Mitt Romney's Got 99 Problems
Image Credit: YouTube/ABC News
Mitt Romney’s had a problem ever since the secret video of him speaking about 47 percent of the country that pays no federal income tax leaked out this week. It’ll take a few days for polls to show just how much of a problem he’s got, but until then, pundits will keep arguing about the impact of what’s becoming known as Romney’s “47 percent problem.”
With this latest one, we couldn’t help but notice that “[Politician]’s [Something] Problem” is a fairly easy headline for political writers to reach to, and there’s something about Romney that makes them even more prone to it. (We’re even guilty of it, occasionally.) Just how often do we declare that Mitt Romney has a “problem”? In the spirit of Jay-Z, we assembled at least 99 instances. Will the “47 percent problem” be the one that finally decides the campaign? We don’t know, but we do imagine it’ll have more impact than, say, his “baked goods problem.”
But then again, he’s sure overcome a lot to get here. Just how much? Well, read on, and then maybe we can all agree to retire this particular headline construction for a little while:
- “Mitt Romney’s 47 percent Problem” – The New Yorker
- “Romney’s Real 47 Percent Problem” – The Grio
- “Romney’s 15 Percent Problem” – The Atlantic
- “Romney’s Right Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Romney’s Rush Problem” – Yahoo News
- “Romney’s Ryan Problem” – Huffington Post
- “Romney’s Ron Paul Problem” – Political Wire
- “Romney’s Rick Perry Problem” – CBS
- “Denial About Mitt Romney’s Bush Problem” – Slate
- “Mitt Romney’s Trump Problem” – The Daily Beast
- “Romney’s Palin Problem” – The Daily Beast
- “Romney’s Scott Problem” – The Hill
- “Romney’s Santorum Problem” – The Economist
- Mitt Romney’s Google Problem” – Mashable
- “Mitt Romney’s Health Care Problem” – RedState
- “Mitt Romney’s Health Care Non-Problem’ –The American Prospect
- “Mitt Romney’s Obamacare Problem” – The American Spectator
- “Mitt Romney’s Romneycare Problem ” – Investors Business Daily
- “Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts Problem” – Politico
- “Mitt Romney’s Ohio Problem” – ABC
- “Romney’s New Hampshire Problem” – Washington Examiner
- “Mitt Romney’s South Carolina Problem” – Politico
- “Mitt Romney’s Michigan Problem” – Newsweek
- “Romney’s California Problem” – The New Republic
- “Mitt Romney’s Southern Problem” – National Journal
- “Mitt Romney’s Big White Problem” – News One
- “Mitt Romney’s African-American Problem” – BET
- “Mitt Romney’s Latino Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s Hispanic Problem” – National Journal
- “Mitt Romney’s Immigration Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Romney’s Osama bin Laden Problem” – The Hill
- “Mitt Romney’s Afghanistan Problem” – The Atlantic
- “Romney’s China Problem” – Politico
- “Mitt Romney’s Russia Problem” – Forbes
- “Romney’s Syria Problem” – National Review
- “Mitt Romney’s No-Policy problem” – Politico
- “Mitt Romney’s Tax Problem” – CBS Chicago
- “Mitt Romney’s Tax Return Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s ‘Exotic Tax’ problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s Koch Problem” – The Huffington Post
- “Romney Has a Tax and Koch Problem” – New York
- “Romney’s Reverse Robin Hood Problem” – Talking Points Memo
- “Mitt Romney’s entitlement problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s money problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s Harvard problem” – Harvard Political Review
- “Romney’s ‘Success’ Problem” – Los Angeles Times
- “Romney’s Harry Reid Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s Bain Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s ‘Bane’ Problem and Ours” – Yahoo
- “Mitt Romney’s unsolvable Bain Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s ‘rich guy’ problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s class problem” – New York Post
- “Romney’s Jamie Dimon Problem” – Salon
- “Romney’s Wealth Problem” – The American Prospect
- “Mitt Romney’s People Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney has a personal problem” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s Empathy Problem” – The New Yorker
- “Mitt Romney’s Likeability Problem” – Alaska Dispatch
- “Romney’s relatability problem …” – Los Angeles Times
- “Romney’s Commander-in-Chief Problem” – Political Wire
- “Romney’s Gaffe Problem” – The National Interest
- “Mitt Romney’s Reading Comprehension Problem” – Mother Jones
- “Mitt Romney’s ‘Etch-a-Sketch’ Problem” – Chicago Sun Times
- “Mitt Romney’s rock and hard place problem” – The Washington Post
- “Romney’s Cadillac Problem” – Fox News
- “Romney’s Rafalca Problem” – Mother Jones
- “Romney’s Pesky Pooch Problem” – Bloomberg Businessweek
- “Mitt Romney’s Seamus problem” – Chicago Reader
- “Polling on Romney’s ‘dog problem'” – Public Policy Polling
- “Mitt Romney’s dog/God problem” – The Washington Post
- “Romney’s Mormon Problem” – Los Angeles Times
- “Romney’s Religion Problem” – National Review
- “Mitt Romney’s Christian Problem” – Think Progress
- “Romney’s Kosher Problem” – The New Yorker
- “Mitt Romney’s Evangelical Problem” – The New Yorker
- “Mitt Romney’s ‘Entitled Mormon Male Problem’ …” – Huffington Post
- “Romney’s Woman Problem” – Time
- “Romney’s Fake Woman Problem” – The Economist
- “Romney’s Abortion Problem?” The American Prospect
- “Romney’s Weasel Problem” – The New York Times
- “Mitt Romney’s Big Drug Problem” – TheFix.com
- “Romney’s Authenticity Problem” – National Journal
- “Mitt Romney’s Character Problem” – The American Prospect
- “Mitt Romney’s Culture Problem” – The Atlantic
- “Does Mitt Romney Have a Staff Problem?” – The Washington Post
- “Mitt Romney’s Entourage Problem” – The Washington Post
- “Romney’s Undecided Voter Problem” – The Daily Beast
- “Mitt Romney’s Primary Problem” – The Hill
- “Romney’s Real Primary Problem” – The New Yorker
- “Mitt Romney’s Conservative Problem” – New York Daily News
- “Romney’s Biggest Problem …” – The New Yorker
- “Romney’s jobs problem” – CNN
- “Romney’s Root Problem” – Talking Points Memo
- “Mitt Romney’s Insurmountable Problem” – The Huffington Post
- “Romney’s Image Problem” – The Wall Street Journal
- “Mitt Romney’s Contrast Problem” – The Wall Street Journal
- “Mitt Romney’s Fake Twitter Follower Problem” – Slate
- “Mitt Romney’s Baked Goods Problem” – Slate
- “Romney’s Press Problem” – MSNBC
You probably noticed some publications offending more often than others, and in particular the Washington Post, so we have to shout out to their blogger Chris Cillizza for personally contributing seven of Romney’s problems in his headlines. Quite the feat.
