As I wrote last night, President Obama’s attack mode during the Boca Raton debate seemed to suggest that he was the challenger trailing in the race rather than the incumbent nursing an alleged lead. But the president’s nasty streak is also displaying itself on the campaign trail, where he has been trying out one-liners about his rival like a would-be comic at open mic night at a comedy club. Last week’s big yuck was his “Romnesia” crack that alludes to the fact that Romney has changed his positions on some issues. Today, he doubled down on that one by saying Romney had “stage 3 Romnesia” at a rally in Delray Beach, Florida.
One might ask what exactly about cancer, a disease whose progress is generally referred to in stages in that manner, is so funny? But even if we are ready to give him a pass for showing bad taste, one has to question the strategy being employed here. For several months, the entire Democratic campaign seemed predicated on derision and demonization of Romney. But in the first presidential debate the GOP candidate blew that effort out of the water, changing not only the direction of the race but rendering much of the Obama campaign’s material obsolete if not completely irrelevant. Yet despite that, the president keeps playing the same losing hand aimed at denigrating an opponent who strikes most Americans as inherently reasonable. That makes one wonder whether the president’s condescending attitude as well as his sarcasm has a lot more to do with his anger at Romney’s strength and staying power than it does with any tactical political plan. More and more, it’s sounding as if President Obama is just plain mad at Romney because of the growing possibility that he’s going to lose the election.
The president has barely contained that anger at Romney in both of the last two debates, in which he often sought to interrupt the Republican as well as talk down to him. Democrats claim this is just natural frustration at Romney’s slippery tactics as he has tacked to the center in the fall campaign. There is something to that, as there is no doubt that Romney has reverted to his natural moderation after a brief stint masquerading as a “severely conservative” candidate in the GOP primaries.
But Romney isn’t the only one who has changed his positions on some issues. Obama claims it’s a myth that he has apologized for America. But as the Washington Free Beacon noted back in August, he has done so repeatedly.
Of course, perhaps the most egregious instance of an Obama course correction that is the equal of anything Romney has ever said, is the way the president has trimmed his sails on Israel. Judging by the way he clung to Israel last night, you would never know that the president had spent his last three years fighting constantly with Israel’s government over settlements, borders and the status of Jerusalem. Nor would you know that he had deliberately snubbed Israel’s prime minister last month in an attempt to avoid pressure to support “red lines” about Iran’s nuclear program. Romnesia, even at stage 3, isn’t much worse than that.
But these inconsistencies aside, the main takeaway from the president’s campaign in an increasing sense of anger and frustration as the polls show him losing ground. There’s still time for him to reverse this trend, but one suspects trying to be the quipster-in-chief isn’t the way to do it.
I laugh when I see a petty and failed politician like Barack Obama bad mouthing Romney as is he was some political hack and a mean spirited person. I long for the days when we don’t have to listen to his voice anymore, the man sounds like a third world dictator when he speaks.
"the man sounds like a third world dictator when he speaks" n nAnd I would bet that in his heart of hearts, wishes he was one.
The image of Obama poring over a hit-list of drone targets is chilling. This community organizer become homicidal president is exceedingly creepy. n nBrings to mind Papa Doc Duvalier AKA Baron Samedi who turned himself into a black dog at night to prowl the streets of Port Au Prince in search of his enemies. n n
He sounds precisely like Hugo Chavez laughing at his opponents because they refuse to admit it's a rigged game all around.
…and perhaps the last two debates were actually his opening bid for a Secretary General of United Nations.
There's no substance to the Obama campaign — which, I think, is why he couldn't govern, because he never stopped campaigning. What the campaign IS good at is creating facades — images, impressions, sensations … like how you don't need to have a plan for the next four years if you create a shiny pamphlet to hold up to the crowd so everyone can say "Obama does have a plan — see!" The quips are just part of that — and I really believe he was trying to create a lasting debate quote (like "There you go again, Mr. President") that would be quoted and quoted and imply Obama destroyed his opponent … except he's coming off as a bully and sarcastic and mean, meaning all the things that destroy his empty facades. n nAnd I think he's hurt the most by being so empty, so void of humanity, because he cannot relate to the voters he's trying to convince. The best anyone could grant him is that he's like Lenny Bruce doing his act for the band, the show biz insiders, because nobody in the audience gets him — except Bruce knew it and did do his show instead for the band, Obama seems to think he's scoring. I don't know whoever found him likable, but he's definitely never had a moment when he could sum up everything he wanted to do and the difficulties that still lay ahead as Clinton saying, "I feel your pain!" n nThe emperor really has no clothes!
He's a B-actor.
Lenny was also funny, and possessed of a righteous anger at hypocrisy. Obama comes out and tells the equivalent of "take my mother-in-law, please" one-liners. n nOur Henny Youngman in Chief.
What an insult to Henny Youngman, who I always enjoyed… n nObama's quips remind me of nothing so much as a bombastic blowhard throwing out lines at which only his ardent supporters will laugh, as the lines are all patently and obviously untrue. But his supporters think it funny for Obama to lie to voters, and have the MSM not call him on his lies the way they would call any conservative or Republican candidate. n nHis supporters simply can not believe a majority of voters can see through the MSM spin for Obama. His supporters are convinced he will fool a majority one more time, get re-elected, and think it uproariously funny we could fall for such a pack of lies and misdirection. n nHopefully, we will see a repeat of the 2010 midterm landslide, and WE will have the last laugh.
Obama discarded, picked up his three new cards and now he is holding a pair of fours, a six, a five, and a seven. Nothing left to do but fold or bluff. Since it is our money he is using, he will bluff and continue to raise the stakes until the end. n nNow I'm praying that Romney can beat a pair of fours…
Finally,finally,finally maybe the American people have seen BHO and his arrogance and narissism on display in contrast to someone such as Romney, who appeared more presidential than the president. Sick of hearing BHO's voice. Anyone who remembers,knows all the talk about BHO's "apology tour", his bowing to foreign leaders, his statement about America's "unexceptionalism" according to him, etc. Need I go on?
If you watched/listened to Romney and Obama at the Al Smith dinner last week, Romney was genuinely funny (and I could not stand Romney during the GOP debates so he really has had to win me over). Obama? same snarky sarcasm, and he lost THAT match-up. n nMaybe he was trying to make up for not being funny by trying again, with a whole lot more people watching. n nGo read the comment threads at The New Republic. Obama's acolytes loved his snark last night. n n
I'll pass on reading comments at TNR, but bless you for exposing yourself to such garbage. Of course they like his snark – they are a bunch of glib ignoramuses who think they are smarter than the rest of us. nThe Obama bubble has burst. I don't think most liberals appreciate what that means, but their Party is about to get a wake up call. In 2014 it will be a very different Democratic Party trying to regain the Senate and scratch back some seats in the House.
You're right; at the Al Smith dinner Romney was making genuine fun at himself as well as Obama, and his media enablers. Even poking fun at Obama -"I am up in polls so the media headlines are: Obama leading from behind", you knew he was being funny and gracious. nAll of Obama's "jokes", OTOH, were simply variations of the nasty put downs from the campaign trail.
Mostly; he DID say that he wished Biden was there because Biden would laugh at anything. But that still poked fun at his VP, not at himself.
The pathology is in the mirror, Mr. President.
We need some new Downfall videos.
Obama's quips and body language are reminding of Bob Dole. And we know what happened to him.
And as someone pointed out George Bush, Sr in the the last two weeks of 1992 campaign when he realized he lost. I never liked Al Gore, but Bush Sr. quips about "ozone man" and "up to our necks in owls" were simply unpresidential; much like Obama yesterday and today.
Jonathan, I think you're over-thinking it. Simple explanation: Obama's an asshole.
that too
I was looking at You Tube videos this evening and came across George W. Bush's bullhorn speech at ground zero. Less than 2 minutes. And sure it's largely the time and place, but it struck me that as great a speaker as Obama is supposed to be, he has never given a speech to match it, certainly nothing that has connected to the American people as well. ALL of the American people.
A little off topic but can you just imagine if Obama was POTUS during 9/11/01? He would have just sat back and done nothing and then he would have blamed America somehow and apologized to the families of the hijackers and then he would have referred to it as a human tragedy instead of a terrorist attack! Supposedly, the entire attack in Benghazi was watched for 7 hours as it happened by Obama and the State Dept through a spy drone that was flying overhead. Those people were begging for help and that piece of human excrement refused! This is what former CIA commander Gary Bentson told CBS news.
Reminds me of Carter and Rwanda. Possibly the massive genocide could have been nipped in the bud, but …
Last night Obama was arrogant, nasty, sarcastic, and demeaning. Gov Romney was calm, collected, and very Presidential. Worse for Obama we saw again last night that Obama has NO PLAN to make anything better. 4 more years of Obama means 4 more years of UNEMPLOYMENT, DEBT, and Disaster. Gov Romney showed once again that he has a Real PLAN to restore JOBS and GROWTH to our nation. The flash poll showed that Obama was more agressive, but the day after shows that Gov Romney is the won the American people saw a the next President of our nation. The polls are moving toward Gov Romney, and Intrade which was at 63 Obama, 37 Romney before the debate has move very dramatically after the debate to 54% Obama, 46% Obama. A huge move and its still moving toward Romney. The betting money is now on Gov Romney. “When someone doesn’t do the job you gotta let them go”!
You can thank the superb leadership of President Obama over the last four years for the preeminence of the US markets and economy after the financial fiasco of the last Republican administration. Without the steadiness of the US as a safe haven, the global economy would have collapsed. Romney would crash the markets, economy, and the system, through tight money, ballooning deficits, higher interest rates, trade wars, deregulation of Wall Street, and every other inappropriate absurdity imaginable. Thank you President Obama, we need sanity in this time of crisis
Yeah, and thank him for two credit downgrades on his watch!! And look at inflation, which supposedly is at 1.3%, but it's really much higher than that (proof is in gas prices). That's because all the money being printed to pay for the ever increasing debt is devaluing the dollar. Let's face it, BHO is a serial liar, it's all becoming "self-evident" now. This pattern started when he stated, in his application to the Illinois bar, that he had never used another name. Well, you may want to Google the name "Barry Soetoro".
Julian, this is satire, right? You forgot the Romney tax breaks for shipping jobs to China, causing women to die of cancer, strapping a suspected gay high school class mate to the top of a car, and bullying the family dog with horses and bayonets. Or something like that. n nThe US markets economy is better than the rest of the world in spite of Obama, not because of him. Obama drastincally increased the deficit, squandered stimiulus money on projects that do not create jobs, trampled the bankruptcy laws to favor his campaign supporters at the expense of other creditors (including auto workers who belong to non-UAW unions and retired teachers), pushed thru massive tax increases and regulatory uncertainty in the form of Obamacare, and gave small and medium business incentive to cut their full time job rolls and reduce employee hours below 30 per week. None of these things are good for the US economy.
As an African American who has been unemployed for the past four years, I'll beg to disagree with your assessment of the president's handling of the economy.__It was a fatal mistake in my opinion when he prioritized Obamacare over jobs and the economy.__Long-term unemployment depletes your dignity like nothing else. Many in the Black community have suffered terribly for the past four years.
He's also a dirtbag. Period.
This must be the most vacuous, vituperative, childish comment on the election of all. Is Jonathan competing for a prize?
"This must be the most vacuous, vituperative, childish comment on the election of all." nYou have obviously not been paying attention to Eva Longoria, Whoopi Goldberg, David Axelrod, Joe Biden or President Obama. Please try to keep up.
Love the ghetto accent Obama's got on in his post 3rd debate rally. nFind it really embarrassing for Obama.
Obama is over 40 years old at the time and he needs a visit to Yad VaShem to learn about evil? Give me a break! And he visited Israel for purely moral reasons, to learn about evil, and not to court the American Jewish vote? Again, give me a break! As a Jew I am annoyed that Obama would desecrate the Holocaust of European Jewry by using his visit to Yad VaShem for some trivial political and campaign purpose. Are there no ethical depths too murky for Obama?
I thought he said in 2008 that he learned about the Holocaust from an uncle who liberated a concentration camp; then he gave the name of a camp that was in fact liberated by the Soviet Army, not by the US.
Mostly I look "forward" the local school district putting a new name on the building down the street. Their pandering to the majority African American student population and their families by this equates to the Nobel prize Obama received for dong nothing, foreshadowing the efficacy of his administration.
I don't think winning Ohio is going to be a losing hand. n nObama up 49-45 today in Rand national tracking poll
This morning, after hearing about the slime some corners may be pursuing to smear Romney (i.e. Allred), I've begun to think that the Obama campaign may be ready-ing the public to accept the "low road" and whatever else will come that way. n nGear the public to focus on the tripe and the miniscule and irreverent — the Obama campaign's version of Entertainment Weekly. Is this why he's been spending so much time on the Daily Show? Is he trying to be the new Jerry Springer?
The democrats must think that the Jews are all suffering from this Romnesia disease. It was less then two months ago that they were three times rejecting God, Jerusalem and Israel in their party platform. We all heard the screams of NO from the floor when the motions to resend those planks was carried. Getting the democrat delegates to support israel was like pulling a wisdom tooth. Any true son or daughter of Abraham must understand in their gut that they are being betrayed and rejected and shown the door by erstwhile friends
recind?
As Obama told Putin, we should all just wait till he has a "free hand".