America may be over their Pop Star and ready for a President
This was Obama’s moment. It would not only be foolish but petty to deprive him of that fact.
Stripping out the showmanship and one-upmanship on both parts, Mitt Romney most often struck me as something of what one might call a bread and butter, or meat and potatoes guy – his words and cadence more inline with the kind of discussion one might have at the dinner table, than a debate. Jobs, the price of gasoline, tax deductions in terms of 3, or 4,000 dollars here, combined with the raising of this, or that price over there, that ‘crush’ the middle class, was a word I believe he used more than once. It was a simple, straight-forward working man, or woman’s vernacular.
They were simple, straight-forward words that connect, regardless of how the wonkier among us might want to point out the solidness, or impossibility of any Math.
And then there was Obama, straining to cast social and women’s issues in economic terms to get more bang for the buck someone had paid a communications guy to craft, test and re-craft them for him. At times he attempted to be grand, … sweeping, as he was in 2008. But it’s his own record, pretty much a first for an Obama not known for staying in one place too long, that drags on him now.
He doesn’t have 8 years of Bush to attack with his own lofty rhetoric and grand promises subject to little, if any challenge back then, as he hadn’t yet saddled up as a president in 08. He did try to make Romney Bush as one point if you recall. To what end, for what purpose, I thought? Certainly, I knew. But it didn’t strike me as something that worked very well. Romney defined himself so positively and so well in the first debate, Obama’s attacks now seemed in-congruent - they just don’t compute as well as they did when they were being thrown at the more unknown candidate Romney was before the first debate
What it also demonstrated to me was how very small Obama and his politics are this go round, for such an allegedly grand, and once iconic figure. He was trying to use a trick, to put Romney in a box labeled Bush, so he could freeze him and divide him from potential voters. There’s nothing noble in that and one can’t see Obama as what he was in 2008, when he’s now so obvious in his calculations based on that type of old school Chicago politics. He looks a bit lost and frustrated by it, if you ask me.
In some ways there are now two Obama’s… running against himself. It’s his record, the day-to-day reality of his presidency he needs to speak to,but he refuses to do that. He’s no longer free to be the footloose and baggage-free iconic figure he was cutting through the political landscape four years ago. It’s a somewhat weighed down Obama voters are getting to see now. Meanwhile, he won’t even acknowledge, let alone straight-forwardly address and attempt to pick up that weight. It’s as though he wants to be just what he was four years ago but he’s not. Time, unemployment, gas prices and the like have seen to that.
Finally, he did everything he could to remain ‘well-liked’ over these past few years. He largely succeeded. However, I don’t believe he did nearly as much to prove himself to be competent and in charge. As I said during a radio interview I was asked to do today, Mitt Romney is speaking like a man at your dinner table. Obama appears to be speaking as if he’s sitting on Jay Leno’s couch.
If I’m correct and America perceives Obama as a man who is ‘popular,’ which is a basic part of the definition of a Pop Star, after all – this election may well already be over in the minds of voters, some not wanting to say it, with some not yet having stopped long enough to figure it out. It felt good watching him come up, bursting onto the scene with some flair and more than enough pomp and circumstance.
But it’s rare for a Pop Star to hold onto the top rung of the popularity ladder. In that sense, people eventually and often quickly become fond of watching someone else. In the end, this election could be decided by a combination of two things – call it the pop star and the not.
A pop star is one of the last things anyone would would call Mitt Romney. If anything, he comes off as an executive, a man who likes to take charge of things, to get things done. Thus, if , America has become, not indifferent, but less enthused and amused by the pop star that’s been in the White House these last four years and is now again ready for a president – Mitt Romney may very well already have this thing sewn up.
One can hope, anyway – after all, Barry told us so in 2008.
Wow, I really like you style – perhaps you’re a bit of a meat and potatoes man yourself. Well-said.
WC
In 2008, people wanted someone “cool”, who wouldn’t harsh their mellow with talk of responsibility, initiative, and credible criticism of one’s choices in life.
In 2012, people want someone who will stop the pain.
In 2008, people thought they could get free ice cream and a pony, paid for by the “rich”.
In 2012, people are looking for someone who will reduce the amount of “reality” behind the pony, on the barn floor, that they will have to shovel away.
In 2008, people voted for Mr. Obama to validate their tolerance.
In 2012, people are voting for Mr. Romney, to validate their intelligence.
Very well said, and I am proud to say I never liked him from the moment I laid eyes on him, told my husband his eyes were cold and cunning, and will never understand how people in 2008 couldn’t see right through him. Talk about iheriting a mess-poor Romney Ryan!! But they have the resolve to tackle this!!
I saw it in Obama from the beginning. I know I listen to Fox news, but it was more than that. It was his arrogance. I wanted to be happy we had your first black president, but I knew his ideology was not what I wanted from an American president, his apology tours. Our past soldiers deserve so much more and I really am just plain sick of him being our president. Let’s get someone to shake things up. Romney is a good man. Give him a chance and let us see what he can do. If he doesn’t do something we can fire him, but let’s not hold onto this loser. We can not afford it!
I will borrow your excellent post and put it on my facebook page. Well Said Ritchie The Riveter.
“to validate their tolerance”? What racist tripe is that?
Once you vote Romney, you validate your inability to discern fact from fiction. Your “intelligence” abandoned you long ago if you believe his many, documented lies.
Democratic talking point — no evidence or facts jusr ‘ROMNEY LIES.” MORE bs FROM THE OBOTS.
Great Article
So, you do not mind that all of your meat-and-potatoes rhetoric is peppered with lies? As a Canadian, it is disgraceful that you would elect a man who so obviously speaks to the crowd that he is presented with, and I pity America for what voters like you (who likely elected Bush, whose policies instigated your present crisis) its continued intellectual impotency.
Good luck with attempting to have a hand in running your country into the ground, you zealots.
Lies? You mention lies, but you give no
specifics. Also you’re Canadian so
shouldn’t you be waiting in line somewhere
for your healthcare? Romney is trying to
keep us from that fate.
Oh yes. Health care and emergency surgeries that are available to everyone, at all times (paid by taxes) are such a burden.
Shouldn’t you be paying off your $1 000 suture removal?!
Connor, what Canadian land are you living in? I’m Canadian and have witnessed first hand my loved ones waiting in line for months for major operations, and when they get to the hospital, there isn’t enough room for them. You must have bought in to Canada’s own socialist government, where half of what western Canada produces gets sent to support the eastern provinces. America doesn’t work that way, and having a leader who always does the popular thing is what has screwed Europe, and is screwing up America.
And what do you propose the alternative be, Jess? That you pay for it all?
A loved one of mine had to wait for one year to get both of his knees replaced, and do you know what it cost the family for the surgeries, hospital care, and consequent rehabilitation? Nothing.
If Canada is such a socialist wasteland to you, move to America & become indebted to their evolving medical system, like millions of others have.
Screwed up Europe? You mean like Norway, Luxembourg, the UK, Sweden, and Finland, which have similar governmental structure to Canada and, along with our country, enjoy the highest standards of living in the entire world?
Every continent has its failings (America considering Romney to be a viable candidate, for example), but Europe’s Italian, Ukrainian, and Greek issues aren’t its standard bearers.
“I’m Canadian and have witnessed first hand my loved ones waiting in line for months for major operations, and when they get to the hospital, there isn’t enough room for them.”
So, they sat around in hospitals for months on end & when their names were finally called, their appointments had to be reneged because the hospital erred and their rooms were actually full? Do you even consider what you think about?
Scheduled operations aren’t simply pushed aside. That’s bullshit. It’s why they are scheduled.
I gorgive you for your ignorance since you are canadian.
If you comprehend a truthful analysis, free of spin and lies, you would learn that this observation wrtten here is port on.
I’d rather the real truth be spun from time to time than have false truths limited to mere promise.
ANOTHER obot with his demo talking point. God has heard our prayers — Romney turns out to be a great candidate, obama is exposed, and America is comin’ back!
P.S. Insults are not debate.
* “and I pity America for what voters like you (who likely elected Bush, whose policies instigated your present crisis), who have propagated its continued intellectual impotency.”
*how
You biased imbeciles do realize that it was another Republican, Bush, who got you into this mess in the first place, right? And that the aforementioned’s policies would be, for the most part, replicated by Romney-Ryan, right?
What policies does Mitt Romney have other than his “Five-Point plan”? What is it, exactly? Do you know? Does anyone or anything other than Romney’s imagination?
I am honestly curious as to whether or not you all truly believed that your country, which had been economically ravished so ruthlessly by Bush that he left office with a multi-trillion dollar deficit to his name, could have been repaired in four years. Do you? If so, you must also realize that your lives as you know them are hopelessly redundant.
The way that Romney describes his supporters, people like you, is in a grovelling, pandering light that must not be flattering to you! He thinks that you are scum (which some of you who are racists most certainly are) who grab at his shirt & desperately plead for the “better America” that he so baselessly promises to you.
Is there air between your ears or a brain? Do any of you possess a shred of dignity that will not stand when you see that he lies to you, every time he opens his mouth?
…
Conner,
It is you who sounds like a biased imbecile. Thank you for your little tirade today. I’m sure you have convinced a couple people to vote Romney. A petty little small minded, loud mouth such as yourself is never right. Rant and rave on as I’m sure you will.
Enjoy your country’s downward spiral to irrelevance should Romney be chosen to lead you, Jeri.
Boy, you are pissed, aren’t you? Not nearly as pissed as most of us are happy.
(You guys really DO need to take some debate classes. SOS.)
On November 6th, you need to know that you can elect slow progress (Obama) or rapid regression (Romney). The rest of the world hopes that you decide to elect the former, because the latter’s ideologies (not policies- of which he has none) would ruin America for your children and their children.
Bush inherited the only surplus in American governmental history, and his policies transformed that into being the second-largest deficit in your nation’s history.
Now a new man, a member of the same party, whose ideas of how to run businesses are the same as the President who led you to this mess you find yourselves in, stands in front of you all & lies to your faces. What do you do? You praise him.
Your collective idiocy sickens the world at large, and in terms that you zealots may understand: may God have mercy on your souls should you choose poorly and elect a liar this November.
Oh Conor. Typical lib. Call people names,
blame Bush, and give no specifics. I
have a feeling that a lot of the inter-
net trolls still praising Obama are not
Oh Conor. Typical Lib. Call people
names, blame Bush, and give no specifics.
I have a eeling that a lot of the
internet trolls still praising Obama are
not even from this country, just like
you. Learn how to debate. Stop the
silly name calling.
I am an, imbecile: blah blah blah blah, troll link.
Specifics? I’d point to the second paragraph, but you seem to be illiterate, Bonnie.
The regulations implemented by Paul Martin, a liberal PM, over a decade ago which have remained unmolested were what solidified our economic reservoir. Harper has accomplished three things:
(i) Lost Canada’s seat on the UN Security Council for the first time in our history.
(ii) Waste billions of dollars on F-35 fighter jets that are unneeded.
(iii) Employed a military spy who sold sensitive information regarding Canadian, American, and British Intelligence for five years to Russia.
(iv) Granted hydraulic fracturing rights to provincial entities which will ultimately destroy the land.
BTW, typical American conservative: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/08/29/mitt-romney-tells-533-lies-in-30-weeks-steve-benen-documents-them/
*”four”
You cannot polarize and ridicule all of us voting for Romney. Not even a “nice try.” I’m a conservatibe, and here’s a hint — this election has nothing to do with dems and repubs. Lots of us are neither. It’s collectiviem vs. individualm. We’ll let Greece be Greece, and we’ll stay America.
Conner, as an AMERICAN who studied the issues and the past history of OBAMA, I, as an AMERICAN will vote for Romney. You, as a CANADIAN can keep your opinions to yourself. As for your comment “May God have mercy on your souls should you elect a liar this November”, we already elected a proven liar 4 years ago and with Gods help,we will try to dig out of the hole Obama has left us in.
Carol, we for sure elected a liar whose
lies and coverups got our ambassador
killed. Never again. If we are to
salvage this country and what we
stand for, we must elect Mitt Romney.
blah blah blah blah, troll link.
More witty repartee. What a surprise! Rant on Conor.
The guy who wrote this article censored my original comment.
Hi Conor. You’ve had your say. Now haul your sorry dumb ass back to Canada and STFU.
Maybe poor Conor doesn’t realize that Canada has a conservative PM that has stayed out of the way of business. This has made Canada one of the most prosperous countries of the last four years.
Other than that Conor, you have nothing but hate and assumptions. Go have a Molson’s, eh? That is, if you are old enough to buy beer.
I have a feeling he’s still in the whippits stage.
Conor doesn’t realize that Canada is going through a great era of prosperity due to …wait for it….a conservative PM.
Conor, relax, go have a Molson’s…if you’re old enough to buy adult beverages….
How come you haven’t moved from the Great White North then, Conor, now that the Conservatives and P.M. Stephen Harper have a majority? I suggest Cuba.
My wife watched portions of the debate, so I didn’t catch much as I had no intention of watching any of it.
The dumbest thing was Obama’s explanation for the price of gas. Mental.
The 2nd thing was bringing up Bush. Bush has been gone for 4 years. He can NEVER BE PRESIDENT AGAIN. Bringing him up at this point is futile and downright embarrassing. You’ve had 4 years to ‘undo’ the mess you were supposedly left. You’ve done nothing. It’s all you, buddy.
If Obama wins a 2nd term, I’m convinced that Americans hate America and I have no chance of ever getting my country back. It’s too far gone.
Why aren’t you allowing me to give you Steve Benen’s 30 weeks-worth of documented lies from Romney, Dan? You fascist hypocrit.
Most of us don’t read clip-and-print spam.
The regulations implemented by Paul Martin, a liberal PM, over a decade ago which have remained unmolested were what solidified our economic reservoir. Harper has accomplished three things:
(i) Lost Canada’s seat on the UN Security Council for the first time in our history.
(ii) Waste billions of dollars on F-35 fighter jets that are unneeded.
(iii) Employed a military spy who sold sensitive information regarding Canadian, American, and British Intelligence for five years to Russia.
(iv) Granted hydraulic fracturing rights to provincial entities which will ultimately destroy the land.
BTW, moron: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/08/29/mitt-romney-tells-533-lies-in-30-weeks-steve-benen-documents-them/
*four
To conclude: It is fiscally impossible to remove a multi-trillion dollar deficit in four years as a national entity. Impossible.
The Bush administration, by its second term’s end, was losing an average of 750 000 jobs per month (as of late 2007 [thank you, Bill Maher]). It inherited the only surplus in American governmental history from the Clinton presidency & carried that mantle in three ways: (i) It was the catalyst for the horrific state that the economy finds itself in today through the implementation of fiscal de-regulation which benefited both those involved in the administration & their lobbying benefactors; (ii) it entered an ethically questionable war (Iraq); (iii) and perverted the nation entire with Texan tendency (that’s a joke).
You suggest that Americans elect a man who not only is of the same party as the aforementioned president, but has openly changed public policies if only to whet that contemporary audience’s decidedly misinformed appetite? The Republicans of today aren’t even considered genuine Republicans by their precursors! Their political ethics are, proudly, corporately sponsored & their fiscal propositions are the same that got America into the fiasco it finds itself in today.
The only benefit of any Republican victory in November would be for Canadian tourism because all of the Democrats would flee whatever America would become because of it.
Goodbye, Sheep.
Uh you do realize that during the financially successful years during Clinton, the House and Senate were controlled by Republicans, and during the Financial crisis during the second term of the Bush years which you say 750,000 jobs were being lost per month that the House and Senate were controlled by Democrats right?
I know it was a long time ago, but the Democrats did have two wars to account for. As well as de-regulated banks, rampant derivatives, tax cuts, and housing market crashes- all of which were warded by Republican hands, as you said.
When these bills and legislative proposals are made by their political brain trust, nothing is ever corrected or improved, right? Your presidents, following that logic, must amount to nothing more than signatures, right?
http://www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/taxcutmyths.htm
Conor, toy obviously don’t have a clue how the system works here. During Bush’s eight years, he tried several times to rein in Fannie and Freddie Mac, two GSE’s which were the main underlying cause behind the entire meltdown of the financial and housing markets. He was stopped by the Democrats in Congress,(Frank, Dodd, et.al.)
You should really keep your nose out of American politics until you have a basic understanding of what really went on.
I understand that both parties are at fault for your country’s many, not only the Democrats, unlike everyone who commented on this tripe seems to believe.
America could learn from Canada (and Sweden, and Norway, and Finland).
*many issues
F & F accounted for one trillion of the United States’ ten-trillion dollar deficit as of 07-08.
What made up the remaining nine trillion, Dan? Oh, yes, Democrats! Nosy liberal socialists!
I suggest we all studiously ignore Conor. His mind is closed and he is just wasting everyone’s time.
Should I ignore me?
Closed to what? Bias and lies? ‘Looks as though I’ve wasted yours, so enjoy America’s descent, Thomas Johnson.