Might the man who once said of himself "there's been nobody who's a bigger Obama supporter" vote for Mitt Romney? Maybe. On today's Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch—ad exec, man-about-the-Hamptons and quintessential wealthy NYC liberal—declared that his support for President Obama is "wavering."
Deutsch said that it was the bad jobs numbers of a couple weeks ago that "changed everything for me." Reacting to Deutsch's surprising declaration, Willie Geist broke out a variation on LBJ's line about Walter Cronkite. Said Geist: "if I've lost Donny Deutsch, I've lost Middle America." View the video after the jump.
After playing a clip of Mitt Romney in which he says that President Obama will speak eloquently but that "words are cheap" and that "the record of an individual is the basis on which you determine whether they should hold onto their job", Joe Scarborough turns to Deutsch.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Donny Deutch, you wear two hats here. On, morning-news analyst --
DONNY DEUTSCH: Pundit, pundit.
SCARBOROUGH: Pundit. And two, wear your Disco Inferno hat, the funny nozzles where you drink beer and snort coke out of . . . But no, as a, you're obviously a supporter of President Obama, but you also obviously have a lot of friends who were supporters of President Obama who say the same exact thing that Mitt Romney's saying right now.
DEUTSCH: Yeah. I'm a supporter of Obama, but, um, wavering, candidly. Two weeks ago changed everything for me, when those [bad jobs] numbers came out.
Deutsch then depicted scenarios in which President Obama might yet win, but concluded by saying "it's very questionable."
WILLIE GEIST: Donny says he's wavering. You remember LBJ's famous line: if I've lost Donny Deutsch, I've lost Middle America. It rears its head once again.
