Observations on the 2012 Election 9.9.1

I wanted to quickly wrap up my convention thoughts before they fade into the distant past as the campaign heads into the final stretch run. As I said at the end of my last post the Democratic Convention was something totally different from the Republican one. Mainly because what they did in three days totally surprised me. Whether by plan or by luck the combination of Bill Clinton and President Obama, both of whom are the best politicians of their generation, changed the race from a personal referendum on the President to a decision on what kind of world we want to or do not want to live in.

It was rather fitting for Clinton to quote Ronald Reagan in his speech because probably nobody has been able to captivate an audience like Clinton since at least Reagan and before that JFK. I say again, the man is just the political equivalent of a rock star. Among the Democrats Clinton did the best job of describing the RNC saying their message came down to "We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in." Than he did the same with the Democrats message which he said was "We believe, 'we're all in this together,' is a far better philosophy than, 'you're on your own.'" Clinton also added the word arithmetic to the political discourse as the knowledge of said is something the wingnuts are totally lacking in.

The next night President Obama followed with an acceptance speech that was more theory than Clinton's arithmetic. Where we have been, where we are, and the like. It wasn't one of his best speeches he has ever given but it was a good one and good is all that was needed to top Willard's. One short line that was nice to hear, and got my brother to send a 'hell yeah' text, was "Climate change is not a hoax." Obama also spoke at length about the military, veterans, and the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan which was something Willard didn't mention even once. That brings me to another surprise of the DNC, patriotism once seemed totally owned by the flag draped GOP. Today the President actually leads Willard among military and veteran voters.

So the election comes down to this. Do you want to live in the GOP dream world none of us remember and probably never existed or do we try and work together to climb out of the rabbit hole that was the dubya years? Well do ya punk?

I apologize for the bad Eastwood analogy.

Observations on the 2012 Election 9.9

After an campaign that seems like its been going on forever we are now only sixty days from election day. The party conventions are both over and if they didn't clarify the nominees plans for the future at all at least they did clarify what the election itself is about. Since President Obama was elected the Republicans have had just one goal, keep him from being reelected. When, okay if, Obama wins in November the GOP has no Plan B so for all practical purposes it becomes politically bankrupt party. That fact, combined with the automatic tax increases and spending cuts coming at years' end, should force them to compromise with the Democrats for the first time in years. Should the President win he has the added benefit of not having to worry about reelection ever again so can force some issues he couldn't before.

Convention wrap part 1 ….

The only news of any real value to come out of the Republican National Convention actually happened before it. That would be Willard's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate. The only thing Ryan clarified during his acceptance speech was that he could lie better and with less guilt than any politician in history. Even Fox News itself ran a piece saying just that. It isn't good for you election prospects when all anybody remembers about your three day infomercial is that nature in the form of Hurricane Issac, somehow knowing Willard would mock global warming in his acceptance speech, chased them out of Tampa and Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair in prime time.

For all practical purposes Willard was but an afterthought at his own convention. The RNC was like a political time capsule and much older, whiter (there were possibly fifty African American delegates), and very much richer than the Democratic National Convention. The focus was on how much they literally hate the President, that this country is theirs whether the rest of us like it or not, and on auditioning for the 2016 Presidential race. In essence to them this election isn't about what Willard would do, he has no clue, but against Obama and his policies.

The DNC was a different beast entirely and suddenly changed the dynamics of the election.