Why Obama's Still Untouchable in 2012
by Jack W. Germond
The Daily Beast
With the wretched economic numbers and bad news out of the Middle East and Afghanistan, the president should be vulnerable, but frontrunner Mitt Romney is stumbling, and other Republicans seem cowed by the Tea Party, says Jack W. Germond.
Democrats might be forgiven if they believe the sky has been falling since June arrived. The economic numbers are almost all wretched. And so is the situation in the Middle East. The pressure to quit Afghanistan is rising. Nobody seems very happy with President Obama.
But another of those many First Rules of Politics holds that you can’t beat somebody with nobody. And, at this point, there is no Republican out there who seems capable of enlisting enthusiastic support across the party’s ideological spectrum.
This doesn’t suggest there are no candidates in the GOP field who could be a credible president of the United States. The requirements are not that stringent. After all, the Republic survived eight years of George W. Bush.
But the Republican Party today has no clear structure and no established leaders with the influence to control its direction. There are traditional Republicans who stand for lower taxes, a strong national defense, and what they like to call “American values.” But there is the significant influence of religious fundamentalists who are generally hostile to such things as abortion rights and gay marriage.
(More here.)
The Daily Beast
With the wretched economic numbers and bad news out of the Middle East and Afghanistan, the president should be vulnerable, but frontrunner Mitt Romney is stumbling, and other Republicans seem cowed by the Tea Party, says Jack W. Germond.
Democrats might be forgiven if they believe the sky has been falling since June arrived. The economic numbers are almost all wretched. And so is the situation in the Middle East. The pressure to quit Afghanistan is rising. Nobody seems very happy with President Obama.
But another of those many First Rules of Politics holds that you can’t beat somebody with nobody. And, at this point, there is no Republican out there who seems capable of enlisting enthusiastic support across the party’s ideological spectrum.
This doesn’t suggest there are no candidates in the GOP field who could be a credible president of the United States. The requirements are not that stringent. After all, the Republic survived eight years of George W. Bush.
But the Republican Party today has no clear structure and no established leaders with the influence to control its direction. There are traditional Republicans who stand for lower taxes, a strong national defense, and what they like to call “American values.” But there is the significant influence of religious fundamentalists who are generally hostile to such things as abortion rights and gay marriage.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
the only two people who can beat Obama are not running - Hillary and Chris Christie.
Doesn't matter, though. The Republicans will retain the House and probably gain the Senate.
The nation won't be so quick to hand over the government carte blanche to the Democrats after witnessing the largest confiscation of freedom in history between 2008 and 2010 by the Democrats.
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