Is ‘There is no there there’ a normal and very natural expression?

Is ‘There is no there there’ a normal and very natural expression?

I was amused to find the phrase, ‘There is no there there’ in the article titled, ‘Wrong resume’ in today’s New York Times commenting on Mitt Romney’s proposition for amending the Constitution to require the President to have at least three years business experience before he could become president of the United States.’.

It reads:

“Romney has made business experience the main reason to elect him. Without his business past or his projections of business future, there is no there there. But history shows that time in the money trade is more often than not a prelude to a disastrous presidency. The less experience in business, the better the president.”

I interpreted ‘there is no there there’ means ‘without his business experience, there is no place of success that he enjoys today. Though spell-checker keeps demanding me to delete one of three theres there from the text I’m typing in, I don’t think there’s any grammatical problem with this line. However, it makes me hiccup for unknown reason.

Is this just a pun of words played by the writer? Is it 'cool' or a very normal and natural expression?

Solution 1:

The original is from Gertrude Stein in a quote about her birthplace, Oakland CA.

It's not natural but it works. It is not a pun or a play on words, but is just clever by using 'there' in three slightly different senses.

There is no there there

The first instance is simply the existential nonreferential 'there is'.

The second is making a noun out of 'there' by having an adjective modify it 'no there', which is a figurative use of 'there' meaning place, no sense of location.

The third is just the usual adverbial answer to 'where?', at -that- location, referring specifically to Oakland in the quote.

The meaning of the entire sentence is that she didn't find a sense of place, a center, or really anything substantial or important enough to be warranted calling the town of Oakland some place by even a name. She's just belittling her home town.

Now as to the use of the quote in the passage, it is trying to say that the person has no other qualities to recommend him without the business experience.

Solution 2:

This phrase famously appeared in Gertrude Stein's book, Everybody’s Autobiography, where it specifically refers to Oakland, CA. Although I've long supposed she referred to the blandness or colorlessness of Oakland, tenderbuttons.com says it refers to the occasion when she wanted to visit her childhood home in Oakland, CA but could not find the house. (Which might amount to the same thing, many of the houses and neighborhoods looking much alike.) Anyhow, the common interpretation of this phrase, so far as I'm aware, is that it says something has no important essence.