Mitt Romney loves Costco.

Why would a man who Forbes estimates to be worth $230 million dollars shop at Costco with an enthusiasm that Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace described as “an unhealthy attraction?”

“It’s got great produce,” Romney tried to explain to Wallace, much like a student who blurts out the first thing that comes into his or her head when caught off guard by a tough question. And because produce can’t support “an unhealthy attraction” alone, the Republican presidential nominee was sure to include how fond he was of Costco’s shirts as well.

This comical exchange during a segment called “The Romneys at Home,” which Fox ran on Aug. 26, highlights two central points. First, Mitt’s full of it; second, it’s a shame anyone cares.

Maybe Mitt and Ann Romney really do have “an unhealthy attraction” to Costco. It is an exciting place; maybe I’m being unfair. But the majority of Costco’s devoted shoppers do so because buying wholesale is a good way to save a few bucks, and Costco makes it fun and easy. My intuition tells me Ann Romney, who, according to her husband, “drives a couple of Cadillacs,” isn’t shopping at Costco to save a few bucks. And nothing against Costco’s produce, but Costco isn’t the first place that comes to mind when I’m shopping for fruits and vegetables.

The more likely explanation is that one of Romney’s advisers told him average people like Costco, so he should too. Someone needs to tell Mitt that you can’t understand the plight of the common people by wearing mom jeans and buying bananas wholesale.

This can only be done by experiencing the same problems and worries that families and individuals across the country face on a daily basis, such as worrying about a pink slip, which contrary to what he would have you believe, Mitt really hasn’t had to do.

It’s not Romney’s fault that he has lived a life of privilege – all the more power to him. To be frank, it doesn’t even make him a bad candidate (future column idea: things that DO make Romney a bad candidate). But instead of claiming to do his own laundry and looking uncomfortable on the back of a jet ski, he should admit that he doesn’t know what it’s like to have to worry about money, and prove that this lack of understanding won’t hinder his ability to be president.

Unfortunately for Romney and America, however, many voters don’t see it that way. Voters would prefer a president they could see themselves having a beer with – a regular guy, a Joe Six-pack if I must. Literally speaking, Obama wins the beer test by a landslide considering Romney’s Mormon faith prohibits him from consuming alcohol (although he admits to having “tasted a beer once” as a “wayward teenager”), and Obama has shared his White House home brew with voters. Figuratively, he doesn’t fare well for reasons already discussed.

It is a shame that we are so hung up on how likeable a candidate is that questions of policy have to come after questions of wholesale shopping. Bowing to this mentality, the Romney campaign is shifting the focus of its strategy towards portraying Romney as an average family man. In between Clint Eastwood yelling at a chair, the Republican convention featured more than its fair share of speeches and videos aimed at persuading America that Romney is a nice, normal guy. Meanwhile, the country is headed off a fiscal cliff, we are stuck in an unwinnable war that has made no appearance whatsoever in this campaign, and Assad and Ahmadinejad are doing their best to pull us into another.

But at least we can all sleep a little better tonight knowing Mitt Romney loves Costco, just like the rest of us.

-Nick Jacques can be reached at [email protected]