Keller @ Large: Romney's Hair A Campaign Problem?
BOSTON (CBS) - It was such a beautiful holiday weekend around here that, I admit, I let some of the presidential campaign news feed go by me without eating any.
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So I'm just now getting caught up with what the New York Times seemed to feel was the lead political story of the day on Friday – Mitt Romney's hair.
No kidding, I am not making this up:
"Mr. Romney's head of impeccably coiffed black hair has become something of a cosmetological Rorschach test on the campaign trail, with many seeing in his thick locks everything they love and loathe about the Republican candidate for the White House…. Privately, some Democratic strategists have seized on it as a physical manifestation of what they say is a deeper truth: Mr. Romney…is not like most Americans.
Really?
"A cosmetological Rorschach test"?
Whoever wrote this has made it impossible for anyone associated with the Times to ever again criticize the cheapening of our political discourse.
But since the Times believes Romney's hair has become the subject of "unusually intense political speculation and debate," let's see what this debate is telling us about the candidate.
Romney's barber tells the Times that his client's hair color is natural, he does not use any product to keep it looking that way, and that he resists attempts to give him a more "stylish" look.
Romney is also tight with his grooming budget, says the barber, who reports Romney in the past has had his wife cut his hair, or even trimmed it himself.
"He is a very controlled man," he says. "The hair goes with the man."
OK, so what have we learned about Romney here that's so telling?
That he's not all that vain, watches his spending closely in spite of his wealth, and trusts his wife to handle scissors around him?
I can see Romney's hair generating a degree of envy, but even the Times quoted a voter calling it "presidential."
Last time Romney ran, the Times notes, his own advisors admitted they saw his hair as a potential voter turnoff.
It turned out hair was well down the list.
This time, it might be among his better selling points.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
