The 2nd debate is over and I want to make a few points. First please allow me one lapse into racialism as I need to get this off of my chest. As a black man I try to remain race neutral when blogging or commenting on many issues because some reading my views and commentary many times attempt to put it through a racial prism. As such sometimes my hurdle to communicate has nothing to do with the point but with the reader’s own preconceived misconceptions and notions.
That said, after the first Presidential debate many just could not understand why the president was so passive and seemingly inattentive. I knew part of the reason he did not react and I wrote the piece “President Obama’s Fear of the Angry Black Man Label Loses the Debate On Style But Wins On Facts”. Many thought I was playing the race card. I was not. Many of us have simply lived the experience. Well, lo and behold, while watching the roundtable on CNN it did not take long before many of the moderators started addressing President Obama as angry in tone. It did not take long before Jessica Yellin at CNN did the same thing in questioning folks in the spin room. I got so irate I tweeted both Yellin and Wolf Blitzer about the “angry black man” messaging they were attempting to put into the narrative. We must remember the accolades giving to Romney for being assertive and commanding in the first debate. President Obama did much less and they labeled him angry. This is just one of many parameters this president must navigate that other presidents have not. I feel better now having said this.
I loved the debate. I thought it was engaging. Inasmuch as the polls claim the President won the debate by just 7 points, I thought it was really a blowout not on points but on a vision for what America is to be. Many continued to say that Romney had a 5 point plan for the economy while the President did not. This is silly rhetoric that does not pass the smell test yet the mainstream media has added it to the narrative with many “undecided” voters accepting the line.
Did they not see the debate? Did the President not give an energy vision of energy independence with a migration to sustainable energy? Did the president not give a vision of investing in research to ensure that we remain at the forefront of creating high paying jobs? Did the president not give a vision of a society that invest in educating its population and re-educating displaced workers to ensure a competitive, educated, and better paid middle class? Did the President not give a vision of reinvesting savings from a war wary nation into its infrastructure?
What is sad is that Mitt Romney has come out with a five point debunked plan that is nothing but empty rhetoric. There is nothing in the plan that could provably create a substitutive job increase for the middle class. This should not be a surprised as by definition Mitt Romney’s business experience is not in creating policies that maximize job creation. He was solely about wealth extraction from businesses created by the blood, sweat, and tears of others. In other words he and his investors parasitically profited from others work, yet he has the nerve to demonize 47% of Americans.
The American citizens must wake up. When I was real young I watched a movie called the Poseidon Adventure. It was about a ship hit by a big wave that flipped it over. There were two men that took the lead to attempt get many to safety. They both gave reasons why they should go in a particular direction. As young as I was it was evident that just on science and common sense one man was right and the other was wrong. Suffice it to say that those choosing to follow the common sense science based leader survived while the other leader took the rest to their demise. That is how I feel about this election. We have Mitt Romney whose policies simply on common sense are wrong. It is evident it will cause severe harm to the country. We have the President’s policies that while not all that I would want put America in the right direction. The difference between the story above and this election is that the bad choice made above only affected those who made the bad choice while a bad choice in this election affects us all.
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I absolutely agree with you on all counts/points. Excellent post and much appreciated.
I agree that the “angry black man” syndrome is still a part of the American consciousness just as the “hysterical woman” is, something that Hillary Clinton would face if she was president.
You wrote: “Did the President not give a vision of reinvesting savings from a war wary nation into its infrastructure?” There would be no savings because the war funding is borrowed money. The disgrace of the Bush and now the Obama wars is that they chose not to include it in the federal budget.
Mike,
You are actually incorrect. One of the reasons our budget deficit seems to have ballooned is that President Obama actually brought honesty in budgeting and all the wars are ON budget. You are correct that it is borrowed money. Borrowed money for an appreciating asset though is not a bad thing.
Romney’s economic plan will put more people to work adding to the tax base. Nobody seems to get that. As for his premise of lowering taxes leading to stronger economics, just look at Wisconsin. It will work on a larger scale. Since when does a constitutional law professor (who tends not to uphold the actual constitution) have the experience necessary to run a country? Let’s fix the economic issues first, then work on the social ones. Selling out to China is not the answer. The Dems feel like they hold the moral highground, but are leaving their children and grandchildren to pay for all the blunders. That is avarice.
Democrats based solely and policy and economics have the high ground. Republican policy has degenerated into Ayn Rand Objectivism. What is sad is the GOP has used marketing to actually make good people think evil policies are vogue.
Please explain to me how lowering taxes increase jobs? It does no such thing. As a restaurant manager, I hire people based on need. The added savings from tax cuts would just go to the bottom line. Sales incease then you need to hire people. These so called tax cuts will do nothing for the middle class. It will be so nominal no one will get any benefit from them. The cost of goods and services are rising faster then incomes. You do the math. Get money out of politics and give America back to the middle class.
Mitt has an economic plan? Really? Why won’t he show it to us, then? He offers vague ideas at best, and disproven “theories” at worst. The only “plan” I can see with Mitt is making the rich even richer to the direct detriment of everybody else. And as the past few decades have PROVEN, when you give the rich tax cuts, they either pocket the money or invest in companies like Bain Capital: they do NOT create new jobs.
Last night Obama enacted another American myth, the long suffering strong but silent type who finally has had as much as he can take and let’s the bully have it. The angry black man morphed into John Wayne – the Quiet Man. I think it completely freaked Romney out. He lost his mind.