Monday, July 09, 2012

Well. That makes sense.

It seems that the incumbent Democrat administration has decided on its major re-election campaign plank: "Mitt Romney is out of touch with the middle class." While it may not fit on a bumper sticker the same way "HOPE" did, it looks to be all they've got this time 'round, in the face of economic news that has got to have Axelrod ordering Tums by the case lot.

Let us pause here to note the irony of a guy with a Harvard Law sheepskin on the wall handing his White House china coffee mug to an aide on Air Force One and calling someone "out of touch with the middle class".

However, this class warfare stuff, painting yourself as a regular champion of the little guy, is right in the wheelhouse of Obama's base, as can be witnessed by some of the icons in their party shrine:

Childhood home of Navy vet and handicapped activist Frank Roosevelt

Fishing cottage of bartender and steel mill worker Joe Kennedy
We'll see how the message resonates with the larger audience beyond the Donk faithful. It had better work, because nobody's buying "Hope & Change" anymore, except maybe those GOP loyalists hoping Romney will bring some, and Barry can't run on a health care platform because Mitt was Obamacaring back when Obama was still a junior senator voting "present".

Personally, I think it looks like he's flailing, here. This is not the smooth machine from four years ago; this is a guy reduced to running on a campaign of "Well... he's a poopie-head!" The major media outlets are running with it, but mechanically, without the tingle-in-the-leg enthusiasm from '08. Y'know, Barry might actually lose this one.

24 comments:

Chris said...

We lose either way.

CIII

Tam said...

"We lose either way."

So what are you going to do about that today? (And by that, I mean concrete actions taken to improve the state of the nation, not "buy another case of MRE's.")

Anyway, did this read like a Romney campaign ad to you?

I'm stuck on this trolley ride to hell and I'm damned well going to describe the scenery.

perlhaqr said...

I'm going to do what I should have done decades ago, and research the local GOP structures and attempt to infiltrate them.

It'd never work with the Dems.

Buzz said...

Voter ID laws are under full frontal assault by the media, almost as many resources as they sent against Sarah Palin.

The Dims know their candidate is slipping, so the traditional standby of fake/dead/multiple votes is still running strong to ensure a repeat for 2012.

Lewis said...

"Obama '12: less likely to invade Iran."

Tam said...

Lewis,

Yeah, but how much less?

Bubblehead Les. said...

Any pictures of Obama's Childhood home in Hawaii? Something tells me he wasn't living in a 2 room Efficiency in Pearl City.

Basil said...

"Mitt Romney is out of touch with the middle class."

And Michelle Obama is not?

Don said...

FDR was Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Wilson. He never served in uniform.
And I will, as always vote against any incumbent and for any Libertarian. Although, if Ron Paul can pull off a brokered convention, and win the nomination, I would vote for him. Gary Johnson doesn't have the experience that Paul does.

Tam said...

Don,

"FDR was Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Wilson. He never served in uniform."

...and Joe Kennedy never actually worked in a steel mill. ;)

rickn8or said...

And now Teh Won's "100 percent committed to raising taxes" on those ee-ville rich bastids making over $250,000 a year.

Yeah, I wanna see what Congress-critters vote for THAT in an election year. Besides the Usual Suspects of course.

Lewis said...

Tam:

True, every time a Democrat runs on the "kept us out of war" thing . . . .

Anonymous said...

I know it's early days yet, but it's still astonishing to me to see them neck in neck in this horse race.

I mean Mitt is "meh" but compared to whatsisname, the President, I'm appalled it's even close.

I ought to watch the news more often and get out of my echo-cup. Maybe that'll provide some clues to me.

perlhaqr said...

Rickn8or: I figure they'll raise taxes on people making more than $250k a year, and then hyperinflate the money supply so badly that people working at Burger King make $250k a week.

RabidAlien said...

LOL w/BubbleheadLes (lived in a 3-room no-airconditioned apartment in Aiea for a while. Doubt Obummer even knows how to spell "Aiea", much less find it on a map. Or pronounce it.)

Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. I hear good things about Ron Paul, dunno what his stance on gun control is though. I find it hard to wrap my braincell around all this political stuff...for some reason, my braincell refuses to touch it. Fear of infection, I guess.

Joseph said...

...nobody's buying "Hope & Change" anymore

That'll happen when people actually get to see what you can do and you are completely inept. Hope & Change worked because everyone who voted for him didn't have a clue as to what he was all about and he had no trail of actual work.

Never in my life have I seen someone who has taken so much from the public and done so little in return.

Brad K. said...

I keep waiting to hear that Obama won the Nobel Prize for Economics (to Paul Krugman's chagrin).


And, Chris?

"We lose either way."

Massachusetts may well have hamstrung their health care, but they aren't packed with Chicago thugs nor are they leading the way to economic ruin and unemployment. Gov. Rommey's trail through Massachusetts history sure seems to me, to be headed in a different direction that where Obama wants us to go. That, and "birds of a feather flock together" pretty much define why I want Obama out of the White House. Even if I am not eager to begin fixing Romney's mistakes, errors, and egregious wrong-headedness.

Obama's record begins with ACORN, and continues through a Chicago machine selling Senate seats (who actually believes they sold Obama's Senate seat, but Obama didn't have to buy it the first time around?), and isolation in the US Senate as complete as his depressed withdrawal in college. Obama never intended the economy to work again -- why do you think he cancelled "extended" two year unemployment benefits -- two and a half years ago? He needs those job losses off the government statistics to show an improved jobless report statistic, for the campaign.

The pirate or the playboy? I am ready to give the playboy a try. At least we might get some useful work out of him.

YMMV

RKN said...

Yeah, but how much less?

Good question. I would guess Obama is more bothered by body bags than Romney, but no different in his enthusiasm for cyber-war or personally selecting drone targets. Then again Romney might prefer even more direct control, and demand a Presidential joy-stick be installed in the Oval Office.

Domestic policy-wise I lean Romney, but with about the same confidence I have tossing a penny in a fountain.

Joe in PNG said...

I also don't think that Romney has the pure contempt of the Constitution & rule of law that Obama has both expressed and exhibited.

Kristophr said...

Perlhaqr:

The Republicans are easy to infiltrate.

Just show up at your local county precinct meeting, and get involved.

People who actually get off their asses are so rare that you will be goat-roped into a committee position if you keep showing up, and don't run away fast enough.

lelnet said...

The challenger can win by campaigning against the incumbent. (Sometimes, such as in 2008, he can even do so when the incumbent isn't actually on the ballot.) But the only incumbent that the converse has ever worked for was LBJ. Obama has never, in his entire history (in electoral politics or anywhere else either) had to justify his own record to anybody. But the president of the United States can't get reelected any other way.

JC said...

Check out Obama's modest Windy City digs: http://www.zillow.com/blog/2008-09-17/barack-obamas-chicago-house/

Realio, trulio,

Google street view: https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=5046+s+greenwood+ave+chicago+map&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x880e29427d521b93:0x889ebca074742e07,5046+S+Greenwood+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60615&gl=us&ei=Z2L7T_iVHcWe2wXFqe3oBg&ved=0CAgQ8gEwAA

Truly, a man of the people

Drang said...

Hmmm, I, too, was going to point out that FDR was not really a Navy vet, but I was going to acknowledge that it was big-lie-ish.

@RabidAlien: Aiea. Somewhere between Schofield Barracks and Ft Schafter. Wasted the taxpayers money traveling between th two one TDY. It was years before HH6 convinced me to visit Hawaii for fun... And, as for I hear good things about Ron Paul, dunno what his stance on gun control is though Seriously? Ron Paul is solid on gun rights.
Ron Paul is solid on Constitutional rights.

Lewis said...

100% Paultard here.

Save us Ob-gyn Paul, you're our only hope. I'd trust him with guns.