Opinionator: The Other Missing Man

Timothy Egan on American politics and life, as seen from the West.

The great mystery of the first presidential debate was what happened to the Barack Obama a slim majority of the country was poised to rehire for another four years. That man — forward-looking, crisp-thinking, quick on his feet — was never on the stage in Denver two weeks ago.

But there was another missing man in the Mile High City that night, and on Tuesday, he reappeared — the petulant, unlikable and bullying corporate persona that is Mitt Romney's default mode.

With his feigned slights, his constant squabbling over the rules, and his arrogance that he alone has a trust-me-it'll-work business plan to right the country, Romney was the very picture of a C.E.O. used to getting his way. Meeting over. All opposed, take a hike.

The Mitt Romney of the second debate, to use Mike Huckabee's memorable phrase, "looks like the guy who fires you." He exposed, once again, his biggest fault: that he has no idea what it's like to be middle-class and struggling in 2012 America.

To take just a couple of examples, here was Romney explaining the benefits of his tax program, the breaks that you'll get on your stock dividends and mutual funds. As he outlined it with all the mercenary gusto of the visiting suit with a PowerPoint, Romney said, "Every middle-income taxpayer will no longer pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital gains." And, a bit later, "If you're getting a statement from a mutual fund or any other kind of investment you have, you don't have to worry about filing taxes on that."

No kidding. In Romney's world, and throughout his own tax return, the money earned from money — as opposed to money earned from working — is the chief source of wealth. And it's already taxed at a lower rate than middle-income earnings. Getting rid of those taxes altogether does nothing for the warehouse manager, schoolteacher or insurance sales person taking home a salary and being taxed at a full rate for making a living. But it's great for someone living off mutual fund dividends.

Another example: When asked a perfectly normal question, one roiling the soft minds of the undecided voters, about what would happen if the numbers in his secret budget-and-tax plan didn't add up, Romney went full boss-in-a-snit mode.

"Of course they add up!" He was offended at the mere suggestion that they would not. "I was someone who ran a business for 25 years." That, alone, was supposed to exempt him from explaining how he will cut taxes for the rich, add to defense spending and eventually balance the budget.

From there on, he grew increasingly bossy and impatient, whining about his allotted time and dodging questions with complaints about the order of the debate. In substance and style, Romney seemed like a speeded-up talking figure in a museum diorama. He scolded the president. He circled around and back, finally prompting the moderator, Candy Crowley, to say, "If I could have you sit down, Governor Romney." Inside voices and a time out — that's no way to talk to the guy who can fire you, unless of course, he can't.

The time capsule quality of Romney the C.E.O., circa 1956, was evident in several answers. On pay equality, it was not just "binders full of women" that made Romney seem like someone who popped to life with a hula hoop in hand. "I recognize that, if you're going to have women in the work force, that sometimes you need to be flexible." But only so the little honeys can get home in time to cook dinner for the gang.

Seven different times, Romney used the words, "I know what it takes." Because he ran a business, and a state and the Olympics. Except his business was a very predatory form of venture capital — no way to run a country. And his state ranked 47th in job creation, down there with the usual Southern suspects — no way guide a nation. And his Olympics relied, in considerable measure, on "the enormous spending and services of the federal government" to succeed, as Romney said in 2002.

And then there was the extraordinary, stunned look on Romney's face when he was fact-checked in real time by the moderator after he wrongly insisted that Obama never said the Benghazi killings were an act of terror. Insulated, seldom-challenged C.E.O.s who live in a bubble — in this case, the fact-challenged world of Fox News and right-wing radio — also die in that bubble.

The October surprise, then, was the Romney was who never showed up at the first debate, the politician who over the course of a long campaign became the most unlikable major party candidate in modern times.

It's clear now that the Romney of Denver was no more real than Paul Ryan pretending to wash those already clean dishes for a photo op in a soup kitchen. The Romney at Hofstra was the man who gives off enough of a toff's sense of entitlement that you wouldn't want to hang out with him, even if he demanded it. He's the plutocrat with a plan, and if you don't like it, go on down to Human Resources and pick up your lousy severance.

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