How it must gall President Barack Obama's re-election team to try to talk down Mitt Romney by talking up his talent. "He is a great salesman," top Obama strategist David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday." "That is what he did as a professional; he is very good at it."
Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs went further, calling Romney's first debate "a masterful, masterful performance," among other things. If Romney ever needs a critic's blurb to put on his promotional materials, he could do worse than "Robert Gibbs: Magical and theatrical ..." Gibbs makes it sound like in the first debate Romney was a combination of Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" and Fred Astaire in "Top Hat."
There is a delicious irony in Obama's aides complaining of someone else's superior salesmanship. Do they have no self-awareness? They might want to reacquaint themselves with how Barack Obama became president. It wasn't his long record of legislative achievement. It wasn't his executive experience. It wasn't his fine-grained agenda. It was a winning smile, a great narrative, and a slogan that fit the temper of the moment: "Hope and change." Not to mention a determined effort to obscure and sand away the rough edges of his leftism. It was, in short, a great sales job.
For the Obama campaign to turn around and complain that Mitt Romney is just too persuasive is like the late, great TV pitchman Billy Mays warning that the other guy is better at peddling OxiClean. There is a Willy Loman-esque autumnal feel to the Obama team's plaint, which has been picked up by the president himself. When Loman's touch deserted him, he was left a wreck - "the end of a man when his dream world is shattered," in the words of a critic.
With more time to redeem himself and his favorability ratings holding up nicely, the president is hardly there, but the backhanded testaments to Romney's superlative performance skills speak to his challenge. It's hard to imagine the greatest political salesman of his generation, Bill Clinton, ever having to dismiss George H. W. Bush or Bob Dole as simply too sliver-tongued for him. Or the Obama of 2008 having to explain how his own substantive merits were being obscured by the rhetorical prowess of John McCain.
When the Obama team hails Romney's salesmanship it is, of course, making a number of not-too-veiled criticisms: He is an empty vessel, fraudulently misportraying his own program and shamelessly repositioning himself to the center. But Romney is, far and away, a more substantive, accomplished man than Barack Obama when he was running for president - a highly successful businessman who turned around the Salt Lake Olympics and served as governor of Massachusetts. He is running on a center-right program of reform that does not, no matter how much liberals wish to believe it, depend on a tissue of lies. Finally, Romney is making some feints to the rhetorical center, but this is hardly unprecedented in the latter stages of a presidential campaign. Without changing his policies, he's choosing to accent certain notes over others.
In praising Romney's salesmanship, the Obama campaign is stepping on its own message about him. It had made great progress over a matter of months in attacking the Republican as a monster from the right wing via the world of private equity. Now he's the beguiling talker who is overly flexible and pragmatic. What exactly does the Obama campaign think swing voters will find so threatening about this new depiction?
Slickness can become a character issue. Just ask Bill Clinton. But Romney's proficiency as an explainer is joined to a sincere earnestness and good cheer. People will be more inclined to consider him an Eagle Scout than an Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis' huckster to whom David Axelrod compared him in the aftermath of the first debate.
If the Obama team is correct about how good he is at making a sale, they should be very worried.
Now that Obama has had the reins for over four years and is running amok destroying our nation, I am still confused why he was voted in for the second time.
President Barack Obama believes in the public sector. He thinks it should be made ever more expansive and entrusted with ever more complicated tasks. Its unions should be powerful. It should be hailed by all the great and good, and attract the nation’s best and brightest.
I am writing this letter to thank and to acknowledge the great and swift job that the Wayne Township Fire Department did, as well as the ambulance, in responding to a medical emergency in our household on May 15.
It is worth mentioning that more Americans were killed by the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11, than were killed by the recent terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon.
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.
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.
Grilling is a simple way to feed your family well this summer. Start with a lean meat and a healthful marinade and then allow the grill to strip away additional fat for a heart-healthy and waist-friendly final result. Plus, grilling caramelizes the natural sugars in foods, which adds flavor without additional calories and fat.
Commentary
Discussion
Romney, the 'great salesman'
By Rich Lowry CNHI
How it must gall President Barack Obama's re-election team to try to talk down Mitt Romney by talking up his talent. "He is a great salesman," top Obama strategist David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday." "That is what he did as a professional; he is very good at it."
Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs went further, calling Romney's first debate "a masterful, masterful performance," among other things. If Romney ever needs a critic's blurb to put on his promotional materials, he could do worse than "Robert Gibbs: Magical and theatrical ..." Gibbs makes it sound like in the first debate Romney was a combination of Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" and Fred Astaire in "Top Hat."
There is a delicious irony in Obama's aides complaining of someone else's superior salesmanship. Do they have no self-awareness? They might want to reacquaint themselves with how Barack Obama became president. It wasn't his long record of legislative achievement. It wasn't his executive experience. It wasn't his fine-grained agenda. It was a winning smile, a great narrative, and a slogan that fit the temper of the moment: "Hope and change." Not to mention a determined effort to obscure and sand away the rough edges of his leftism. It was, in short, a great sales job.
For the Obama campaign to turn around and complain that Mitt Romney is just too persuasive is like the late, great TV pitchman Billy Mays warning that the other guy is better at peddling OxiClean. There is a Willy Loman-esque autumnal feel to the Obama team's plaint, which has been picked up by the president himself. When Loman's touch deserted him, he was left a wreck - "the end of a man when his dream world is shattered," in the words of a critic.
With more time to redeem himself and his favorability ratings holding up nicely, the president is hardly there, but the backhanded testaments to Romney's superlative performance skills speak to his challenge. It's hard to imagine the greatest political salesman of his generation, Bill Clinton, ever having to dismiss George H. W. Bush or Bob Dole as simply too sliver-tongued for him. Or the Obama of 2008 having to explain how his own substantive merits were being obscured by the rhetorical prowess of John McCain.
When the Obama team hails Romney's salesmanship it is, of course, making a number of not-too-veiled criticisms: He is an empty vessel, fraudulently misportraying his own program and shamelessly repositioning himself to the center. But Romney is, far and away, a more substantive, accomplished man than Barack Obama when he was running for president - a highly successful businessman who turned around the Salt Lake Olympics and served as governor of Massachusetts. He is running on a center-right program of reform that does not, no matter how much liberals wish to believe it, depend on a tissue of lies. Finally, Romney is making some feints to the rhetorical center, but this is hardly unprecedented in the latter stages of a presidential campaign. Without changing his policies, he's choosing to accent certain notes over others.
In praising Romney's salesmanship, the Obama campaign is stepping on its own message about him. It had made great progress over a matter of months in attacking the Republican as a monster from the right wing via the world of private equity. Now he's the beguiling talker who is overly flexible and pragmatic. What exactly does the Obama campaign think swing voters will find so threatening about this new depiction?
Slickness can become a character issue. Just ask Bill Clinton. But Romney's proficiency as an explainer is joined to a sincere earnestness and good cheer. People will be more inclined to consider him an Eagle Scout than an Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis' huckster to whom David Axelrod compared him in the aftermath of the first debate.
If the Obama team is correct about how good he is at making a sale, they should be very worried.
(c) 2012 by King Features Syndicate
Every year you hear people saying, “If only it would get cold enough and snow enough in the winter. Then we wouldn’t have so many bugs.”
May 24, 2013
Democrats do not live the way they vote.
Now that Obama has had the reins for over four years and is running amok destroying our nation, I am still confused why he was voted in for the second time.
May 24, 2013
President Barack Obama believes in the public sector. He thinks it should be made ever more expansive and entrusted with ever more complicated tasks. Its unions should be powerful. It should be hailed by all the great and good, and attract the nation’s best and brightest.
May 24, 2013
I am writing this letter to thank and to acknowledge the great and swift job that the Wayne Township Fire Department did, as well as the ambulance, in responding to a medical emergency in our household on May 15.
May 23, 2013
It is worth mentioning that more Americans were killed by the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11, than were killed by the recent terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon.
May 23, 2013
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
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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
Grilling is a simple way to feed your family well this summer. Start with a lean meat and a healthful marinade and then allow the grill to strip away additional fat for a heart-healthy and waist-friendly final result. Plus, grilling caramelizes the natural sugars in foods, which adds flavor without additional calories and fat.
May 24, 2013 1 Photo
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