Child's Play

It wasn't much more than a week ago, I was trying to keep myself amused.  I was bored. This week, I find myself playing a wonderful game of Media Jax.  Do you remember the game of Jax?  You bounce a ball in the air, and then quickly pick up as many pointy little stars as possible before the ball bounced again.  There's a lot going on, folks, and Jax was never my game.  I think these are the best of what I could grab.  

Now that it's been a few days, I thought we'd see what the persistent rumbles were from the debate.  To borrow a spaghetti reference: I wanted to see what stuck to the wall. There still seems to be some lingering giggles about Mr. Obama's poor performance. There is still the itchy idea that Mr. Romney lied or misled the audience again and again throughout the debate.  But, to be honest, from all the spinning and angling and arguing, very little has actually been helpful.  With that in mind, this is the best thing I read all week: Mr. Romney has chosen this moment to reveal his inner moderate.  This will be what we look back and see, when this election is over.  The "lies" told will be the unveiling of a new Romney.  This will be the "Etch-a-Sketch" that was alluded to, a long while back.

What is it with childhood memories today?  Jax, Etch-a-Sketch, and now my most beloved childhood television show?  

Of all of the back and forth from the debate, I think one thing will rise from the ashes to serve as the game changer from the debate.  I don't mean the crack in the image of Mr. Obama's communication skills.  I don't even mean Obamacare.  It's so crazy to me, that I have to mention it.  I think that one of the ways the media will directly impact the election in 2012 is the fervor over Poor Old Big Bird.  Specifically and oddly, the images of the "Easy on Wall Street.  Tough on Sesame Street."  I don't think that this bird is going anywhere.  Don't underestimate this!

The ball bounces again; I grab a new handful of pointy things.

Friday, we got a bit of good news in America.  The US Department of Labor reported that the American jobless rate dropped to 7.8, finally below the 8.x that has plagued us for so long.  As I am sure you all guessed, Mr. Obama's camp got a bit of a lift from that news. To be fair, this is still a very big number.  If you do a bit of research, it is a number that, in past elections, would have been enough to earn the incumbent president a very lovely going away present.  This cycle, however, the challenger's side is not touting this as fodder for presidential change.  No. There are growing rumbles about how the numbers are fake, there's a bit of a movement of people to debunk the statistics.  New theme: Obama is lying.

It might be this crisp fall air that has us all so nostalgic for that simpler time, you know: like last week.  The next wave of debates hits us this week.  On Thursday night, Vice President Biden and VP hopeful Ryan will meet for the first time.  The pre-game story looks just like last week.  Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has already panned the Republican candidate's debating skills.  Oh, and since we're talking about debates, let's just go ahead and speculate on the one after THAT.

Either way, in one short month, we will know the answer to how this all plays out.  It just floors me that this election will be over in less than 30 days.  All of us will know for sure if the games were worth it.

Autotune the Debates

My Spidey Senses are Tingling

This feels ominous from the Romney camp.  Governor Romney came out last night to tell the world that, had he been attacked for the 47% comment, he would have admitted it was wrong.  Not "the wrong way to say it."  He would have admitted to being wrong.  This feels very pivotal. I dug a bit more to see what other folks were saying about this and found this on The Hill.  This is where he said this little gem about Libya for the next debate.

“I believe what happened there was a tragic failure,” Romney said. “There had been warning of a possible attack. There were requests on the part of our commission there, or diplomats there rather to have additional security forces. They were turned down. And then following the tragedy we have misleading information coming from the administration. And in fact the president didn’t acknowledge this was a terrorist act for, what, a week or two .... we expect candor and transparency from the administration and we didn’t get it.”

With all of this sudden "honesty," and earnestness, it will be very hard to make the "Romney lies" charges stick.  If Romney's calling the President dishonest in his reactions and openness about Libya, this could become a sticky spot for Mr. Obama.  He does not do well when he is attacked.  He comes off as smug.  

This doesn't feel like it is good news for the Obama campaign.  I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but something here sounds like the beginning of the end.  All of a sudden, I feel like Mitt became a contender.

Denver Debate, deconstructed

"Did you watch THE debate?"

I had to run some errands this morning and waiting in line at about 4 or so local places, I heard the question repeated.  I was a bit surprised to hear so many folks talking about it. Over a very lovely flatbread pizza lunch, I eavesdropped on two conservative women who were excited to see Mitt in action.  It really was Mitt's show, after all.

So, let's start here: I am not completely convinced that the debate was really THE debate.  I didn't see anything that would shake up the masses in any surprising way. This was a debate, in my opinion, in which Obama did not advance his candidacy, but Romney may have.  Net gain?  No way to tell.  I don't think either man convinced anyone to switch teams.

Having said that, everyone seems to agree that Mitt Romney won.  

This was one of the oddest debates I have ever seen, and the spin has been even stranger.  Everyone is under the microscope this time.  I can't believe how many people have been bashing on the moderator!  I like Jim Lehrer, but last night was not a great night in his career.  I am worried about the folks who think that this might have cost Obama the debate.  I am not sure that I agree, but if the noise gets louder in that camp, it will set a precedent for future presidential debates, I am sure. Take this beauty from the Nation:

The Lehrer/PBS school of moderation is fundamentally unequipped to deal with the era of post-truth, asymmetric polarization politics—and it should be retired. Time and time again, Romney deviated from the positions he took to win the GOP primary, and neither Lehrer nor Obama was able to effectively press him on it. Obama at least tried, at times.

Lehrer was not the only head on the chopping block at the debate.  Let me clarify, before the debate was even over, people were yelling about Big Bird and Romney's promise to cut funding to PBS after he is elected.  Some of my favorite Tweets on the topic are here, if you've got a minute for a chuckle.  

If anyone is in need of a laugh today, though, it will likely be President Obama.  Now, I can't say that this was the day he lost his bid for re-election, but I can say that many of his greatest fans were shocked and disappointed by what happened last night.  Most people expected the President to come out of the gate swinging, but his biggest swipe of the night was at Lehrer.  The swirling conversations all seem to have the same hum: this was a night of missed opportunities for the President.  His body language was off.  His message was muddy.  He came off as professorial (a-hem.  I take offense to that one.). My favorite critic of the President's performance is here.  

I gotta say, Mr. Obama, you're probably in trouble if Mitt Romney comes off as funnier than you.  But why I am worried about me?  Because I agree with this bit by Fox News.  I may need another shower.

Ya want my advice...?

I hab a colb. 

I am sorry I disappeared on you since Friday.  I have a bit of a head cold and thinking has been like straining oatmeal through a sieve.  I am starting to see the light of day, but only by a bit.

I am coming out of my cold medicine induced fog for this announcement: Romney's campaign said that the Governor is practicing creating moments and zingers for the upcoming debate. Some folks think that is not the right way to go, and I have to say I agree. While Ezra Klein says that new policies would help more than zingers, I am thinking of another reason to avoid the flip answers.  Under most circumstances, I would side with the idea of creating sound bite moments.  It usually marks the spot for debates.  The media coverage always points out the key moments in the debate epilogue, anyway. Who among us doesn't remember Joe Six-pack or Joe the Plumber from 2008?  The problem is I don't think the Romney campaign can pull that off this time.  The zinger moments will come off as smug and over-practiced, even by the sharpest debater with this culture of public opinion against him.  I would suggest that he avoid quick witted comebacks that could pair with the 47% comments like cheese, fruit, crusty bread and a nice wine.  Anything remotely elitist, and he's done.

President Obama, on the other hand, has promised no zingers in the debate on Wednesday night.  If you read my last post about how the senior advisor from camp Romney said that Mr. Obama would have to fight dirty to win, this is an interesting twist for both sides.  There has been a lot of talk over the past few days about how each candidate is downplaying their expectations for this debate.  Say what you will of his record, President Obama is an amazing orator.  He should have an expected upper had at this debate, right?  Not according to him.  The sideline comments about his debate practices have been about staying succinct. Keeping to point in the allotted time.  I think this may be worth the practice, but I would also like to sneak the bug into Mr. Obama's ear that his audience loves him best when he has the air of the dreamer, too.  The fine folks who pick this stuff apart say that the American people want a president and not a professor.  I can see where that would be true, but we also want a bit of a poetry with our politics.  If he can blend all three-  poet, politic and punctual - he'll be a hard candidate to beat.  He knew this in 2008; let's hope he can remember how in 2012.

If someone would forward this to the candidates, I would appreciate it.  I have to go buy Kleenex, or I'd do it myself.

Yawn

It feels like it's been a slow news week.  Is it me?  Nothing is really catching my eye about the election. Oh, sure!  Stuff is happening: the Romney team is campaigning all over the place and if you're looking for him, you can use your smartphone.  The President is busy, as well.  He's avoiding world leaders by taking the stage at the UN General Assembly.  Mostly, everyone and their grandmother has a poll that they're following or discrediting, depending on where your guy lands.  But, in general, everyone seemed to have their "foot in mouth" disease under control.

This morning I woke up to find that Governor Romney is actually kinda predicting he will lose the debates.  I found this odd.  Specifically, the campaign is trying to lower expectations for the debates.  The memo from Beth Myers, Senior Advisor, seems to imply a kind of "we will lose this battle and still win the war" frame of mind.  It's interesting to me because I don't feel like I have seen the Romney camp win a lot of battles.  Read it closely, though.  Ms. Myers is saying something else, too.  Not only is she conceding that her candidate doesn't have the experience or the finesse to do well in this setting, she is also saying that the President will have to attack to win.  It's a challenge.  She's trying to take the wind out of the sails before Obama's boat is even in the water.  Interesting.  By saying that the President will have to attack the Governor in order to win, she's provided the ultimate out for a Romney loss.  Beautiful.

I want to write a whole lot more about debates and the media, but I will hold off until next week before the first one of this election cycle happens.

Thinkin' about entitlements

I gotta confess: I've been watching more than reading my news this week.  I'm not sure why I've switched, and I will likely switch back.  While watching the news, I have caught things like the Obama's interview on The View, Mitt's poorly received joke about airplane windows, and more than my fair share of football's replacement ref turmoil.  (If that last link will poke you where you're sore, just skip it. I won't tell on you.)

Somewhere in all of that, I found myself watching the Rachel Maddow Show.  I like TRMS.  I know it is a remarkably liberal show, and I also know that it's really more about her personality than it is about the news bits she offers.  On Monday night's show, she had this to say about the Senate race in Massachusetts.  I think she is really onto something about both Massachusetts and the rest of the country during this election season.  She talks about the fine art of "stoking" in elections.  

 

So Scott Brown said a nasty thing.  That's pretty bad, but it isn't over.  It got worse.  If you read this New York Times article, supporters of Scott Brown where doing war chanting and the Tomahawk chop to show their solidarity.  It's disgusting and racist, but not really the heart of the issue.

The real theme of the day is not just race, I think.  The theme of the day is "entitlement."  Senator Brown rails on Prof. Warren because she checked a box.  Checking that box put her in a category that may have helped her in ways that many other people don't get help.  He says the issue is about character; she doesn't "look" Native American, so she's lied to get something she doesn't deserve.  It's fancy wording, but it is still about entitlements.  It's about asking the voters to look at Ms. Warren and resent her for trying to skip steps on the advancement ladders.  You're supposed to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, Ms. Warren.  You aren't supposed to take handouts, much less if you're cheating to get them.  What do you think you are entitled to?

I am not completely sure how to extend this thought to be a meme, but I do see the issue of entitlements quite a bit.  Here's how it's running:  Governor Romney is secretly taped at a fund raiser saying some pretty nasty things about 47% of the population of America.  Now, to be fair, I don't think the part about how they won't vote for him is probably not that controversial.  The issue with his statements, I think, begin when he says:

All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48—he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people—I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. *

See?  Those people over there are getting something you need.  They think they should just get it.  They.  That's a key word here.  THEY.  The only natural comeback for THEY language is US.  THEY aren't like US.  Entitlements are the new way of creating that "us vs. them" dynamic and that will keep everybody in-fighting for generations.  

There's this really wonderful quote by William Sloane Coffin that goes like this, "Human unity is not something we are called on to create - only something we are called on to recognize." I just hope it isn't too late for that.

UPDATE: 9/26 - It ain't just me!

*The full transcript of Governor Romney's tape can be found here.  And in it, he mentions Professor Warren, by the way.  Makes you wonder if Senator Brown is taking his cues from that video.  The emphasis is mine.