Romnesia

Romnesia is a political pun that was stated by President Barack Obama during the United States presidential election of 2012. The term is a portmanteau combining the last name of Republican nominee Mitt Romney and amnesia to suggest a condition of selective memory of prior policy stances.
Popularization
The term gained major media coverage after its usage in a campaign speech by President Barack Obama in Fairfax, Virginia at George Mason University on October 19, 2012. Speech Quote:
"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 back tracking and side stepping. 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 that you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for President. Here’s the good news, ObamaCare covers pre-existing conditions." - President Barack Obama

Coinage
Ben Zimmer, Chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society, was reported by RedState blogger Barry Popik on October 19, 2012, to have posted to the ADS listserv that the earliest use of the term Romnesia 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.
In the major media, the idea that Romney suffers from amnesia was put forth by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman in an April 22, 2012, editorial titled "The Amnesia Candidate".
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".
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.
The term Romnesia first appeared in the Urban Dictionary on July 19, 2012, and was made its Word of the Day on October 20, 2012.
Criticism
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". 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….
Prior Uses of Amnesia Portmanteau in US Presidential Campaigns
Another instance of combining an opponent's name with amnesia occurred during the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, when former president George H. W. Bush used the word Clintonesia in reference to his opponent, former president Bill Clinton.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu