AuH20
11-07-2012, 09:17 AM
So another tintillating election season ends with the re-election of the world's most adored dictator Barack Obama. Given Mitt Romney's fundamental limitations, thanks to his dubious corporate ties and wishy washy policy stances, his margin for error in this race was slim to none. Sadly, he was the best candidate to run out of the less than stellar crew that the GOP offered and that includes Ron Paul. Ron Paul would have not gained 56 million votes nationally as well as being narrowily edged out in Virginia, Florida and Ohio. But for now let's examine why Mitt Romney came up short last night:
(1) Progressive lite never beats the genuine article in a hotly contested race. There has to be a galvanizing force that uplifts your core base of supporters. An idea that defines, transcends and ultimately differentiates your movement the same old, same old. Mitt Romney was simply a diluted version of Barack Obama, surrendering key ideaological ground in the process. Note that Mitt Romney never openly challenged Obama on his shady corporate and financial connections. You simply cannot let a slippery politician like Barack Obama occupy that coveted spot as the champion of the middle class. Theoretically, candidate Ron Paul would have never let Obama situate himself comfortably in that populist catbird seat.
(2) The MSM. When you have a large majority of print media and the corporate based networks beating up on you daily as a corporate raider and closet Ayn Rand disciple, it's going to be extremely hard to stem that erosion. From the minute he won the nomination, Romney was painted as an extreme right winger that was going to abolish the food stamp program overnight via executive order and close down the U.S. Post Office en masse. Clearly, given Governor Romney's muddled political record, all these hyperbolic characterizations were patently false, but given the high number of low info voters, perception transforms into hardened reality very quickly.
(3) The inability to unite the conservative "clans". Unlike the simpleminded lemmings which unite under the democratic banner without a thought, there are many different factions that are drawn to the Republican brand. If you alienate one or two key factions, you are immediately facing a steep climb uphill. That was the case last night based on some of the exit polling. It is widely believed that 25% of evangelicals stayed home last night because they beleive Mormonism to be an instrument of Satan and thus, could not consciously pull the lever for Romney.
Conversely, the vocal yet key Paleoconservative/libertarian faction either abstained from voting or ended up giving their votes to Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode. Any republican candidate wanting to win in this type of hostile environment had to cater to both these factions and could not have them sitting on the proverbial sideline.
(4) Government manipulation of dismal economic data. For the last month or so, the government's various propaganda arms have been ramming forth the narrative that an uplifting recovery is in the works. Clearly, it's been a lie. Housing has not bottomed, given the fact that the large banks are sitting on a massive shadow inventory. Unemployment is closer to 24% (based on 1994 methodology) as opposed to this mild 7.9%. In fact, Obamacare has major chains expanding their rotation of part-time employees, so as to order avoiding the heavy burden of providing comprehensive health care packages to full time employees who accumulate work week of 40 hours or more. This disturbing trend explains the curious 600k explosion of part time employees unearthed in the recent unemployment report. It's bait and switch.
(5) the serendipity of the 100 year storm. Romney was establishing a solid wave of momentum until Sandy thrashed onto the scene. President Obama along with his allies in the media, were clever enough to capitalize on this event and reinforce the notion that the government was the security blanket that Americans relied on.
(1) Progressive lite never beats the genuine article in a hotly contested race. There has to be a galvanizing force that uplifts your core base of supporters. An idea that defines, transcends and ultimately differentiates your movement the same old, same old. Mitt Romney was simply a diluted version of Barack Obama, surrendering key ideaological ground in the process. Note that Mitt Romney never openly challenged Obama on his shady corporate and financial connections. You simply cannot let a slippery politician like Barack Obama occupy that coveted spot as the champion of the middle class. Theoretically, candidate Ron Paul would have never let Obama situate himself comfortably in that populist catbird seat.
(2) The MSM. When you have a large majority of print media and the corporate based networks beating up on you daily as a corporate raider and closet Ayn Rand disciple, it's going to be extremely hard to stem that erosion. From the minute he won the nomination, Romney was painted as an extreme right winger that was going to abolish the food stamp program overnight via executive order and close down the U.S. Post Office en masse. Clearly, given Governor Romney's muddled political record, all these hyperbolic characterizations were patently false, but given the high number of low info voters, perception transforms into hardened reality very quickly.
(3) The inability to unite the conservative "clans". Unlike the simpleminded lemmings which unite under the democratic banner without a thought, there are many different factions that are drawn to the Republican brand. If you alienate one or two key factions, you are immediately facing a steep climb uphill. That was the case last night based on some of the exit polling. It is widely believed that 25% of evangelicals stayed home last night because they beleive Mormonism to be an instrument of Satan and thus, could not consciously pull the lever for Romney.
Conversely, the vocal yet key Paleoconservative/libertarian faction either abstained from voting or ended up giving their votes to Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode. Any republican candidate wanting to win in this type of hostile environment had to cater to both these factions and could not have them sitting on the proverbial sideline.
(4) Government manipulation of dismal economic data. For the last month or so, the government's various propaganda arms have been ramming forth the narrative that an uplifting recovery is in the works. Clearly, it's been a lie. Housing has not bottomed, given the fact that the large banks are sitting on a massive shadow inventory. Unemployment is closer to 24% (based on 1994 methodology) as opposed to this mild 7.9%. In fact, Obamacare has major chains expanding their rotation of part-time employees, so as to order avoiding the heavy burden of providing comprehensive health care packages to full time employees who accumulate work week of 40 hours or more. This disturbing trend explains the curious 600k explosion of part time employees unearthed in the recent unemployment report. It's bait and switch.
(5) the serendipity of the 100 year storm. Romney was establishing a solid wave of momentum until Sandy thrashed onto the scene. President Obama along with his allies in the media, were clever enough to capitalize on this event and reinforce the notion that the government was the security blanket that Americans relied on.