Romnesia
Romnesia is a term used by U.S. President Barack Obama late in the campaign for the United States presidential election of 2012, lampooning Republican opponent Mitt Romney for memory lapses.[1] The term is a portmanteau combining the last name of Mitt Romney with amnesia to suggest a condition of selective memory of prior policy stances that Romney took.
History
Use by the Obama campaign
News sources reported on the Obama campaign's use of the term[1][2][3] after its usage in a campaign speech by President Barack Obama in Fairfax, Virginia at George Mason University on October 19, 2012, making a character critique of Mitt Romney:
"He’s forgetting what his own positions are, and he’s betting that you will, too. I mean, he’s changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping - we’ve got to name this condition that he’s going through. I think it’s called 'Romnesia'. That’s what it’s called. If you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can’t seem to remember the policies that are still on your website, or the promises you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for President, here's the good news: Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions." - Barack Obama[4]
Alex Kantrowitz of Forbes described Romnesia as a "Made for Social Media Attack Line" and observed that the term spread rapidly through Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube within 48 hours of its first public usage by Obama.[5]
Danny Diaz, a senior advisor to Romney, responded on Twitter stating: "America doesn’t need a comedy routine; it needs a serious plan to fix the economy".[6] Washington Post blogger Alexandra Petri panned Obama's use of the term Romnesia for being reminiscent of comedian Jeff Foxworthy's comedy album You Might Be a Redneck If….[7]
Coinage
Ben Zimmer, Chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society (ADS), posted to the ADS listserv[8] and Twitter[9] that the earliest documented use of the term on the web was by blogger Brian Rosman on the Health Care for All Massachusetts website in a blog post titled 'Romnesia' from April 4, 2011.[10]
Other early uses of the term in major media include that of Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn, who wrote an article in June 2012 titled "A Case of Romnesia".[11]
In September 2012, George Monbiot of The Guardian published an article titled "Mitt Romney and the myth of self-created millionaires", which began by stating:
We could call it Romnesia: the ability of the very rich to forget the context in which they made their money.[12]
References
- ^ a b "Election spawns a new lingo, from 'Obamaloney' to 'Romnesia'". CNN.
- ^ "Obama fires up crowd in Virginia with 'Romnesia' speech". Washington Post. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ^ Dann, Carrie (October 19, 2012). "Biden: 'Romnesia' is a communicable disease". First Read.
- ^ "President Obamas Romnesia Speech Transcript and Video". 2012.presidential-candidates.org. October 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ Kantrowitz, Alex (October 21, 2012). "#Romnesia: A Made for Social Media Attack Line". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ Markon, Jerry (October 19, 2012). "Obama blames 'Romnesia' for opponent's positions, as campaign skirmishing builds". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ Petri, Alexandra (October 19, 2012). "ComPost: Romnesia? Really?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1210C&L=ADS-L&P=54161
- ^ http://twitter.com/bgzimmer/status/259406170857566208
- ^ "Romnesia". hcfama.org.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help); Text "http://blog.hcfama.org/2011/04/04/romnesia/" ignored (help) - ^ Corn, David (June 20, 2012). "A Case of Romnesia". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ Monbiot, George (24 September 2012). "Mitt Romney and the myth of self-created millionaires". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-10-22.