There's been so much anticipation, trash-talking and hype over the upcoming general election in the USA that it has already become wearing and even sort of boring. Why? Well, principally because most of the time it has got little or nothing to do with the actual issues at hand; rather it is about negative ads and sniping at what the other candidate said or did in the last 24 hours. Yawn.
It is often more reminiscent of college sports locker room bitching, than exchange between so-called political intellectuals who would be (well, one already is) CEO of the free Western world. Obama said this about the killing of US citizens and employees at the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Romney responds with an attack. Romney said that "off camera" at someone's house, Obama responds with an attack. Repeat to fade. Yawn.
These guys are getting off lightly, and being allowed to play the easy game, and I personally think it is a disgrace. If you talk to insiders in the Obama camp, this is precisely what they want, not least given the President's own reported penchant for locker room-style competitive bitching about any opponents, or heck, even the entire Republican party. It makes his life way easier to keep the game at this level. Why? Well, cheap shots cost less, especially in terms of having to get creative or intellectual about tackling the other side, and of course, cheap shot locker room jibes distract the population away from one's own abysmal record very nicely indeed! Yawn.
It appeals to the partisan support on both sides to just carry on digging at the other, because, as we all know, the country is in deeper s**t (can be read as deepest debt ever incurred by a sitting President) than ever imagined, and it ain't gonna be solved in many years, so we may as well get all teenaged about it, and just exchange digs and insults. Fighting over it beats actually trying to do anything about it. Yawn.
It is a sad indictment of the entire system that the sitting President, who sits alone atop a pile of steaming horses**t, is capable of almost an unconcerned arrogance over the upcoming election, due to a solid belief that while many do believe he is ineffective (at best) or useless (at worst), it doesn't matter: the competition is so weak that he will still be re-elected to four more years of celebrity status and equivalently luxurious lifestyle. Yawn.
"Jay-Z knows what my life is like!" said Obama on Tuesday at the 40/40 club fundraiser hosted by Jay and his better half, a certain Beyonce. There were about 100 people in attendance, all willing to shell out a cool $40,000 to get within spit distance of O: something I just don't understand at all. I might vouchsafe that each $40,000 would be better spent employing ONE person than handing it over to a guy who has raised of the order of a BILLION already, and who has added 6 TRILLION to the national debt! Huge yawn.
I am sure that O knows wayyyy more about the life, and lifestyle, of Jay-Bey, than he does of the lives of the millions of poor f**kers whose lives have been further ruined during the past four years under his governance. This is the major problem. A Hollywood-lovin' celebrity-huggin' talk show-hoggin' President; even more so than Ronald Reagan, who was a Hollywood actor. Yawn.
"Jay-Z knows what my life is like!" said Obama on Tuesday at the 40/40 club fundraiser hosted by Jay and his better half, a certain Beyonce. There were about 100 people in attendance, all willing to shell out a cool $40,000 to get within spit distance of O: something I just don't understand at all. I might vouchsafe that each $40,000 would be better spent employing ONE person than handing it over to a guy who has raised of the order of a BILLION already, and who has added 6 TRILLION to the national debt! Huge yawn.
I am sure that O knows wayyyy more about the life, and lifestyle, of Jay-Bey, than he does of the lives of the millions of poor f**kers whose lives have been further ruined during the past four years under his governance. This is the major problem. A Hollywood-lovin' celebrity-huggin' talk show-hoggin' President; even more so than Ronald Reagan, who was a Hollywood actor. Yawn.
By his own refusal to talk about what he has done wrong, and what he has not done at all, and what became of various promises (now demoted to the annals of pure political rhetoric) and what he intends to do next, it is in my opinion a de facto admission of the weakness of his first four years. He spent more time worrying about getting elected to the second four, than doing what he was elected to achieve in the first four. Is he as tired of hearing about "hope and change" as we all are? Yawn.
As for Romney, the supposed closeness in the polls is as much a reflection of the population's desperate need for some real "hope" and some significant "change", after a rather disastrous 2008-2012. It's kind of ironic that many have turned to the Republicans for the very thing promised to the nation by the leader of the Democrats, back in 2007. Maybe Mitt Romney knows what change actually means, unlike Obama?! Probably not. Yawn.
But as time passes, and the Obama campaign shifts effortlessly into higher gear, and Romney adds to his slip-ups, you can sense momentum shifting to the blue end of the spectrum, just as they knew it would. I might even dare to say that the Republican party itself is more or less resigned to it as well, and their real agenda is not to try to beat an incumbent President, but to go at it fresh in 2016 when Obama is forced to exit. If he manages to do as much in the second four as he did in the first, it's likely to be a shoe-in! Yawn.
The real big guns are in the wings, waiting, and some were given dry runs at the RNC in Tampa, Florida. Both Chris Christie (albeit in an extremely self-serving manner) and Condi Rice shone like bright stars for the Reps, and they have the record and intellect to be truly credible candidates. There are also some dark horses being kept out of the spotlight on the training grounds where they are being groomed and polished, if the need arises. This is especially relevant, given both Christie's and particularly Rice's vehement denials of any interest in the Presidency. Yawn.
So, all in all, I think 2016 is the new target of the Republicans, but if they can do it in 2012, that's fine too. In many ways, 2016 is more desirable because then that candidate might have an eight year run at it, as no one really believes that Mitt can win in both 2012 and 2016. So the option is four more years of Democrat rule in a crippling economy and national crisis, which could result in a landslide in 2016, and eight years of rule. Alongside the prospect of Mitt even winning in 2012, but then losing in 2016, it is not an unattractive option! Yawn.
The fact that Obama looks like remaining in power is however a damning testament to the state of the union in that an under-performing incumbent who was way more rhetoric than truly effective leader gets to have it all, again. He didn't turn anything around as yet, but fully demands and expects to be given four more in the big old white house. Even if he stated that if he hadn't turned it around in three years, then he would accept handing it over? Wimpish yawn.
No sitting President since WWII has ever been re-elected with bad (>7.2%) unemployment records that today are improvements over the Obama administration. It has been >8% (and that's just the official number, not the accurate one) for 42 months straight today: the longest in the history of the union. Quite where his cockiness and strut comes from, given that, should be of interest to the electorate. Sleepy yawn.
So he will probably slip in for another four, after which it is almost certain to swing once more back to the Republican side. Then again, knowing the level of political hubris that Obama is capable of, he might be the first President in history who demands that the law changes to allow him twelve years to get done what he promised to do in three or four! It would be a first to see this guy actually facing and admitting any of his failures, rather than always hunting for the best excuses. Yawn.
I refuse to support his re-election in the absence of him making any clear statements as to what he is going to do next, what the plan is, how he is going to dig the nation out of the mess that it is in (irrespective of whose fault it is) and what will change between 2008-12 and 2012-16. I am not a sheep, and some cutesy talk show appearances by he and Michelle will not have me all starry-eyed and wowed-by-celebrity, when there are truly grave political issues that need to be put on the table, talked about and then addressed. As opposed to whitewashed over. Yawn.
But among the great ironies of this fascinating election year, I do also feel that the world will be a safer place with the Dems in power and for that reason alone, his return will not be a bad thing. World safety/peace versus a return to domestic economical success? Now that's a tough one, and I think I need another dark roast before I can begin to get my thoughts together on that one! ;) - Kevin Mc
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