Obama has his own approach based on the way Presidents before W did it. W implemented the early morning Daily Brief because he didn't want to read. Obama reads the PDB and sometimes attends the early morning briefings, but he also has a daily meeting on National Security with more players: He actually talks through the issues: About the PDB... How does Obama use the PDB? What about terrorism? What about the VP? http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...reign-policy/2012/01/14/gIQANYv13P_print.html Plus, I know this will be a shocker, but the guy who wrote the original piece slamming Obama for missing the PDB briefings is a former speechwriter for W. In sum:
I agree it's his weak point, but you don't do politics in this country without The Money. It's a compromise with reality. But at least he holds forth some pretense of reigning in corporate political control where Mr. Romney and the GOP don't even bother. If there were a viable option in this two party system i would jump up and down about it. The Oil lobby runs our energy policy and yet they still rail against Obama. The healthcare industry loves mandated insurance but they rail against Obama. Noecons rail against Obama while he bombs the sh** out everyone he can find. Business donates to Romney with the stock market soaring. What more do these people want?
Jeez, Mitt. Really? The problem is, this is a gaffe that sounds like it is not a gaffe as it seems entirely believable that he thinks of $200,000 to $250,000 as middle class. No wonder his handlers only let him talk to Fox for so long.
Better to collaborate and control them than abdicate and award control to the corporations like the laissez faire approach of the GOP and Libertarians.
So Romney thinks $200-250,000 bucks a year is middle class? There are one hell of a lot of folks in Texas who consider themselves middle class that will scratch their heads over this one. If you live in New York or San Francisco? I wouldn't argue, but what percentage of Americans live where that salary range would be viewed as middle class? My guess is that it's a very small percentage. Romney is completely out of touch with the average American.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/09/14/romney-overshares-on-live.html So... Romney says he has been going to bed naked thinking about how tiny Snookie has gotten.
If Dems and pundits and media run with 'Romney thinks the middle class is 200-250K,' it could be as bad for him as when Bush I thought grocery store scanners were new tech and was way off on the price of milk. Why does this matter? "Which candidate do you think better understands the problems of people like you?" This may be the most important question voters answer with their votes. And it plays perfectly into the 'Romney's out of touch with normal/non-insanely wealthy people' narrative, from which he presently, rightly suffers. It seems like every day he says something on which the election could turn, and it's never something that helps him; it is always a set-back.
This isn't meant as an attack against Obama specifically, but is he really doing his job? Being President of the United States isn't exactly a 9-5 that leaves plenty of time for all the campaigning activities on the side. You're right that it's a part of the system, but I think it's a major flaw in our system that we elect people to public office and they spend more than a year of their term campaigning for re-election. The problem is even worse in the House, where campaigning pretty much starts the minute they show up.
People who earn $200,000 are middle income people? WTF? I can't wait to hear the spin about this one.
Bad news for Mitt. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/...-problem-34-554-Voter-attitudes-have-hardened
wow! The NBC/WSJ polls released yesterday evening have little info to cheer Republicans. But in all the bad news for them, perhaps nothing is worse than the hardening of people's choices. In Virginia, Obama leads 49 to 44, but only 5 are undecided. Furthermore, only 2% say they might switch before election day. That means even if Romney swept all the undecided vote, he'd still only have a tie. He's got a structural problem in Virginia. In Florida, same story: Obama leads 49 to 44, but only 5 are undecided. He could win all of them and still be no closer to victory. Same thing, only 2% say they might flip before election day. He's got a structural problem in Florida. In Ohio, the news is devastating: Obama leads 50 to 44, and once again only 5 are undecided. If Romney swept all the remaining undecideds, he's still going to lose Ohio. Worse, only 2% might flip. The lack of undecideds is unprecedented in modern presidential campaigns.
Looks like Romney is going to go down in flames. Not that I think Obama is doing a super great job, but I just cannot vote for Mitten.
