Joe emails: The last week or so has seen a quite enthralling game of chess between the Obama and Romney camps:
The Obama camp’s main thrusts have been in three areas:
1. Class Warfare. The main mover for Obama, one that he hopes can cut across race, gender, and even income, is that Romney is out of touch economically. It is a ridiculous argument. Obama makes far more than the average dipshit American voter. The fact that Romney makes 5 times more than that just from interest and dividends is meaningless. But, it is great politics. That is why all the emphasis on the Buffett argument for higher taxes (will never pass). This is one that Romney will have to handle on his own, and I think he can by saying look, it does not matter how much money I make, it matters how much money Americans are not making because this colonial Marxist is President.
2. Women. The Hilary Rosen assault on Ann Romney was brilliant. It targets educated “stay away from home moms” – women who choose to make money rather than make a home, and spend the money they made on therapists for their kids who they cannot stand to be around. It is not aimed at women who work as a waitresses to make ends meet, most of those view such work as a test, and are not petty enough to begrudge Ann Romney’s ability to stay at home because her husband made some major cake (and he was not always so well off, he worked as a security guard to allow her to go on clandestine visits to see Ann). No, the target was every mother who is a law partner, doctor, professor, etc., i.e., high propensity female voters who view Ann Romney with hatred for being a woman and not being a man. I think this one might be dampened by the old “wives are off limits” but this is about creating a meme, that Romney does not relate to the stay away from home mom, and thus, women in general.
3. Race. The Trayvon Martin showing, which by the way according to the charging papers was at worst manslaughter (not second degree murder) was a gift. IT is going to be mighty difficult to stir the black base. Romney, for all his faults, does not stir the same kind of reaction from a black person that a ron paul or a gingrich might. Obama needs huge black turnout, but it will take identity voting of an extreme manner for Obama to get 95% of the black vote with super high turnout. The guy has simply put more black people into bankruptcy and foreclosure by putting us into socialism. Blacks are discouraged as are other races of americans about the future. But the racially charged stuff can work, just as it did with OJ.
Romney is less of a tactics guy, but he really can’t be, he needs to check mate. His message has to be and is that this piece of crap has to go. He has not transformed anything, other than transformed the American dream into some kind of limbo state where we are just happy to have jobs but no future.
