Monday, October 08, 2012 :::
Cast your mind back to 2000: four or five days before the
election, a party hack local judge in Maine passed on the record of George W.
Bush’s DUI arrest, which he had denied ever took place.
Immediately, the vast majority of undecided voters swung to
Al Gore.
However, exit polling showed that the revelation in fact was
not the deciding factor for those voters.
My belief from the time has not changed: it was not the DUI, which happened when he
was actively drinking. Rather, it
confirmed whatever DIFFERENT doubt people had.
Inexperienced? A pro
would have gotten out in front very early on that one.
Privileged playboy living off the family forture? Check.
Dishonest? Check.
“I can’t explain it; I just don’t like the guy.” Double check.
Because this is how I think the debates are playing out. Consider intangibles: “smartest man ever to
be president,” “greatest orator of all time,” “a man too good for us.”
Supporters of Barack Obama remain convinced he is the
smartest man ever to be President. Most other people no long think that. The debate
began some time ago, but focus groups of independent voters settled on “in over
his head.” That covers a lot of ground
without saying he is just not as smart as the hype has it. Really smart people can be unsuited for their
jobs.
Plus, people cut him a lot of slack for being a nice person.
Barack Obama has never been held to account for the numerous
times he has contradicted himself or simply gotten things wrong---“57 states”. Away went any impression of omniscience in
the first debate.
Which leaves us with the nice guy.
But massive leaks from the Obama campaign indicate that they
intend to go all Chicago style.
It really hasn't worked. Numerous
allegations against Romney in ads turn out not to have been, shall we say,
overburdened with truthfulness. If they
pull out anything like that, Romney has shown himself equal to it. Plus, he is justly—let me repeat that, justly—proud
of his work at Bain. There is no example
of his having directed the stripping of assets from a going concern, and he
turned around a bunch of others and gave people MORE jobs. If the Left thinks Romney is contemptible,
lots of people find that contempt undeserved.
Plus, it turns out they like it when Romney
drops his reserve.
There’s “the 47%,” but that goes against “you didn’t
build that,” so it becomes a shouting match. Whatever, Obama would be tossing out his nice guy
image.
Then we get to the foreign policy debate, and what does he
have to say? Our traditional allies
consider him irrelevant, and so do our enemies.
Vladimir Putin skips summits. The President appears on the View--forget that, went out of his way to show contempt for a leader who faces a decision which may cause a general war for the Middle East, right or wrong.
Good will? Reset? “Missed” by the Acolyte Press were the many images of Barack Obama being
burned in effigy throughout the Middle East following the 9/11 Anniversary Attacks a few
weeks ago.
And then there is that trip to Los Vegas DURING the attacks.
So if they stick with the “attack dog” plan, if they REALLY
think Americans will rally to their contempt, they are really, really mistaken.
Add to that the President’s failure to ever—ever—move the
needle of public opinion with a speech and the continuous jokes across the
spectrum about how he loves to talk, and all of his intangibles evaporate.
So he will be left, like George W. Bush, with people
thinking of what they dislike.
::: posted by A Mind That Suits at 3:12 PM
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