One of the things I hope I provide here is an occasional step back from the daily hysteria often created by our media about politics to look at the big picture. That's not only something my brain seems hard-wired to do naturally, I think it also helps us avoid the emotional roller-coasters created by the hysteria and hopefully allows us to see President Obama's long game.
From that perspective what we see is that the Obama campaign continues to control the narrative in this election. Romney has consistently been caught flat-footed in responding to President Obama's lead. We've seen this when it comes to issues like women's reproductive health, the Buffett Rule, student loan interest, defeating al Qaeda, and now marriage equality. On that last one, most of the media noticed that Romney's response has been half-hearted and often contradictory...so has the religious right.
Beyond the issues, we've seen Romney have to concede that he's not as "likable" as President Obama, follow him around trying to disrupt events, and lie about crowd sizes. The latest challenge for his campaign has been to try to discredit the fact that he was a bully in high school.
When Romney finished up with the Republican nominating process, what he'd hoped to do was etch-a-sketch his way into making this election into a referendum on President Obama's handling of the economy. To date his campaign has been a total failure at pulling that off.
Its true that this is the area where President Obama gets his weakest support. But to capitalize on that, Romney has to make the case for abject failure in this department. He can't do that. The American public still remembers on who's watch the economy crashed. And while low-information voters might not be as aware as you and I that what has happened since then is total Republican obstruction of most of the measures President Obama has tried to implement to improve things, I'm not sure they're ready to give a vulture capitalist a shot at it. If so, the Obama campaign has a message for them.
So far I'd suggest that Mitt Romney hasn't done much to show the American public that he can be a leader. What he's shown is that he can throw dirt and hope something sticks. When it comes to the economy, people want answers - not mud. And since the Republican Party of today has none of those, they've got nothin' but an empty suit. I don't think that's going to cut it.
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Good Morning,
ReplyDeleteGreat piece! You are at your best when you strip away the veneer of media & repug BS! This President and his exquisite team (Plouffe,Mrs. O, Val & Ax) is quietly and methodically making whipped cream out of this fool.
Smilingl8dy
Morning SP.
ReplyDeleteI agree the Republican Party of taday has nothing but an empty suit, and I also don't think that's going to cut it. On the one hand I can't wait for November to arrive to get this over with, while on the other I don't want to rush time as I'm not getting any younger. ;-)
I notice you have TOD's latest post listed, but did you notice that BWD is back with a "new" 'The Only Adult in the Room'? I know you used to have it listed here as well but I didn't see it re-instated....yet.
Plus, I finished reading 'When Gos Was a Woman'...finally!!! I confess it is the first book I've ever read that I found both interesting AND annoying - which is why it took me so long! Like you though, it found me at the right time in my life. I also have had something of a religious background and know that I would never have been able to read it had it come across my life earlier. So, thanks for the timing. :-)
VC - If you haven't read Rianne Eisler's "Chalice and the Blade," I HIGHLY recommend that one. Its not a light read either, but a little less wonky than Stone's. I find I constantly refer back to it as a way of understanding what's happening today.
DeleteNo, I haven't read Eisler. My religious rebellion only started to coalesce recently (as in 2008), and initially just meant having my eyes thoroughly opened to 'christian' behaviour as exhibited by people my church revered. So you could say, I'm only just ready to see the whole picture. I'll check out Eisler at the library heading into the summer. I don't want to shock my brains into revolt if I attack another scholarly work too soon. :lol:
DeleteStone was too pedantic in parts and somewhat confusing in the way she used quotations, so that I found it hard to internalize most of her info. I ended up feeling that I could/would have retained more if she had presented her sources in a more chronological manner, but that's just me. Also, I would normally annotate furiously when reading stuff like this, but this belonged to the library so I couldn't. THAT was really hard because there were sections that I wanted to share with friends from my Bible study/prayer group. Anyways SP, I truly appreciate the timely nudge which planted the seed for me to look further. Thanks again.