the objectives? and also a big hurdle is proving to people only seeing him designed as a plutocrat.
>> well, governor romney has done a lot of good things without asking credit for him. tonight, we can look for him to champion his success, frankly the people introduce -- they look for a full, hearty endorsement of that work. he will not back down from embracing success from the speakers last night. and governor romney will look at the pro active move for the future, a clear, simple agenda, understandable, talks about a smarter trade policy , and a variety of other things that are going to help our economy grow, starting day one. so this is a first chance americans will have to get a preview into the first 100 days of the romney presidency. and you can tell you from the hoarse throat factor, coming into the convention, people are really excited.
>> phil , one thing, calling people up, to get people inspired and to get behind you, do you think mitt romney has done that so far, especially since given the fact he has been running for the last five years? and if this is all about performance, image, posure of this, hasn 't america already seen what they already need to know about, what mitt romney already is?
>> so thomas, no, the answer to the question is definitely not. if you look at where the question is waged and prosecuted. it is in the hand of small voters, 47% of them have yet to get enough information on romney to make a decision on how to vote for him. they're trying to fill the gaps, tell the story of mitt romney as a leader, a father, and active in the community. and also as a governor, executive, the challenge tonight is to continue to fill in the blanks, and tell key voters in the swing states as to where mitt romney is, and where he will take the country.
>> with all due respect, i am surprised to hear phil say this is a campaign focused on swing voters . the decision to choose paul ryan as a running mate, and to choose an extreme platform, one we have heard over and over again, from s -- surrogates, i believe when you look at the polling, the republican party so far. they're trying to shore up their base. it is not at all ready to move towards those moderate swing voters .
>> so melissa and i are in different camps, how it melts down here. but the reality is, the deciders in this election ultimately are not going to be the base partisan. i can tell you with good authority, our party, the republican party is fully ener -- filled with energy -- so melissa , we'll have this debate after charlotte, and we'll come back together and see where we are. but i like our chances with respect to intensity right now.
>> phil , let's talk about the voters, the empathy factor, the americans believe president obama understands the plight of the american people because he has lived through it. and has lived the american dream , somebody who you think can rise up from -- where mitt romney has this plutocrat battle.
>> i think the reality is, president obama has lived the american dream , but so has mitt romney . that is the genius of freedom in america. the reality is that mitt romney 's success is something we should celebrate as a country. and we have a decision in front of us that says do we need to make hard choices about stop spending money we don't have? curbing in entitlement systems that are broke --
>> but how do you bring up the plutocrat narrative, of course he has done well, no bones about it. he wants to run away from it, by not talking about bain so much, how do you break that plutocrat story?
>> when mitt romney was running bain capital , one of his partner's kids disappeared in new york city , he shut down the entire company and moved to new york on a search and rescue mission that went on for four days. it was not something he took credit for, or championed. but shows the character of mitt romney , somebody who cares about others, has empathy for others.
>> phil , that is empathy, but it was reported he was in his 30s when he did that. and that was the first time that he ever saw a bad neighborhood. when he moved to new york. it is in the book, and also it was written about in rolling stones , the first time he had ever seen a downtrodden neighborhood. there were bad places, oh boy. he was in his 30s.
>> i think it is silly to say that mitt romney has not had exposure to lots of different countries and places in this country. a long, hard fought --
>> did you read the book mitt romney ?
>> i don't read --
>> you don't read.
>> i know the real mitt romney , i worked for him for two years and had a chance to see him do lots of things behind closed doors , to tell me this is a man of kind heart, character and conscience, who will do good things.
>> i agree with you, about the kind heart and conscience, but i will say that as much as that is a story about somebody who cares, it is also a story about somebody who is empowered to shut down a company. and that is kind of the disconnect for ordinary americans , that you would show your compassion by being a person to with enough resources to shut down a whole company, it is not a sympathy question. it is not whether or not mitt romney can have sympathy, it is whether or not he understands the struggles ordinary americans are facing right now. and like -- not a judgment on him as a human being , but on the campaign as a political strategy, being able to get to discourse across, i think that the strategy thus far clearly seems to not work.
>> hands down, tonight will be a big night for mitt romney , and a lot of people are excited to see how he comes out and addresses the crowd. phil , thank you so much, thank you, and be sure to stay with msnbc all night for live coverage of the republican national convention , and the prime
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/48847011/
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