Mitt Romney has failed the first requirement of politics — never let your opponent define you. His favorability is falling fast, though Karl Rove would have you think Obama’s punches aren’t landing. Um, yes, they are. Here’s and interesting take on Mitt Romney biographical sketch.

Todd Purdum: “All presidential candidates depend on biographical narrative to define themselves to voters. Jimmy Carter was the Man from Plains and Bill Clinton the Man from Hope. George W. Bush was the Sinner Who Went Straight and John McCain was the War Hero Who Never Gave Up. Barack Obama was the Fresh Face from Nowhere, who embodied the American Dream. Every one of these men, by the time he ran for president, stood atop a thick biographical record–books and articles, testimonials from old friends, memoirs and tracts, soul-baring interviews. One had a sense of how they thought, how they reacted, what made them tick–and as time went on, it was generally easy to see how their actions fit the people we knew.” “And Romney is… who? What? It’s hard to know, because he doesn’t like to tell us.”

What do you really know about Mitt Romney? Mainly what the Obama administration has put out there and the fact that he has always been ill-at-ease around ordinary folks. Romney’s personal image remains negative and it keeps getting worse, according to a recent Pew Research poll. He needs to lighten up and mix. Um, I forgot. He can’t do that. He’s like a robot. Even George W. Bush was more likable than Mitt Romney.

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.