We've had a powerful State of the Union Address by President Obama and a weak response by former George W. budget Director Mitch Daniels. President Obama channelled the optimism of Reagan, while Daniels captured the pessimism and gloom of modern conservatives. Did Obama go as far as I would have liked?- No but it was a powerful hour-long speech that basically laid down the language of the 2012 campaign.
He had the good fortune of following the GOP debate and the release of Mitt Romney's taxes, which showed him paying a 13.9% tax rate and stashing millions all over the place abroad, not just the Cayman Islands. Ann Romney complained that now people knew how much they were worth. For the curious, Romney's net worth is the last eight President of the United States combined times 2. While Romney has outspent Newt 50 to 1 in Florida, among conservative voters his wealth remains a problem.
I didn't blog on the last GOP debate. Mitt, now coached by Michelle Bachmann's debate teacher, went on the offensive against Newt. This apparently swung the momentum in Mitt's direction. But he still came off as a nasty, rich guy. Both men lied like hell about their stances on immigration to the Cuban crowd. Mitt brought a laugh from me when he said he couldn't be against immigrants because his mother came from Wales and his father was born in Mexico. Univision tried to get Mitt to admit he would be the first Mexican-American President. Even Mitt said that no one would believe it.
Both Mitt and Newt agreed they would get rid of bilingual ballots, thus depriving millions of Hispanic voters a clear choice. During the last days of bombastic attacks by both sides, Romney has jumped to a ten point lead, but Obama has jumped to a larger lead against both men. This morning Gingrich said that his pollsters were telling him that he was within five.
Since I have no skin in this game, it's interesting to hear that Newt vows to fight on until the Convention. The entire Republican establishment, punditry, and conservatives lambasted him this week in a coordinated attack orchestrated by the Romney campaign. It will be interesting to see whether the GOP base in Florida obeys their orders to toe the line. Meanwhile, John McCain is begging for the end of the GOP debates because all they do is magnify the candidates' negatives. Chris Wallace said all the debates have been stupid and that the audiences were just waiting for a car crash.
Since virtually every major Republican has endorsed or winked in Romney's direction, it is interesting to see that Herman Cain of 9-9-9 fame and Sarah Palin basically endorsed Newt. Newt is screaming that the conservative movement will not roll over dead for Romney. (Or maybe they will?)
Frank Rich, in this issue of New York Magazine, and posted on line at www.huffingtonpost.com today, has a must read about Romney entitled,"Who in God's name is Mitt Romney?", which dissects the enigma that is the GOP candidate. Rich calls him the "white shadow" because even though he has been around forever, no one really knows that he thinks about anything and that his Mormonism is the strongest key to understanding his worldview. His fellow Bain Capital people talk about how good a manager he was and how competent he is but they all remain baffled that they never knew what he believed about anything. Even those who worked with him when he was Governor said he never knew his aides' names and often physically kept them away from any area he would be.
Even with his Mormonism, he never calls his religion by name. In the speech he gave in the 2008 campaign about his faith in Texas, he only mentioned Mormonism by name once. As Rich notes,it is very unlikely that Romney would have worked on the Olympics if they had not been in Salt Lake City. Also interesting in the article is that Romney has held various positions in his secret, not just Bishop.
Rich praises the Boston Globe investigative reporters new book,The Real Romney, for its balance and praise of Mitt, but Rich notes that the book is languishing on the Amazon list as evidence that Republicans are just not that into Mitt.
Salon.com writes about Romney's Mormonism in a piece on the White Horse Prophecy, which was the prophecy of a Mormon coming to the rescue of the nation. This was the prophecy Glenn Beck relished talking about.
While Romney is enjoying the war against Newt, it is interesting that his support among Republicans nationwide has now dropped to below his normal 25-26%. The Florida campaign seems to be working, but among the rest of the Republicans, he still has not sealed the deal.
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