Grasping At Straws…
I am beginning to think I grossly overestimated Barack Obama. Now of course, after almost four years of his administration it is virtually impossible to UNDERestimate his capabilities as president, but I must now call into question his political capabilities. I have thought him a capable politician – after all, he did get elected on pretty much nothing last time. But if what is happening now is any judge, his ’08 election was about everything BUT Barack Obama.
The last years of his non–governance have always had me thinking that he was behind the eight-ball in this campaign. Therefore, I have expected this to be an ugly campaign. Chief among the ugliness I have expected the race card and the Mormon card – possibly in tag-team action. I have expected them to be played slickly and therefore effectively. We are beginning to see them deployed, but they are being deployed in a fashion reminiscent of a drowning man reaching for anything that floats. Such things are not useful if they are flung about, they must be carefully aimed and thoughtfully utilized so as to create maximal negative effect on your opponent without getting too much of the mess on yourself.
Instead, what have we got?
Well, the race card is being played over a comment Tagg Romney made on the radio. Come on – after all the death threats and other nonsense Republicans have been treated to in recent years, this is a big deal racial issue?
And the Mormon card is trying to be played out of the “binders of women” thing – and not as a joke, despite yesterday. Besides, when it comes to jokes about binders, this is the only one I have found funny to date. Besides, for the Mormon card to be effective, it has to be aimed at peeling off Evangelicals, not echoing inside Leftland. But check out these articles.
Oh, and remember Tuesday night when I said right after the debate:
Romney’s take down of the Obama lack-of-a-record and failure to live up to his ’08 campaign rhetoric was devastating – DEVASTATING! That single couple of minutes by Romney decides the debate heavily in his favor.
Well, looks like the campaign folk agreed with me.
Folks, this is not a picture of effective political action – it really is a picture of a drowning man. And so, I’m taking the weekend.
I’ll be at the Naval Academy watching my “nephew” play basketball and the Midshipmen play Indiana in football. (Watching the Hoosiers play football is an exercise in futility I have not enjoyed for a couple of decades.) I will next return to the Internet on Twitter Monday night during the debate and post either afterward or Tuesday morning, depending.
I leave you in Lowell and John Mark’s most capable of hands until then.
Posted in Candidate Qualifications, Political Strategy, Religion and Race, Religious Bigotry | 3 Comments » | 
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JLF9999 on 18 Oct 2012 at 2:45 pm #
Bob Beckel on Fox’ The Five today admitted that if the Gallup poll is right, the campaign is over. Short of Mitt Romney committing the most egregious faux pax of all time, no sitting president in history has come back to win if the opponent is over 50% this late in the season. If you add to that the Real Clear Politics average of all polls which shows Romney ahead by a point, then we will have a new president-elect come November 7th. One other note: http://www.unskewedpolls.com/dailytrackingpoll.cfm indicates by their daily tracking poll, that the margin is 60% – 39% in Mitt Romney’s favor. If so, I will have to consider taking back some</em> of the nasty things I have been thinking about the Romney campaign's intellectual acumen.
JLF9999 on 19 Oct 2012 at 7:02 am #
Did you see Ann Romney at the Al Smith dinner thing last night? Man, that lady cleans up gooood. She is an absolute gem. What a first lady she will be. And speaking of the dinner, I was especaily impressed with the gracious but pointed humor of both candidates. Mitt was excellent and Obama was OK but both represented themselves well. It was obvious both had good writers. Mitt was much better than Obama though. Did I mention that? Both men were introduced by Al Smith’s grandson, Al Smith IV who was a excellent too. He got in a few jabs at both guest speakers too. I kind of wondered whether the event might devolve into a bit of a donnybrook but Tagg Romney wasn’t invited. (insert drum rim shot here).
That brings me up to your friend and mine, the inestimable and irascible and late (my fondest wish) Sluggo “Peaches” O’Mally AKA Lawrence O’Donnell as his mother calls him. Peach has called Tagg Romney out for his remark about wanting to punch Barry Obama after Obama called Mitt a liar. A word of caution to the 62-year-old pugilist wanna be: keep it up Sunshine and sooner or later the Danites will hunt you down like a dog provide you with a truly religious experience.
Rockgod28 on 22 Oct 2012 at 2:19 pm #
We will see true grasping at straws after the debate today (Monday) as Americans are able to see Mitt Romney unfiltered by the mainstream media.
I hope he does well and then after the debates are over the true desperation of a man who knows he is going to lose power really seeps into his mind. And it is going to burn.
Bill Clinton is not going to be able to save President Obama or anyone else, even if we suddenly go to war. Again.
Barring alien invasion, meteors falling from the sky, or other apocalypic events there will be a new President elect in November with Barack Obama going back to Chicago in January.