Wednesday’s presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney could come down to who is “The Reverse Mortgage Guy,” writes a Chicago Tribune columnist this week.
A generic term, writes Tribune columnist John Kass, the Reverse Mortgage Guy is “a real smooth talker.” They are good at what they do, he writes, “they sell.”
Kass writes:
As we prepare for the great debate between President Barack Obama (blessed be his name) and that guy with the Mr. Fantastic Four haircut unloved by the media, I ask you to keep someone in mind:
A real smooth talker who can convince you of anything.
…The Reverse Mortgage Guy.
I’m speaking generally, of course, using Reverse Mortgage Guy in generic terms, because there are many reputable reverse mortgage guys in many reputable reverse mortgage TV commercials. But such men are almost identical to other noted smooth talkers, reputable men like the Sell-Your-Gold-By-Mail Guy and his polar opposite, the Buy-Gold-Before-Armageddon-Comes Guy.
And don’t forget the Save-Thousands-on-Groceries-by-Vacuum-Sealing-Your-Leftovers Guy, the ShamWow Guy, the Snuggie Guy and Mr. Handy Bundler.
So to save ink, I’m just going to call all of them Reverse Mortgage Guy. They’re good at what they do. They sell. And they’ve sold me just about everything except the Armageddon Gold kit. They could sell dead rats as earmuffs to blind men.
The one thing they all have in common is that they’re on TV, they’re smooth talkers, and each is an expert convincer. This cannot be underestimated, for commercial pitchmen or for presidential candidates. Because convincing the American people of what you won’t do to them after the election is perhaps the most vital political skill in the world.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
