First off, if there was ever a signal that Romney is a weak candidate, this was it. Classic politics is that a candidate plays to the base until the nomination is secured and then pivots towards the center to try and win the moderate/swing voters. Romney, who has spent the last year telling anyone who would listen that he is "a severe conservative" (and persuading hardly anyone), moved even more to the right to pick Paul. This choice signals that Romney had to do more to try to secure his base, that even though he had won enough delegates to win the nomination, he hadn't closed the deal.
Second, Paul handcuffs Romney to the Right. Romney can't swing to the center with Paul cementing him in place.
Third, if anyone thought that Mittens could not have picked a running mate worse than the choice made by Grampaw McCain, they were proven wrong. The Obama campaign is going to hang Ryan's wingnutty policies around Romney's neck like a rotting albatross. If you thought that Romney's tax policies were a reverse Robin Hood, Ryan is that on steroids. As far as tax polices go, Ryan would string up the poor and the middle class by their heels and slit their throats so that the Koch Brothers and the Walton Clan can bathe in the warm blood of the wage-earning taxpayers.
Fourth, the far-Right has been clear that they expect a President Romney to function as a rubber stamp to whatever legislation they can get through Congress. They expect a President Romney to sleep to eight, walk into the Oval Office at ten, spend thirty minutes signing legislation passed by the
What I feared was that Romney would find a slightly more moderate Republican, maybe even one of the
That's not going to happen now. If anything, the left wing of the Democratic party, which has been pretty upset by the fact that Obama's policies could well have originated from the George H.W. Bush Administration, are going to jump off the fence, open up their pockets and go to work to re-elect him. With a center-right Romney, they might have thought "ecch, what's the difference" and maybe gone through the motions.
Romney may have thought that he energized his base. But he has also energized Obama's base and given moderates a good reason to vote for Obama. Romney's path to power was looking harder each day as his negatives were climbing. He's now, in my estimation, about to go marching off the electoral cliff.
Lord knows that I've not been overly thrilled with Obama's presidency. But I don't see that I have a choice, now.
Well thought out and written, but then how is the current team going to win and save America? That is the problem with both party candidates, and the last two also.. this isn't about one election, it is about not seeing what the problem is and fixing it. Both parties are responsible, both are made of concerned frightened leadership, and whole herds of followers to feed. But that doesn't win the war, build the nation or pay the bankers for their idle gambling goodness.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is at the Congressional level - if he can't get good legislation there, the President can either sign it into law, veto it, or not sign it (pocket veto). Executive orders and 'signing statements' don't fit the bill for good law. In addition, even good legislation can be blunted, twisted, or made next to worthless after it is signed into law - not to mention gutted by another law later.
DeleteGetting the 100 members of the upper house (the Senate) and the 435 members of the lower house (House of Representatives) to agree on good legislation - good for the country, not their party - is nearly impossible these days, and what does get passed is through very small margins. With the current balance in the lower house, and the razor thin majority in the upper house, I don't see how that will change.
Marc, the ultra-batshit wing of the GOP has a dream that they can get enough people into the Senate to do their bidding and, once they have that, then Rubber-Stamp Romney will do what they want him to do.
DeleteI agree, I was afraid he would pull a bold move and pick someone like Rubio or Diane Martinez, the Gov. of NM and snag a bunch of hispanic votes along with a lot of mis-informed women. Fortunately, like all bullies, Mittens is at heart a coward and made the predictable choice. Say hello to four more years of Obama, hopefully this will lead to a dem. rout of the House and Senate as well.
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