One pro-Obama ad reveals a lot about 2012 campaign
One controversial ad by an Obama SuperPAC encapsulates so much that makes the 2012 presidential campaign distinctive:
– In its specifics, the ad is deceptive and brutally unfair. It suggests that by closing a Missouri steel plant and stripping its workers of health insurance, Mitt Romney and Bain Capital were in part responsible for the subsequent death of a worker’s wife by cancer. It’s the kind of gut-wrenching charge that — if made at all — at least ought to be strongly backed by facts. Instead, the implication that Romney is to blame is barely plausible at best, given the timelines involved. Those who condemn the ad as irresponsible are correct in that assessment.
– However, in a Citizens United world, in which quasi-independent groups raise and spend vast amounts of campaign cash, this type of ad will become more and more familiar. Candidates can claim to have no knowledge of or control over such advertisements, and thus no responsibility for it. The rich donors who paid for the ad are often anonymous, meaning they too cannot be held responsible. And if no one is responsible, irresponsibility results. This is not rocket science, even if the geniuses on the Supreme Court are unable to grasp it.
– Accuracy aside, the underlying theme of the ad is powerful and emotionally resonant. Outside predators such as Mitt Romney and Bain Capital can perform a useful function in a capitalist economy. They come into a company and make ruthless, heartless decisions without regard to the human cost, decisions that those with a longer history or commitment to the company perhaps cannot bring themselves to make. Over the long haul, in a macro-economic sense, that can be useful. But one of the primary questions of the 2012 race is whether the American people will be comfortable putting a person with that mentality and background in the Oval Office.
– Appearing on Fox News Wednesday, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul denounced the ad in question as deceptive and unfair. However, she also noted that if the steelworkers in question had been working in Massachusetts instead of Missouri, their health coverage would have been protected by the health-insurance program created by Romney, a program that later served as the direct model for ObamaCare:
“To that point, you know, if people had been in Massachusetts under Governor Romney’s health care plan, they would have had health care,” Saul said. “There are a lot of people losing their jobs and their health care in President Obama’s economy.”
While Saul’s observation was valid, it caused a huge outrage among conservatives, with many calling for Saul’s firing for the outrageous act of actually telling the truth. Es ist verboten on the right to acknowledge even the existence of RomneyCare during this campaign, let alone that it actually might serve a useful function.
That brings us back once again to the central question of the 2012 campaign: If we are to live in an Bain-type economy in which brutish efficiency is the primary goal and the human impact is not to be considered in decision-making, what steps if any should government take to protect individual Americans from the worst vagaries of that process?
In an era of increasingly no-holds-barred capitalism, do we also slash unemployment insurance, job training, Medicaid benefits, Social Security and ObamaCare, so that individuals are even more fully exposed to the cruel caprices of free enterprise? Or do such programs become even more important in an era in which jobs, companies and indeed entire industries can disappear quickly?
– Jay Bookman
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631 comments Add your comment
They BOTH suck
August 9th, 2012
4:53 pm
TBG
I do not think a good percentage of people want to be informed. They are good with getting their “information” from sources that “preach to the choir”.
They are not looking to be challenged or seek out information that might be different from how they think and perceive things. Wouldn’t want to find out, that our perceptions are not even close to reality, would we?
josef
August 9th, 2012
4:53 pm
Need some help here…what’s with the party jokes…?
They BOTH suck
August 9th, 2012
4:54 pm
josef
“I’m a liberal” stated that you needed to set up a “holiday” party for Jay’s bloggers.
So of course, I decided to play it up, PP MAN. That is Party Planner.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 9th, 2012
4:55 pm
TBG — “but I thought the guys were pulling my mainland leg. – Is that like foreplay ”
Nah, it’s like ‘let’s mess with the white guy’s head.’
The Hawaiian word for it would be ‘malihini’ (newcomer). The general term for white folks is ha’ole, which literally means ‘without breath’ (e.g. life). Ha’ole isn’t necessarily a derogatory term, but I heard it used as one more than once.
“Wonder what caliber you’d use to take down an upset wild bull? – Dodge (get it? Dodge Caliber)”
Not up on those ridges, you wouldn’t.
Get Real
August 9th, 2012
4:55 pm
They BOTH suck
Nope, I have great debates with folks that see things differently and I very much enjoy that….but we are debating the same set of facts not lies and total BS….that would be the difference. My point is the majority of the electorate does not know the difference…on both sides…
Jefferson
August 9th, 2012
4:56 pm
It’s not a President Obama ad. It is a anti Romney ad paid for and approved by the anti Romney. Now quit praying for increasing gas prices and pray for rain instead, Romney lovers.
Real Scootter
August 9th, 2012
4:57 pm
They BOTH suck
August 9th, 2012
4:45 pm
We all have our ideas about what’s more sporting when it comes to hunting.For me I find stalking hogs more sporting than sitting for hours in a tree waiting to ambush a deer.It’s just diff. stokes for diff. folke i suppose.And yes Stewart is covered up hogs with lots of deer and turkey too.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 9th, 2012
4:58 pm
Scootter — “.460 Joe,if you are tough enough to shoot one.I know I ain’t.Whew!”
That must be why the Parker Ranch charges *four times* the price of a meat pig if it’s feral cattle you’re after. Danger goes up, price goes up.
http://hunt.parkerranch.com/hunts
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
August 9th, 2012
4:59 pm
Yucca Mtn. SHEETS!
josef
August 9th, 2012
4:59 pm
BOTH
Thanks…I was wondering why he wants to come to one of MY parties….these days they’re family affairs. Now, back in the day!
In college our house was know as Maison de Flop and/or Maison Grits…for the Southerners in exile it was just the place to get together but for the locals it was party central. We were, well, exotic!
They BOTH suck
August 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
JHM
“ha’ole”
I was told them same thing on Maui and Kauai.
It gets thrown around jokingly as well, but it surely isn’t a term of endearment.
Get Real
August 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
Jefferson
Get your facts straight as that has been shown not to be the case…
bman
August 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
Jefferson… … I’m not praying for anything, but I am hoping (not to be confused with hop and change) that Obama loses.
They BOTH suck
August 9th, 2012
5:01 pm
Get Real
Thanks for the reply. And I do apologize for thinking you were coming from just one direction, when in fact you meant the electorate………. period
That Black Guy
August 9th, 2012
5:03 pm
They BOTH suck
August 9th, 2012
4:53 pm
TBG
I do not think a good percentage of people want to be informed. They are good with getting their “information” from sources that “preach to the choir”.
They are not looking to be challenged or seek out information that might be different from how they think and perceive things. Wouldn’t want to find out, that our perceptions are not even close to reality, would we?
________________________
True, sad, but true.
Get Real
August 9th, 2012
5:04 pm
They BOTH suck
No harm, no foul…we be cool
That Black Guy
August 9th, 2012
5:05 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
August 9th, 2012
4:55 pm
___________
In other words, I should stick to tapdancing.
If only I knew how to tapdance.
kitty
August 9th, 2012
5:06 pm
Uh, DawgDad, there are a whole lot more of those sort of verses about sharing and taking care of others. That one was just one that stood out to me. Sorry if you don’t agree, but then you are probably part of the problem.
Real Scootter
August 9th, 2012
5:07 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
August 9th, 2012
4:58 pm
Thanks for the link Joe but that just might be a bit beyond my budget. lol
St Simons - he-ne-ha
August 9th, 2012
5:09 pm
“We have 99.2 percent unemployment,” Stanley R. Crooks, the tribe’s president, said as he smiled during a rare interview. “It’s entirely voluntary.”
heheheheh love that
josef
August 9th, 2012
5:16 pm
He-ne-ha
Kinda makes you wonder what that .8% are doing, eh? Counting beads?
gm
August 9th, 2012
5:22 pm
Everyone knows Willard is Gordon Gekko, that nobody trust, the man has made billions off the middle class, and can stand up in front of middle class, poor whites with a straight face saying he feels their pain.
Mitt, please select Paul Ryan so Obama can win by a landslide then Mitt can not run from the Ryan budget.
bman
August 9th, 2012
5:27 pm
Romney is Gordon Gecko and a billionaire today. When you talk that way, somewhere along the way, you’ve been brainwashed.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
August 9th, 2012
5:40 pm
Romney is Gordon Gecko and a billionaire today. When you talk that way, somewhere along the way, you’ve been brainwashed.
Michael Milken was the model used to create the character Gordon Gecko, so while gm might have missed the target, gm wasn’t too far off the mark.
It was at the height of the 1980s buyout boom when Mitt Romney went in search of $300 million to finance one of the most lucrative deals he would ever manage. The man who would help provide the money was none other than the famed junk-bond king Michael Milken.
[...]
But what distinguishes this deal from the nearly 100 others that Romney did over a 15-year period was his close work with Milken’s firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. At the time of the deal, it was widely known that Milken and his company were under federal investigation, yet Romney decided to go ahead with the deal because Drexel had a unique ability to sell high-risk, high-yield debt instruments, known as “junk bonds.”
Best to do some research before you ply the “brainwashed” card.
bman
August 9th, 2012
5:48 pm
“Best to do some research before you ply the “brainwashed” card.”
Romney isn’t Gecko and he doesn’t have billions. “brainwashed” is about as tame as it comes- around here anyway….
Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
August 9th, 2012
6:10 pm
And so you are saying that even though the Manchurian Candidate has promulgated a bald-faced lie, since it has some instructional value (in your opinion), it is alright. What a crock.
Victor Davis Hanson covers this well in his latest post, “Obama in Never-Never Land”.
The “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” take on this is that it is a sign of increasing desperation on the part of the Supreme Leader. I predict it will get crazier and crazier from Emperor Nero, as everybody starts to realize that he did not only fiddle while Rome burned, but he actually set all the fires. I would love to see his internal polling (not the propaganda the state-controlled media releases from time to time).
saywhat?
August 9th, 2012
6:21 pm
Wnat goes around comes around. Republicans and their right wing crazies have generally dismissed concerns regarding the Swift boating of John Kerry, Max Cleland and others, because well, it was done against Democrats. Now that a group has leveled the same kind of emotionally charged BS against THEIR guy, all of a sudden its an outrage. I for one no longer care that they might be outraged, or whether the ad contains truths, near truths or full blown lies, because I know that the second this ad is withdrawn, or disavowed by President Obama, the right wingers will yawn and dismiss, yet again, any similar attacks from the right which will inevitably appear.
Or, the shorter version: Suck on it, wingnuts.
Adam
August 9th, 2012
8:30 pm
They BOTH suck: More informed people would mean less lies, seeing as it would be less likely they would be able to get away with lying.
fair and balanced
August 10th, 2012
9:24 am
Lets get relevant – talk about the plant Bain is closing right now in Freeport Illinois and shipping the jobs to China. Bain gets tax a write off for relocation expenses. The workers appealed to Obama and Romney to come and meet them and do something. If Obama does go there and asks to end the outsourcing write off – now that would be news and a great ad. Why hasn;t he?????????????
DLink
August 11th, 2012
4:51 pm
Hardball politics, Obama has learned much in his time in office. I think ALL political offices should be limited a max of 8 yrs. Healthcare has been pushed forever and I’d like to see the baby. It won’t be perfect, children never are. With guidance, care, and love… it could grow into an affordable comfort for those in distress. Spoiler Alert.
I will be voting Obama.
dbm
August 11th, 2012
9:51 pm
Jay
If there is a legitimate need for hard decisions, those making them need not be predators, and ideally shouldn’t be. They can be more like givers of tough love or battlefield doctors performing triage.