Mitt Romney Let the Dogs Out

While you may be off thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the presidential hopefuls are working. And after the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s remarks earlier this month, the candidates are treating black history like a high-wire act — taking care to strike just the right balance with voters.

Some are better at it than others.

That sound you just heard? That was Mitt Romney going splaaaaat.

He started out so well by drawing parallels between the enormity of the civil rights issue in the 60’s and the problems today.

“Sometimes you think problems are huge and they’re beyond the scope of anyone’s ability to deal with them, but an individual of passion and courage and faith and character can help change an entire nation, as he did,“ Romney said.

He then went into his stump speech. “So I wish to begin by paying my respects to his great memory and accomplishment. My areas of accomplishment are not like his, not on that level, and yet I took a very different course in my life than most people who are in office. I spent my life in the private sector…”

It’s a fairly typical maneuver for a presidential hopeful — speak reverently, then start in on your talking points. But after his scripted remarks were exhausted, he got a bit carried away. A lot carried away, actually.

“Who let the dogs out? Who? Who?” Romney said, singing the chorus of a popular song while posing with children. Admiring a child’s gold necklace, he said, “You’ve got some bling-bling, too.”

Nothing shows your connection to minorities like citing a bad song that’s eight years old and using white people slang to describe jewelry. Later today, we expect Romney will sing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song and talk about being jiggy.