Romney's poor management skills aren't a gaffe, they're a feature

The idea that Mitt Romney is a "good manager" has now been proven false. The ongoing disaster that is his presidential campaign proves that Romney isn't Mr. Fix-it, he's Mr. Broke-it.
Remember when Romney botched the religious right furor over his foreign policy spokesman being gay?  It was clear that Romney mishandled the situation, but no one realized at the time that Romney's poor management skills weren't a gaffe, they're a feature.

Look at his foreign trip. His big chance to prove himself on the world stage. What did Romney do? He offended the British, insulted both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and then desecrated a Polish holy site for good measure. By the time his trip was finished, all three countries were ready for Romney to self-deport asap.

Then there's the repugican convention, which Romney was in charge of. In addition to being incredibly boring, on Romney's big night they let Clint Eastwood go on stage, unscripted, and wing it for 20 minutes. I don't care how good an actor he is, no one gets on that stage without a pre-approved script. Who would permit such a thing on Romney's big night?

And there was Romney's Al Haig moment during the Libya/Egypt crisis. His first instinct when he heard Americans were lying dead in the Middle East was to see the moment as "an opportunity." Forget about his human instincts for a moment, his political instincts should have told him to watch it. And they didn't. And then when he got roundly called out on it, even by fellow Republicans, he doubled down and did it again, and smirked, and then got the capital of Libya wrong.

Then earlier this week we have Romney's "You're fired!" video to 47% of the American people. I don't care if he was at a private fundraiser, you don't admit something that incendiary to strangers, regardless of how much money they've given you. And worse, the wait staff was there - did they donate $50k as well, so they could be trusted? There's always a chance that someone is going to go public, and worse, record it. Why didn't Romney think of that?

(And before anyone says "Obama did it too in 2008," I'd argue that Obama's words were different than Romney's - but regardless, Obama had one himbo eruption, Romney's don't seem to ever end.)

Or Mrs. Romney's ill-fated "Mitt doesn't disdain the poor" video last night. Whose bright idea was that?

Chris argues this morning that Mitt's much-famed CEO skills don't necessarily make him a good president, and Chris is right.  But I'm wondering whether we've got the story wrong.  Mitt Romney isn't a bad presidential candidate because he's a good CEO.  Maybe he's a bad candidate because he's a bad CEO.

There's a good reason "a mood of gloom afflicts the Romney campaign."  Their boss is a lousy CEO.