You Wanna Bet $10,000?

Mitt Romney

I really believe most Americans must have been surprised last evening when Mitt Romney offered Rick Perry a $10,000 bet.  Just when you were thinking you had seen everything with the American political process, a new wrinkle is added.  Last evening during the Republican Presidential Debate on ABC, Mitt Romney actually put forth a $10,000 bet to Rick Perry on the inclusion of information in Romney's book.   These debates just keep getting better and better.  I haven't seen the television ratings but I suspect they spiked up when word of Romney's bet surfaced.

Who bets $10,000?  Perry didn't take the bite but Romney sure did offer it.  Are we to believe that Mitt Romney is the Michael Jordan of political debates.  Jordan was well-known for his outlandish betting.  So was Pete Rose.  Jordan did it in his leisure time; Rose did it in his profession.  I keep wondering how many Americans can relate to someone who throws out such an amount for a bet.

How many Americans were surprised by this gesture?  It sounded almost like two little kids arguing over some silly baseball statistic.  "You wanna bet?" was always the favorite line of my friends who were so assured that their proclamation was correct.  It was just funny hearing it at a Presidential Debate.  You also have to wonder how many Americans can relate to a bet of $10,000. 

I don't hang with too many people who throw out such sums of money when placing a bet.  Generally, a dollar here and there, maybe a five dollar bill on something of greater importance.  Where did that come from?  Is Romney so out of touch with the American people to use such a sum of money?  What was he thinking?  I keep thinking about the millions of Americans out of work.  What were they thinking when they heard $10,000.  What about all the folks with jobs that hardly make that amount of money for a year's work. 

Those Americans faced with incredible hardship due to the poor economic conditions can only wonder what it is like to have $10,000.  Was Romney just being insensitive or was he just being that boy on the playground wanting to out-do his friends.  My guess is that it was a little bit of both.  Clearly it was a gesture on Romney's part that his handlers will want to walk away from.  You can count on the democrats to have that piece of film ready to go today, tomorrow and next year when it's time to put forth the anti-Romney commercials. 

That, you can take to the bank.  You wanna bet?