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Loose Canons
Obama’s Ideological Convention
Who are you going to believe: Romney-Ryan or the Dems’ lying eyes?
The morning after last week’s Republican Convention, Mitt Romney took off to Louisiana to view the damage caused by Hurricane Isaac. The move apparently caught Barack Obama by surprise. America’s empath-in-chief had to scramble his schedule to follow Romney.
That small event capped a convention that generally succeeded in introducing the Romney-Ryan ticket as calm and competent people, a credible team capable of dealing with the nation’s economic crisis. The first night of the convention was its best, a parade of Republican governors introducing business people from their states to refute Obama’s “you didn’t build that” line. Ryan’s speech was galvanizing, Romney’s passably good, and no one really stepped in the electoral kimchi, which is the underlying fear of every convention manager.
On the last night of the convention, television viewership rose to about 21 million households. As a result, the Republican ticket gained a bounce in the polls which, according to a Rasmussen poll released Sunday, looked to be in the 4-5 point range.
But post-convention poll bounces usually fade after a week or two. Tonight begins the Democrats’ turn. Their goals are much different from the Republicans’ and for the next three nights we’ll see a parade of speakers who will try to blunt the Romney campaign’s attacks and sell American voters on the idea, to counter Paul Ryan’s memorable phrase, that the next four years of Obama will be better than the last four.
Which is a pretty tall order. There are three million more Americans out of work than there were four years ago, our national debt is more than $5 trillion higher, and the median family income has dropped by about $2,500. Obama’s 2008 campaign promised a presidency that would be post-partisan, with a new political order in Washington that made compromise and big solutions to big problems the rule rather than the exception. But partisan conflict is higher than ever because Obama, Reid, and Pelosi’s idea of compromise is Republican surrender.
The Republican convention wasn’t ideological. The Democrats’ will be, from beginning to end. The Dems’ ideology will focus on Paul Ryan’s budget plan (which they conflate with the alleged Republican desire to deregulate Wall Street’s supposedly piratical freedom), Republican obstructionism, and the grim disasters they predict from a Romney presidency.
When we run that through the liberal political computer, the result is what we’ll see over the next three nights.
There is no distance between the Democrats’ leaders and the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters outside the convention hall who will try to be heard over the media din. Eleven months ago, Obama said that the protesters were a “broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.” That comment is entirely consistent with his “you didn’t build that” remark on how business people — no matter how hard they work, no matter how innovative their thinking — depend on government to succeed.
It’s an idea that is deeply embedded in Obama’s mind and has become Democratic dogma. It was first revealed in October 2008 when Joe Wurzelbacher — an Ohio plumber — had an unscripted conversation on taxes with Obama. Obama said he wanted to raise taxes on the rich and cut taxes for the poor because “right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
The “Joe the Plumber” moment, the “you didn’t build that” comment, and the very few other occasions Obama has gone off his script are the only times we have seen into Obama’s mind. What you’ll see over the next three nights will be as disciplined and scripted as the Democrats can be. What you’ll see (unless the Dems go off script) will be a concerted effort to obscure Obama’s statist, redistributionist ideology. The convention’s speakers will, again and again, repeat the mantra of Republican obstructionism and accuse Republicans of lying about what Obama has said and done.
The second main theme the Democrats will follow is Obama’s success as commander-in-chief and statesman. Romney’s biggest blunder — neglecting to even mention the Afghanistan conflict in his acceptance speech — will be played large. Never mind that the “Arab spring” has brought about a shift in the Middle East empowering the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements. Never mind how the president abandoned Poland’s missile defenses and how utterly has Obama’s “reset” of relations with Russia has failed. How many times we’ll see the faux-dramatic footage of Obama “directing” the SEAL raid that killed bin Laden will be limited only by the desire of speakers to attack the Republicans for their supposed “war on women.”
Todd Akin, the knuckleheaded Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, will be mentioned many more times than the war or the economy. Sandra Fluke, the thirty-year old law student and welfare queen, will — among a parade of other radical feminists — try to persuade us that free birth control is a right, and that every company, school, and hospital should provide it regardless of religious beliefs.
Pity Bill Clinton. The convention managers have scheduled his speech to conflict with the season kickoff of NFL Football. But Bubba will deliver what is sure to be a bravura performance. Clinton, who doesn’t like Obama much, will be the biggest attack dog in the room. He’ll go after the Republicans for everything imaginable, trying to answer Paul Ryan’s question of why we should expect the next four years of Obama to be better than the last four. (There is no reason for you to miss the game, dear readers. I and the rest of the TAS crew will be watching Bubba so you don’t have to.)
The main event, Obama’s Thursday night speech, is the biggest risk for the Dems. Obama is an angry man, impatient with politics and intolerant of people who disagree with him. He’s probably spent weeks preparing a speech that will try to conceal the anger but raise the tension of the campaign by promising grim disasters, at home and abroad, if Romney is elected.
Let’s hope some of the Dems go off script — and with Bubba, Biden, Pelosi and many others, it’s a big risk — that some fun can be had watching the media squirm. If they remain uncharacteristically disciplined, their convention will probably produce as much of a poll-bounce as the Republicans’ did.
The easiest way to gauge the effect of the Dems’ convention won’t be the polls. Look at the mainstream media’s reaction. It’s dawned on them that Obama may actually lose, and they’re losing their collective minds over that fact. The more fevered their praise, the more heated contrasts they draw between Obama and Romney, the weaker Obama really is. Watch CBS, NBC and CNN for a few nights. Read the New York Times from Wednesday through next Sunday. The more they jump the shark, the better Romney’s chances will be.
About the Author
Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several bestselling books including Inside the Asylum and In the Words of Our Enemies. You can follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
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Pecos Pete| 9.4.12 @ 7:41AM
If the democrats play the National Anthem, or say the Pledge of Allegiance, will the MSM join in and stand up? I'd bet they all stand up and applaud when King O appears on the podium. A standing ovation from the MSM, how weird can it get?
spike59| 9.5.12 @ 5:53AM
back in 2008, the NY Times held a 'Victory Party' when ObaMao was elected...
chuck| 9.4.12 @ 8:00AM
I'd rather have my testicles removed than have to watch these sorry-assed lying SOB's convention.
Actually, I'd have to have had my testicles removed to be a Democrat and WANT to watch this garbage.
Von Mises Jr| 9.4.12 @ 8:14AM
Obama/Geithner regulation of Wall Street is to facilitate the LIBOR rate fixing scandal, bailout Fannie and Freddie and to reward Corzine with a new Hedge Fund after he stole $1 billion plus in investor funds.
And their argument is that Mitt Romney that ran a very successful venture capital firm and Paul Ryan who presented and had a budget passed in the House (the Senate hasn't passed a budget in 1,200 days and rejected Obama's new and improved slush fund with ZERO votes) are going to muck up the country's finances. Good luck with that.
To be a liberal these days, you don't only need to forfeit your nuts, you have to be nuts.
Kwan| 9.4.12 @ 8:11AM
Obama's thin if not anorexic resume indicated he was not qualified to be President. Three+ years of total failure as President have confirmed that evaluation. Now the Party that gave us Carter and Clinton want us to prove that they we are bigger morons in 2012 than we were in 2008 ( in 2008 the majority of the electorate didn't know Obama was a Marxist fifth-columnist). The Democrat Party has become a joke, populated by serial liars, thieves, con-men, shuck-n-jive hustlers, Marxists, Leninists, and Maoists. While claiming to be "progressives" the party is locked into a failed ideology that fails every time it's tried. On closer analysis we can see that Communism only benefits one group of people: The leaders and their apparatchiks.
Nancy in NC| 9.4.12 @ 8:48AM
Excellent post, Kwan. When I was younger (and much more foolish) I didn't think there was much difference in the two parties.
Now, I have a completely different idea and it's simple. The Dims is the party of the brain-dead and even evil people. They lie when the truth would suffice.
Most members of the GOP seem like decent people who actually care about this country, and more importantly, other people.
This election is really about choosing between good and evil.
Kwan| 9.4.12 @ 7:22PM
For years the Democrat Party has been moving further and further to the left. With the election of Barack Obama they came out of the closet as hard-core leftists, committed to the fundamental transformation of the United States into a Totalitarian Socialist State.
spike59| 9.5.12 @ 5:54AM
what's truly scary is this: a large segment of the Party considers him to be 'centrist', meaning he's not Left ENOUGH for them
Maxwell| 9.4.12 @ 8:43AM
With all due respect Mr. Babbin I don't know where you got your schedule from but I have the official one is as follows:
4:00 PM Opening Flag Burning Ceremony sponsored by CNN
4:05 PM Singing of “God **** America ” led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright
4:10 PM Pledge of Allegiance to Obama
4:15 PM Ceremonial ‘I hate America’ speech – Michelle Obama
4:30 PM Tips on How to keep your man trustworthy and true to you while you travel the world Hillary Clinton
4:45 PM Tape of King Kardashian honoring PLO radical Rashid Khalidi
5:00 PM Great Vacations Ive Taken on the Taxpayers Dime Travel Log – Michelle Obama
5:30 PM Eliot Spitzer Speaks on “Family Values” via Satellite
5:45 PM Personal tribute to Joe Biden – Joe Biden
6:00 PM Sen. Harry Reid – 90-minute speech expressing the Democrats appreciation of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and to George Soros for sparing no expense to unify the country, improve employment, and boost the economy
8:30 PM Airing of Grievances – by the Clintons
9:00 PM Bias in Media How we can make it work for you too Tutorial sponsored by CBS, NBC, ABC, and the Washington Post and the New York Times
Maxwell| 9.4.12 @ 8:43AM
9:15 PM Tribute Film to the Brave Freedom Fighters incarcerated at GITMO Michael Moore
9:45 PM Personal Finance Seminar – Charlie Rangel
10:00 PM Denunciation of gun owners and Bible readers – Charlie Rose
10:30 PM Ceremonial Waving of White Flag for Iraq and Afghanistan
11:00 PM Obama Energy Plan Symposium / Tire Gauge Demonstration / How you too can get rich with Green Investment bankruptcies
11:15 PM Free ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich rally
11:30 PM Obama Accepts Oscar, Tony, and Latin Grammy Awards
11:45 PM Feeding of the Delegates with 5 Loaves and 2 Fish Obama presiding
12:00 AM Official Nomination of Obama by Bill Maher and Chris He sends a thrill up my leg Matthews
12:01 AM Obama Accepts Nomination as our Lord and Savior
12:05 AM Celestial Choirs Sing
doramin| 9.4.12 @ 4:17PM
I honestly believe they will be unable to control themselves. I look forward to a leftist freak show/Wellstone memorial/Bund rally. Just look at what the AFSCME president just did: placing an empty chair on stage with him, pace Clint and launching into a hateful rant that grew more and more heated, concluding with him violently attacking the empty chair. I'm betting nearly every damn one of the speakers is going veer from their script and go Hitler on us. They are so angry and desperate. Furthermore, people like this get easily overheated when in front of a friendly audience.
Will| 9.4.12 @ 4:06PM
"The Republican Party's convention wasn't ideological". I'm sorry, what planet have you been living on? Shrink the state, tax cuts, anti-abortion etc- this is the distinctive ideology of the republican party and has been for years! It is virtually impossible for any political party in the developed world to be unideological, as politics is basically about the clash of ideologies. And I do not use "ideological" as a swear word in the way many people do. Having an ideology is good.
Kingofthenet| 9.4.12 @ 9:53PM
But perhaps the main point of Clinton's speech was putting the blame for the national debt squarely at the GOP's doorstep.
He pointed to the giant national debt clock that Republicans had at their convention, saying, "You see that debt clock?"
"They built it!" shouted a man in the audience.
"Yeah, they built it. They built it," replied Clinton, to loud cheers and laughs from the audience.
spike59| 9.5.12 @ 5:58AM
uh huh...50% higher under ObaMao than previously-this, of course with total Democrat control of Congress for half of Bush's last term, half of ObaMao's single term, and not one Democrat budget passed, and with ObaMao's pathetic budget submissions failing to garner a single vote in either chamber from his own Party...
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Track| 9.5.12 @ 2:30AM
Damn ellasolo,
Here you go again. At least read the article and make your comment relevant to the subject. Like "I saw a fellow interviewed during the convention that tried to tell the public that after reviewing the Osama raid plans that Obama wanted extra helos to land over the border in Pakistan in case something went wrong. If that was part of the raid package it came from the DoD. Not Obama!
Track| 9.5.12 @ 2:32AM
Then offer some doggie treats.
RonRonDoRon| 9.5.12 @ 2:03PM
Wear your own pet leashes and pet clothes, and eat your own pet products, spamster scum!
(If only there were some way to force these creeps to receive our responses to their marketing spam, we could bury their operations in retorts.)
Sonderegger | 9.5.12 @ 3:29AM
The easiest way to gauge the effect of the Dems' convention won't be the polls. Look at the mainstream media's reaction. It's dawned on them that Obama may actually lose, and they're losing their collective minds over that fact. The more fevered their praise, the more heated contrasts they draw between Obama and Romney, the weaker Obama really is. Watch CBS, NBC and CNN for a few http://www.chaussuresfree.com/ nights. Read the New York Times from Wednesday through next Sunday. The more they jump the shark, the better Romney's chances will be.
Magician Nottingham | 9.5.12 @ 5:38AM
Wow what an article, makes you think doesnt it?