President Barack Obama has debated Mitt Romney three times now and has yet to enunciate anything within hailing distance of a second-term agenda.
He wants to "win the future" - he just doesn't have a very clear idea about how to do it. His slogan is "forward," but his campaign is unmistakably backward-looking. His case for re-election has about as much to do with the last four years of the Bush administration as it does the next four years of the prospective second Obama administration.
All of his campaign's energy has been devoted to tearing down Romney. If a fraction of its effort had been spent on developing a few new proposals around which Obama could wrap a fresh-feeling policy platform, he wouldn't be forced to run such a remorselessly negative campaign.
The irony is that Obama aides always said that it would be a choice election. But they have been running as if the election were a referendum on the challenger. The only real choice that the Obama campaign has offered is one between believing Romney is a heartless, right-wing extremist and believing Romney is a soulless opportunist.
This has allowed Romney, pricelessly, free running to present himself as the man with the plan. His always-enumerated proposals (first it was 59, now it is five) have become such a trope that they are a joke. In its opening skit after the first debate, "Saturday Night Live" had the president musing to himself while Romney kept running through the endless checklist.
Even in Hempstead, N.Y., where Obama righted himself after Denver, he was largely litigating Romney's plan, which only reinforces that the former Massachusetts governor has one - in contrast to the president.
In an Oct. 15 memo to fellow Democrats from pollster Stan Greenberg and operative James Carville, they wrote of the first debate, in alarmed tones, "Romney got the opportunity to be heard as the voice of change." Reporting on dial-test results from the Denver and Biden-Ryan debates, they noted that "Obama won most support when he said what he would do to make the economy better in the years ahead, but both Romney and Ryan spent much more time on that future and sounded like they had a real plan to make the economy better."
A CNN instant poll had Obama winning the second debate, but still found that, by a 23 percent margin, people didn't think he had a clear plan for the future. Surely, this is part of the reason that Romney beat Obama by 58 percent to 40 percent on the economy in the CNN poll and by an astonishing 65-34 in a CBS instant poll.
The most powerful argument each candidate has against the other is that his agenda has been tried but failed. That is why Obama keeps linking Romney to President George W. Bush, and why it was so important that Romney finally got some distance from Bush at the Hempstead debate. For his part, Romney points to the past four years. Obama can't pivot to anything different - because he doesn't have anything different.
He has a tax increase that he has talked about for years and will raise about $80 billion a year in revenue at a time of $1 trillion deficits. He has a $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan that is one of history's great accounting tricks. As for the rest, it's more of the same: more green-energy subsidies, more education spending, more infrastructure.
Obama is the candidate of the status quo in a wrong-track country.
He hasn't taken his opponent or the public seriously enough. He has allowed his campaign to be driven by his barely concealed personal contempt for Romney, and has assumed that what voters most need to hear from him is fusillades against the other guy.
It can't be pleasant for Romney to be at the receiving end, but the president has inadvertently handed him an incalculable gift: He has ceded him the future.
I hate dog movies. In dog movies, the good, loyal, lovable dog always dies at the end and I end up sitting there in the dark with big tears streaming down my cheeks.
I’ve not kept it a secret that I find people who dress their dogs in clothes to be, to put it nicely, somewhat more than just eccentric. And many friendly, helpful readers out there have not kept it a secret that they really wish I would not express my views about dogs dressed as humans.
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
It sounds like the plot from a dystopian libertarian novel. The word “patriot” and the phrase “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” triggered heightened scrutiny from the most intrusive agency in the federal government.
The action at the bird feeder has been spectacular lately: Cardinals, finches, songbirds in impressive variety crowding around all day long in search of sustenance. It is truly gratifying …
Everyone presumes that Sen. Chuck Schumer, the media-hungry Democrat from New York, wants to be the next Senate majority leader. His performance in the negotiations over the Gang of Eight immigration plan should bolster his case for an eventual promotion.
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
When J.J. Abrams took over the "Star Trek" franchise in 2009, he boldly went where the series hadn't gone before — romantically — pairing Uhura with Spock. Many fans disliked the change. Some loved it. Others didn't care, because they just wanted to see Kirk and Spock make out.
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
Commentary
Discussion
Losing the future to Romney
By Rich Lowry CNHI
President Barack Obama has debated Mitt Romney three times now and has yet to enunciate anything within hailing distance of a second-term agenda.
He wants to "win the future" - he just doesn't have a very clear idea about how to do it. His slogan is "forward," but his campaign is unmistakably backward-looking. His case for re-election has about as much to do with the last four years of the Bush administration as it does the next four years of the prospective second Obama administration.
All of his campaign's energy has been devoted to tearing down Romney. If a fraction of its effort had been spent on developing a few new proposals around which Obama could wrap a fresh-feeling policy platform, he wouldn't be forced to run such a remorselessly negative campaign.
The irony is that Obama aides always said that it would be a choice election. But they have been running as if the election were a referendum on the challenger. The only real choice that the Obama campaign has offered is one between believing Romney is a heartless, right-wing extremist and believing Romney is a soulless opportunist.
This has allowed Romney, pricelessly, free running to present himself as the man with the plan. His always-enumerated proposals (first it was 59, now it is five) have become such a trope that they are a joke. In its opening skit after the first debate, "Saturday Night Live" had the president musing to himself while Romney kept running through the endless checklist.
Even in Hempstead, N.Y., where Obama righted himself after Denver, he was largely litigating Romney's plan, which only reinforces that the former Massachusetts governor has one - in contrast to the president.
In an Oct. 15 memo to fellow Democrats from pollster Stan Greenberg and operative James Carville, they wrote of the first debate, in alarmed tones, "Romney got the opportunity to be heard as the voice of change." Reporting on dial-test results from the Denver and Biden-Ryan debates, they noted that "Obama won most support when he said what he would do to make the economy better in the years ahead, but both Romney and Ryan spent much more time on that future and sounded like they had a real plan to make the economy better."
A CNN instant poll had Obama winning the second debate, but still found that, by a 23 percent margin, people didn't think he had a clear plan for the future. Surely, this is part of the reason that Romney beat Obama by 58 percent to 40 percent on the economy in the CNN poll and by an astonishing 65-34 in a CBS instant poll.
The most powerful argument each candidate has against the other is that his agenda has been tried but failed. That is why Obama keeps linking Romney to President George W. Bush, and why it was so important that Romney finally got some distance from Bush at the Hempstead debate. For his part, Romney points to the past four years. Obama can't pivot to anything different - because he doesn't have anything different.
He has a tax increase that he has talked about for years and will raise about $80 billion a year in revenue at a time of $1 trillion deficits. He has a $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan that is one of history's great accounting tricks. As for the rest, it's more of the same: more green-energy subsidies, more education spending, more infrastructure.
Obama is the candidate of the status quo in a wrong-track country.
He hasn't taken his opponent or the public seriously enough. He has allowed his campaign to be driven by his barely concealed personal contempt for Romney, and has assumed that what voters most need to hear from him is fusillades against the other guy.
It can't be pleasant for Romney to be at the receiving end, but the president has inadvertently handed him an incalculable gift: He has ceded him the future.
(c) 2012 by King Features Syndicate
I hate dog movies. In dog movies, the good, loyal, lovable dog always dies at the end and I end up sitting there in the dark with big tears streaming down my cheeks.
May 21, 2013
Mr. President, the buck stops with you.
President Truman set that standard, with these very words posted on a sign on his Oval Office desk.
But now, with over a thousand days left in this second Obama administration, we find a Nixonian stench emerging from the “W. House.”
May 21, 2013
Rarely has the White House briefing room so resembled the main ballroom at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
May 21, 2013
I’ve not kept it a secret that I find people who dress their dogs in clothes to be, to put it nicely, somewhat more than just eccentric. And many friendly, helpful readers out there have not kept it a secret that they really wish I would not express my views about dogs dressed as humans.
May 17, 2013
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
May 17, 2013
The federal government recently announced new regulations for buying fast food.
May 17, 2013
It sounds like the plot from a dystopian libertarian novel. The word “patriot” and the phrase “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” triggered heightened scrutiny from the most intrusive agency in the federal government.
May 17, 2013
The action at the bird feeder has been spectacular lately: Cardinals, finches, songbirds in impressive variety crowding around all day long in search of sustenance. It is truly gratifying …
For my neighbor.
That’s what it’s like at his feeder.
May 14, 2013
On April 27, Dr. Jeff Butts demonstrated a rare form of servant leadership as he participated in the Go Love Indy westside service project.
May 13, 2013
Everyone presumes that Sen. Chuck Schumer, the media-hungry Democrat from New York, wants to be the next Senate majority leader. His performance in the negotiations over the Gang of Eight immigration plan should bolster his case for an eventual promotion.
May 13, 2013
Follow me on Twitter
Will you be attending this year's Indy 500?
Tires
Telecommunications
Beauty Salons
Government
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Complete Report:
Part I: Are We Prepared? | Part II: Disaster Dollars
Part III: Lessons Learned | Part IV: Warning Signs
Part V: The Big One
When J.J. Abrams took over the "Star Trek" franchise in 2009, he boldly went where the series hadn't gone before — romantically — pairing Uhura with Spock. Many fans disliked the change. Some loved it. Others didn't care, because they just wanted to see Kirk and Spock make out.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Complete Report:
Part I: Are We Prepared? | Part II: Disaster Dollars
Part III: Lessons Learned | Part IV: Warning Signs
Part V: The Big One
Restaurants in avon
Tires in avon
Telecommunications in avon
Pizza Restaurants in avon
Beauty Salons in avon
Government in avon
Click for More
Powered by Local.com
Site Map
© 2013 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. · CNHI Classified Advertising Network · CNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2013. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope. Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
Privacy Policy | AP News Registry privacy policy
Terms and Conditions
Advertiser Index
Hendricks County Flyer, Avon, IN 8109 Kingston St., Suite 500 Avon, IN 46123