First of all, there was one word that was obviously missing from the entire conversation...jobs. Other than a passing reference from Gingrich in the beginning about balancing the budget by increasing employment (with not a word about how he'd do that), it never came up.
We all know that lately the economy has been improving. But we still have an 8.3% unemployment problem. In other words, a significant portion of Americans are either un or under employed. But the Republican candidates for President didn't have one thing to say about that last night.
The second thing Republicans can't talk about is the real Obama. Yesterday, E.J. Dionne summarized that beautifully.
They say that President Obama is a Muslim, but if he isn’t, he’s a secularist who is waging war on religion. On some days he’s a Nazi, but on most others he’s merely a socialist. His especially creative opponents see him as having a “Kenyan anti-colonial worldview,” while the less adventurous say that he’s an elitist who spent too much time in Cambridge, Hyde Park and other excessively academic precincts.
Whatever our president is, he is never allowed to be a garden-variety American who plays basketball and golf, has a remarkably old-fashioned family life and, in the manner we regularly recommend to our kids, got ahead by getting a good education.
Please forgive this outburst. It’s simply astonishing that a man in his fourth year as our president continues to be the object of the most extraordinary paranoid fantasies. A significant part of his opposition still cannot accept that Obama is a rather moderate politician quite conventional in his tastes and his interests. And now that the economy is improving, short-circuiting easy criticisms, Obama’s adversaries are reheating all the old tropes and cliches and slanders.
The truth is...the Republicans are scared to death of President Obama's actual record. They know that if they deal with him honestly, they lose. And so they lie. And try to convince someone about their "most extraordinary paranoid fantasies." Those were on display for all to see last night. Here are the ones that stood out to me.
ROMNEY: I don't think we've seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious conscience, religious freedom, religious tolerance that we've seen under Barack Obama.
SANTORUM: (On Syria) This president has -- has obviously a very big problem in standing up to the Iranians in any form. If this would have been any other country, given what was going on and the mass murders that we're seeing there, this president would have quickly and -- joined the international community, which is calling for his ouster and the stop of this, but he's not. He's not. Because he's afraid to stand up to Iran.
I guess Santorum missed the whole thing about a U.N. vote on the ouster of Assad that was pushed by the U.S. and vetoed by Russia and China.
But the real whopper of the evening came from Gingrich.
This is an administration which, as long as you're America's enemy, you're safe.
You know, the only people you've got to worry about is if you're an American ally.
I have a couple of words for the disgraced former Speaker of the House...bin Laden and Gaddafi. Nuff said.
I don't think they are afraid of the real Obama, so much as their straw man is an easier target. I do believe they have real concerns about his foreign policy.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine a world in which any of them could defeat Obama in much of anything, so normally I would say there nothing to worry about.
However, I cannot imagine a world where Tea Party rhetoric would win congress, so I am worried.
I'm not convinced Tea Party rhetoric won Congress. Tea Party enthusiasm and consistent message was in stark contrast to the Democrats complete lack of same. Plus most of the Tea Party candidates ran as moderates and toned down their rhetoric.
DeleteMo'nin', Ms. Pants
ReplyDeleteHey, John. And, I see what you're saying. Along the lines of what Ms. Pants and E.J. Dionne are pointing out, I'm not nearly as worried as I was that he couldn't be elected in the first place.
I'm firmly convinced and I believe there are mountains of evidence that the bulk of this hoo-ha is all about how he looks. Period.
What I know is that through out history, and I've said it here as well, whenEVer a minority or a woman steps into a position that, until that time, they had never been allowed (and I'm phrasing that just the way I intend to phrase it) to inhabit, what follows is what we've all been witnessing (to put it into another arena - literally - don't miss what has been happening already with Jason Lin). There's a reason why, overWHELmingly, these "Firsts" are almost other worldly human beings.
Then, they have to endure the slings and arrows, then time passes, then it settles down. And, on we go. Until the next barrier is cracked.
With respect to your point, John, a LOT has happened from '10 until now. Including that PBO has, as one would hope with any President, grown more into the job and, his over-all record is pretty good.
The matter has been could we as a country get used to a man of color callin' the shots and a white man not. Pretty much all current polls would indicate that a goodly amount of progress has been made in this regard. And, PBO continues to make the choice CRYSTAL clear.
And, when "The First" woman becomes President......
Hi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteBlackman is so right about "firsts"! Think Jackie Robinson on down!
What was overwhelming for me was the incompetence of John King! Had he had even 1/2 a brain he could have/should have made them produce one single fact to back up their assertions.
Find me a person of any color who could have overcome the barriers erected to confound this man's success. Find me another person who could have save this country from not 1 depression but 2!
The same people creating these ficticious characters of PBO are also people who have not 1 clue about how to govern this country or relate to the world.
Thank God for PBO!
Smilingl8dy
I worry that the GOP is in its death throes and is swirling down the drain. The Oligarchs know this, that's why they're letting the theocrats like frothy Santorum go at it in a way that alienates 90% of Americans.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't going to give up and go away meekly. Are they letting these theocrats act out, to see how much crap the American public will tolerate. What is the next incarnation they will try to deceive, divide and continue to decimate the middle and working classes with now?
That would require actual political skills and a willingness to look forward to the next generation of voters ... something these R's have'nt done since Nixon. And that was when he started this mess in the first place.
DeleteNah, this is just stupidity in action.
Hey trashy! How's it going? Good to hear from you. Although I'm sorry for the late reply which you will probably never see.
DeleteYeah, I agree that this Republican iteration is in its death throes. Who knows what comes next?