So now it starts: A day after Barack Obama came out for same-sex marriage, the Washington Post runs a big piece about how teenage Mitt Romney bullied a presumably gay kid in high school. If the story is true — and it is well-sourced — it’s really awful. As regular readers know, I was bullied in high school, and it made a huge difference in my life. I despise bullies.
But Mitt Romney was a teenager! God forbid anyone should judge me at my advanced age based on horrible things I did as a teenager. Though I myself was bullied, I can think of kids that I in turn bullied. I didn’t do things nearly as bad to them, or so it seemed to me, but I was still gratuitously cruel to some kids in high school, and I’m ashamed of it today. I don’t remotely hold anything against the kids who picked on me so badly back in high school. It’s easy for me to be merciful to them because I hope that kids I was mean to will be merciful to me. I was talking to a friend the other day about all this, and said that I expect at my judgment in heaven to be confronted with kids I had been vicious to in my childhood — I’m thinking especially about you, Johnny P., wherever you are today, who moved here from Nebraska for a brief time in fourth grade, and suffered from my bullying attentions — and I will be shocked by how much I hurt them.
Anyway, boo on teenage Mitt Romney for being an ass. I hope he takes this opportunity to reach out privately to anyone he hurt back then, and make it right. We should all aspire to do the same. But look, what on earth does any of that have to do with the presidency? It’s ridiculous. Let’s say for the sake of argument that Obama was a horndog in high school, like many American teenage males. Are we supposed to derive a lesson about how he treats women, or his moral integrity, based on how he behaved at 16?
Mitt Romney is a 65 year old man. The events recounted in this story happened a half century ago. I’m 20 years younger than Romney, and I would think it inaccurate and unfair to judge me based on my worst self at 15. Then again, I am not an editor at The Washington Post.
I think I actually disagree pretty strongly. Some 16 year olds are dumb jerks, yes, but this goes way beyond that, for several reasons.
1. Romney didn’t tag along with some kids, he wasn’t messing with a bad crowd. From what the participants say, most of whom are still his friends, Romney led the pack; he collected a gang of boys! Or think of it another way- if it hadn’t been for Romney, the incident never would have happened.
2. What he did goes way beyond normal bullying. He solicited friends to help him chase and tie down a boy while he pulled out scissors and cut off his hair! The “atta girl” anecdote is dumb, immature high school teasing that he should be embarrassed about, but this is way beyond that. He should be haunted by this.
3. Speaking of “he should be haunted by this,” the dual claim that a. He doesn’t remember and b. Because he was involved in dumb pranks in high school, it’s possssible this happened- both are disturbing. Doesn’t remember? It looks like the rest of these boys sure remember; it looks like they could never forget! I know I was involved with some dumb things when I was younger, and I could never, ever forget the things I did, and they were nowhere near as awful as this. And if he thinks, hearing it now, that this is equivalent to just another dumb prank, that is just as horrible.
I think it’s also worth thinking of what could have happened: how would you have reacted if after this story came out, Romney had called a press conference, taken full responsibility, and said with complete humility, “I have regretted my actions every day since that incident, and I’ve had to live with knowing the pain I caused another person. I would do anything to take it back.” How differently would you feel about him, and about it? Instead of his cowardly reaction that he doesn’t remember, but it’s possible?