Definition of “gaffe” – when a politician tells the truth. Actually, there are several kinds of gaffes: 1. Joe Biden gaffes. Joe is a buffoon; everybody knows that Joe is a buffoon; he gets a pass. 2. Intentional gaffes – or at least ones where the gaffer knowingly applies over the top spin with the expectation that the media will give him / her a | Read More »
Nothing is more central to the Obama foreign policy than his outreach to the Muslim world as reflected in his June 2009 Cairo speech. As is often the case, the speech was soaring. It reflected a great sensitivity to Muslim religion, culture, and history. It also leaned forward in criticizing the Bush policies – interrogation, Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan. At various points it criticized Germany | Read More »
With the unexpected “Clinton Bounce” from the Democratic convention, the good news is that there is no Clinton on the ballot, the merits of the case against Obama have not changed (probably improved with the demonstrated failure of “leading from behind”), Romney and his PACs have plenty of money, and the debates offer a real opportunity to make the case to a large audience. So, | Read More »
If presidential elections were only about giving great speeches – and arguably 2008 was – President Obama would be in a lot better shape. To the uncritical neutral observer Michelle Obama was as great as Ann Romney as a witness for hubby’s “likeability”; San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was as good as Marco Rubio in telling his family story; Bill Clinton burnished his credentials as | Read More »
So, was it an inflection point? The common political wisdom is that voters re-elect an incumbent without much thought if things are going OK, that folks will take a look at the alternative if the economy is awful, that the Obama campaign has made a large early effort to paint Mitt Romney as a heartless extremist, and at this point the race is a toss-up. | Read More »
Presidential campaigns can be sliced by demographics, ideology, or geography. A big piece of the Obama campaign emphasizes demographics with the “Republican War on Women”, “Tax the Rich”, and “African Americans for Obama”. Both campaigns focus on the dozen or so swing states in their advertising buys. The Romney campaign – with less of a gender, income, age, or ethnicity slant – may be doing | Read More »
The central point for those few Republicans who wanted a more cautious choice for Vice President: the highly successful CEO has hired a brilliant Sales Vice President. Consider: 1. Mitt Romey has solved the problem of boring people by getting bogged down in the details of budgets. If he is going to win, somebody has to explain entitlement reform, tax reform, and the economic folly | Read More »
Those looking beyond Rush Limbaugh and Rachel Madow for political predictions turn to polls. Unfortunately, the integrity of pollsters can be as bereft as the Senate Majority Leader, the president’s Super Pac, and the Huffington Post. Let’s take the recent New York Times / CBS / Quinnipiac presidential poll of swing states as an example. The troubling (for conservatives) polls released on August 1, show | Read More »
With America’s most despised politician Nancy Pelosi speaking inanely about Romney’s NAACP appearance and exploited Jewish Republicans, there is virtually no chance that the voters in the 435 Congressional districts will make her speaker again. It would be nice if some of her magic could rub off on the Senate. The current Senate has 51 Democrats, 47 Republicans, and 2 independents who caucus with the | Read More »
As the political discussion shifts for a moment to the international stage the Romney camp’s hope is to capitalize on Mitt’s role in saving the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and stress his two foreign policy themes: he will be a stronger military and diplomatic leader of the Free World; and he will be a more reliable partner for our long term allies. Beyond the Olympics, | Read More »
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