I'm not attributing that statement to Mitt Romney. I'm saying it about myself. About the things I said, and did, 30 years ago.
In fact, I was a racist too. Even though I felt opposed to racism from my earliest says, I grew up in an all white town, where racial slurs and racist jokes were used shamelessly in casual conversation. As a pre-teen or teenager, I didn't even see the contradiction between my inner thoughts and my participation in these conversations.
I probably did some things worse than what Mitt Romney did. I helped tip a student council election against a kid who may have been gay, based on the fact that it was rumored that he was gay.
But, if its not obvious by my participation in a site like this, I not only regret my early-life attitudes and and actions: I am deeply ashamed of them.
Yes, I lived in a homophobic era, in a small, backward, all-white town. But I'm still responsible for the things I said and did even as teenager, and I'd give anything to have them undone.
See -- its not hard to say this in public. Maybe it would be a little harder if i was a well-known public fiigure, and I wasn't quasi-anonymous (my first name and location are in my username). But still, i'd rather people know that I did stupid--actually mean-- things and grew up than say things as lame as this:
“Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that,” Romney said in a live radio interview with Fox News Channel personality Brian Kilmeade. Romney added: “I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.”
He goes on to say that he's "deeply sorry" about any incident that he may or may not have remembered or may or may not have occurred. Not to give free campaign advice to Mr. Romney, but here's what he could have said:
You know, I don't remember that particular incident, but I'm certainly not proud of everything I did in high school. In fact, like most teenagers, I was an insecure kid. I wanted to fit in. And sometimes that led to picking on others who were less popular and less well liked. Looking back, I'm terribly sorry for those occasions
Even something as tepid as that would have made Romney look semi-human. He could have come out against bullying, and appeared to empathize with young people.
Which is all the more reason why President Obama's statement yesterday was not only the right ting to do, it was pure political genius. He's not going to get a tidal wave of votes from pro-equality fence-sitters. And he may lose a few votes among social conservative swing voters. He'll even take some heat for "evolving" and changing his position. But the truth is, he changed from a position of ambigutiy to one of clarity. And here's the bottom line: President Obama looks like a leader. Romney looks like the polar opposite.