No, this is not one of my satirical pieces.

President Obama at a Denver fundraiser last night suggested he’s been spending his life in “the real world” while Romney has not. Here’s a look at what he said:

There was a woman in Iowa who shared her story of financial struggles, and he gave her an answer right out of an economic textbook. He said, “Our productivity equals our income.” And the notion was that somehow the reason people can’t pay their bills is because they’re not working hard enough. If they got more productive, suddenly their incomes would go up. Well, those of us who’ve spent time in the real world — (laughter) — know that the problem isn’t that the American people aren’t productive enough — you’ve been working harder than ever.

The point, I gather, is that rich people don’t live in the real world.

As far as I’m aware, Romney earned the vast majority of his money by busting his butt in school and sacrificing time with his loved ones by working incessantly ever afterward.

In his role at Bain Capital as someone trying to revamp companies so that they would be profitable, he dealt with every aspect of the real world, including workers, their salaries, businesses, customers, and so forth. What’s more, as an executive, his job was to run an enterprise and grapple with the joys and difficulties of managing his own employes.

Let’s look at Obama’s journey through the real world. He’s celebrated as a community organizers. But actually, HE ONLY DID THAT FOR THREE YEARS. Here’s his background:

1961-1983: Childhood and school

1983-1985: Real world participation, working for a year at the Business International Corporation,then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

1985-1988: Real world participation, working as a Community organizer

1988-1991: Harvard Law School

1991-2004: Writing and teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. During this time he also had four years real world participation as a full time lawyer, though he handled relatively few cases, according to the Los Angeles Times.

1997-2004: State Senator

2005-2008: U.S. Senator

2009-present: President of the United States

So I’m counting about nine years of real world particpation during 30 years of adulthood.

Romney began his business career in 1976, and didn’t really part from it until he ran for governor in 2002. So that would make about 26 years in the real world for Romney. And during his time in the real world he also ran the 2002 Olympics and devoted a great amount of time to leadership positions in his church.

Obama spent far less time in the real world. His assertion makes one wonder – what world is he actually living in?

And yes, BTW, many people can’t pay their bills because they either are not working hard enough or they are spending too much. Not because The Man is oppressing them. That’s the real world.