Wow! By the end, that is clearly the voice of a man who doesn't know why he is telling the story or what the point is, but seems nervously glad that the story itself is about to end.
This is one of the reasons Willard will lose. He is so completely tone deaf. He has no idea how bad some of these statements sound. Obama is (usually) much more aware of what he says and how it will come across.
Also, it's not like George Romney moved the plant to Mexico - he just moved it to the next state over. I really fail to see why everybody is extrapolating this into a gaffe or insensitivity, when it clearly isn't.
I agree with @1. I think he was telling the story because it was tangentially related to a topic he was just discussing with someone. And the "amused" tone in his voice is his weak attempt at making the story sound funny and interesting when he's realized, mid-story, that it isn't, to anyone (including him).
I do this sort of thing in conversation all the time, sadly.
@9: not gaffe, just another illustration of his disconnect with actual humans. mormonism makes him awkward, his wealth makes him awkward, his privilege makes him awkward. he comes off as an old, old man (yes, he is. he's 65 and he uses just for men touch of grey) who has nothing to say to non-mormons.
#2
I don't think you're doing George Romney justice.
He was a seminal figure in the pivotal year of 1968 at the national level.
He was one of the first Moderates to take a stand against Vietnam...well before Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy.
I do this sort of thing in conversation all the time, sadly.