Love conquers all.
Virgil
A Little Housekeeping
Due to time constraints and the late election results, I published yesterday's post, but subsequently decided that the commentaries didn't meet my personal readability standards and made an extensive series of edits. The post was republished late this afternoon, and earlier readers may prefer the updated version. (Of course, if you disagreed with my original analysis, you still won't like the revised version.)
A Further Reflection On the Romney Florida Gaffe
Here is the FULL excerpt (in context) from the now famous Soledad O'Brien interview with Florida GOP Primary winner Mitt Romney:
ROMNEY: This is a time people are worried. They're frightened. They want someone who they have confidence in. And I believe I will be able to instill that confidence in the American people. And, by the way, I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling and I'll continue to take that message across the nation.Clearly Mitt Romney is not cognizant of the mixed message he is sending. Consider within mere seconds he sends out this message: "I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor..." This is not good when one is going up against a President whom is all hat and no cattle. To cite for the umpteenth time in this blog: "If there's one thing Obama knows, it's symbolism."
O'BRIEN: All right. So I know I said last question, but I've got to ask you. You just said I'm not concerned about the very poor because they have a safety net. And I think there are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say that sounds odd. Can you explain that?
ROMNEY: Well, you had to finish the sentence, Soledad. I said I'm not concerned about the very poor that have the safety net, but if it has holes in it, I will repair them.
I'm at a loss to explain how he expressed himself in such a way. Since he opened the door, let's briefly discuss this: how does he feel about the very poor have done under Barack Obama? Better, the same, or worse than under President Bush? I don't know why he would say something like "if there's a problem there, I'll fix it". One could infer that he hasn't put that much thought into it.
Let me take a very simple example to illustrate my point. The Democratic-controlled Congress during the second Bush term was trying to push up income eligibility for various entitlement programs (e.g., SCHIP, Medicaid, etc.) The Bush Administration was concerned about the fact that the Democrats were trying to extend the reach of poverty-support programs well into the middle class--even as many people eligible for the programs weren't aware of and/or using their benefits.
So what Romney should be saying to lower-income people is a message like this: "Ultimately, our safety net depends on the federal government's ability to live within its means. I want to do on the federal level the same kinds of things Mitch Daniels has done in Indiana for the DMV: target the resources at truly needy people, improve responsiveness and quality of government goods and services and evaluate government performance accordingly. I also want to get the government out of the hair of businesses by reducing government costs (taxes and regulatory compliance) on businesses, meddling in hiring practices and not borrowing so much, thus lowering the cost of capital."
Romney is here talking about why he's in politics is to help the middle class. This is instantly confusing. Remember Reagan's quote? "I"m from the government, and I'm here to help." Why? For one thing, his middle-income obsession seems to suggest the Democrats and the Republicans are in a bidding war in pandering to the middle class. That's just more of the same--spending more and more money we don't have, even as we have already reached our credit limit.
Why is Romney here for the middle class (instead of all Americans)? Is it because he's always been part of the middle class? No. I don't think here he's giving a good reason of why he's running for President.
What would I say in his place? Something like this: "You know, when I grew up, my folks taught me certain values: hard work, thrift, self-reliance, diligence, integrity, and accountability. We knew what to do and how to help other people without the federal government looking over our shoulders. Our education and hard work would pay off in the long run: we could make our own opportunities: start a business, buy a home, raise our family and promise our children a brighter future.
"Over the past 4 years, what we've seen is a different America. We have a leadership with a lack of confidence in our own economy, our ability to produce without a federal bureaucrat with no real business experience looking over our shoulders. We have a leadership whom has refused to ask all Americans to sacrifice, not just the disproportionately taxed upper 1%, We have a leadership which knows only how to spend, not very efficiently. We have had a leadership that is more interested in pursing priorities like climate change, financial regulations and healthcare insurance than in lowering business taxes and regulations or opening new markets to American goods and services.
"Yet all that spending has done nothing to shore up retirement benefits for seniors, and we're currently at our credit limit. All those overbudget dollars come at the expense of the far more efficient, effective, real job-generating private sector. All those uncompetitive taxes and burdensome regulations get in the way of business growth and generating good-paying jobs.
"The reason I want to be President is to restore hope for a new generation of Americans that they'll have the same type of opportunities that I had to make a decent living for my own family and the promise of a better future for my kids. I want to leave a smaller, not higher national debt and sustainable, accountable programs. I want to provide a constructive leadership to work together with both parties in the interests of the American people, not someone whom promised a post-partisan Washington but wouldn't deliver on that promise."
Well, that's part of what I might say if I was Romney. How would you feel if Romney spoke those words to you?
Entertainment Potpourri
I often discuss American music, television and movies. So I've decided to start a related segment (not that people look for entertainment tips from an obscure nerdy political blogger (especially one whom hasn't gone out to a movie in years)), but for some reason some of the biggest responses I've gotten from the blog reflect some of the music videos I've included in the blog, and one of my highest post pagereads was the day after I wrote a commentary on how the Fox TV show American Idol could be retooled.
- I haven't been a fan of a number of recent Super Bowl halftime shows. [The Toronto Sun has an interesting retrospective of the best and worst of Super Bowl halftime shows; as of this post, there's a rather embarrassing typo when they list last year's Black-Eyed Peas' universally panned show (even late night comics were cracking jokes about how bad it was) under "Best"--and then immediately go on to hammer the vocal performances.] However, I did like Madonna's; it's not hard to understand how America fell in love with a talented, beautiful Franco American singer (although she is a lapsed Catholic and we have different political views and values). Many fans may not realize Madonna's Franco American mother (with the same given name) died of breast cancer when the future musical icon was just 5 years old. I've never been impressed by Madonna's attention-seeking gimmicks, but she has an ear for listenable pop music, probably the most prolific, enduring pop performer since Elton John (my top 5 favorites? "Like a Prayer"; "Frozen"; "4 Minutes"; "This Used To Be My Playground"; "You Must Love Me" (from Evita)). I loved the fact that she ended with "Like a Prayer", on my personal Top 10 list (in my mind, I mapped out how I would produce my own version of the song), although to be honest, I would have opened the show with her signature tune and ended with a context-appropriate "Four Minutes". Apparently the biggest news was when some mediocre backup singer decided to exercise her middle finger, and already you've got the regulators stirred up: can we PLEASE ignore provocative behavior from an unworthy entertainer wanting her 15 minutes of fame? Listen, if that scandalizes you, you should have seen or heard what was going on in schoolyards when I was a kid...
- "New Girl" Fox TV. Now Thumbs DOWN! It's not the actors--whom are brilliant. It's lousy writing and gimmicky contrived scenarios. I have continued to watch, hoping it'll improve. For example, Jess had an intimate relationship with this guy; in a memorable scene, her new boyfriend confesses to Jess that he loves her--and she responds with an uncomfortable "thank you". (The poor young man can't emotionally handle the fact she doesn't want a serious relationship.) In another episode, she accidentally sees one of the male roommates naked; she soon comes to the conclusion the best way to handle the situation was for her male roommate to "accidentally" see her naked. In the last episode there were two scenes of note: a building superintendent somehow gets the idea Jess wants to have a multi-partner sexual encounter with him and one of her male roommates. Then there's another roommate who thinks a female manager has a thing for him and sent him to a conference room to do something she could enjoy in the privacy of her office. So he starts doing a strip tease in front of the camera while we see about 2 dozen unsmiling Japanese businessmen looking in on the feed. I just think the show has lost its more endearing, creative edge since the first few episodes. Let's just say I have some ideas on how to rework the show, but as long as they're getting great ratings with the target demographic (of which I'm not a member), they'll continue.
- A late, late review: "Just Like Heaven". Yeah, it's been in DVD release for a few years now. This is another romantic fantasy. I caught it on rotation recently on cable; you can find the DVD on sale for under $10, and I think the full film is available on Youtube as well. Reese Witherspoon plays a workaholic doctor (whom, of course, without a progressive government available to mandate no talking on one's cellphone while driving, runs into a little trouble...) Mark Ruffalo is a landscape architect whom knows how to grow roses Reese should have been stopping and smelling. I"m a perfectionist as a writer, and there are parts of the plot that don't seem to fit (for example, why would the spirit of workaholic doctor be drawn to her apartment where, for all practical purposes, she had been spending little time beyond sleeping?) Even as a Catholic, I enjoyed the exorcism scene (although I would have also loved a Ghostbusters' cameo with Aykroyd fleeing, saying Reese reminded him of his ex-wife....) Add a dash of Sleeping Beauty, and this film is a winner.
- I didn't watch Simon Cowell's The X Factor, so I didn't recognize the buxom diva in the Super Bowl ad singing for King Elton John, aka the Pepsi Nazi (remember the greatest Seinfeld character, the Soup Nazi? "No soup for you"). But now the new season of American Idol. I have to say for some reason I'm not as much into this new season. I miss Cowell's sometimes biting criticisms and the memorable train wreck auditions of past seasons. This is notorious "Hollywood week" where they whittle down the candidates. One of the special-interest stories involves comedian/film star Jim Carrey's daughter whom was eliminated in tonight's episode. (You feel so bad for the kids of celebrities; people have unrealistic expectations, plus any measure of success they achieve is attributed to their parent's connections.) However, I really, really didn't like how AI created its version of a cliffhanger--a young lady apparently fell off the stage by accident and someone is calling for an ambulance. I don't know if this is about ratings, but don't build ratings over a contestant's injuries.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Guess Who, "Hand Me Down World"
