HE'S DONE.
Today Obama rushed out to give a hastily set up speech in Cleveland, Ohio to try to counter a Mitt Romney speech being delivered in Cincinnati.
In an apparent attempt to recover from what amounts to almost 2 straight weeks of gaffes, mistakes and being outmaneuvered by the Romney campaign, Team Obama decided on short notice to set up a major economic speech to try to steal Romney's thunder today.
It didn't go so well.
Having set up a major speech, and invited all the networks to cover it, Obama then went out there and............said absolutely nothing new.
Allahpundit's take at Hot Air hits home because it's snarky but TRUE:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/14/gamechanger-obama-rocks-america-with-speech-everyones-heard-50-times-before-update-panned-by-msnbc/
Gamechanger: Obama rocks America with speech everyone’s heard 50 times before
As somebody who's been watching politics since the 1984 contest between Ronald Reagan & Walter Mondale, I can tell you that any campaign should know you don't call THIS kind of attention to yourself this early in the campaign unless you have something new or bold to interject into the race. Some new plan or idea.
Since Team Obama had announced this would be a 'major economic speech' lots of media tuned in so they can see what the new idea or plan was that Obama would reveal in Ohio today.
After all, it's more apparent than ever that the economy & jobs are the #1 issue in this election, and Obama - especially after his 'private sector doing fine' gaffe - is losing ground on that to Romney.
So what new plan or idea would Obama talk about to try to recapture the magic?
And now we know.
There WAS no new plan. There were no new ideas. Obama went out there today and gave the same speech he's been giving all over the country, the basic stump speech where he blames Bush for everything.
Ace at Ace of Spades gives you the gist of what Obama said in Cleveland:
Kind of Obvious: He agrees with Romney that the economy is the most pressing issue, but then hits his "framing" point: "But this election is still a choice." A choice, not a referendum.
A make or break moment for the middle class, he says.
What's holding us back is a stalemate in Washington over two fundamentally different views of which direction we should take the country. This election is your chance to break that stalemate.
This election is a choice between two paths. Nothing is more important than an "honest debate" over which path.
Okay, now he says we have to figure out how we got here. We're back to Bush.
He claims that under Bush it was growing harder to find a job to put food on the table. Compared to now, dude?
So how did this theory work out? (Crowd laughs, a little.) "For the wealthiest Americans it worked out pretty good."
Streaming: At MSNBC.com. Foxnews has bailed on the same-old same old, but MSNBC cable, of course, is staying with Derp Leader's words.
Now discussing the Republicans' plan, which he says consists of stripping government down to national security and a couple of other core functions. (If only.)
Claims the only tax subsidies Republicans could cut as part of tax reform are those that aid retirement, education, and health care.
Claims "this is not my opinion, this is facts."
"I'm giving you an honest presentation of what he's proposing... I'm looking forward to the press following up, so you can know I'm not exaggerating."
Claims Romney's plan is to make America into a third-world country so it can compete with such countries. Rejects this, as such countries do not have a strong middle class or "standard of living."
Returns to "asking the wealthiest Americans to contribute their fair share."
Claims "independent" analysts predict his policies will create one million jobs. "This is the vision I intend to pursue in my second term as President."
I thought he was wrapping up, but now Derp Leader has babbled on for six more minutes. He claims that Abraham Lincoln was the author of socialism (government must do what we can't do ourselves), and that these Wingnuts have embraced a scary laissez-faire "Market is Everything" approach wherein "government is the enemy."
Once again he gins up teachers: He wants to get rid of "teaching to the test" (the thing teachers hate, as it provides a hard-math benchmark of performance). That gets applause, and as the applause drowns him out, he adds "and get rid of teachers who aren't performing."
Then he says he wants to "recruit an army of new teachers."
I wasn't aware that the current economic problems in this country were caused by a Teacher Deficit. I sort of thought we had about the right number.
"Let's double down" on his clean energy proposals. Talking about electric cars and energy-efficient buildings, ending "oil subsidies" (aka standard tax treatment where you deduct your costs from your income to find profit).
"It's all Bush's fault, the rich still aren't paying their fair share, we need billions to pay for new teachers, let's double down on green jobs & green energy, blah blah blah."
Allah wasn't exaggerating, this IS what we've been hearing from him since last year. There are no new ideas and there was no plan to get the economy moving.
Even the Hive-Mind at MSNBC, where the Progressive Left goes to cocoon itself in a nice, safe bubble from reality, struggled to put a positive spin on this big mis-step. Watch MSNBC host Tamron Hall desperately argue with her own 2 guests about how AWESOME the speech was:
Obama rushed out there to go head-to-head against Romney this early and his own personal cheering section at MSNBC has to pan the speech, it was so awful. Obama has had plenty of time to make a case to the American people for a 2nd term as President, and he just passed on another chance to do that.
The only thing that means is no big changes, no big plan, just more of the same of what you've gotten the past 3 1/2 years.
And that won't be good enough.
UPDATE: So yeah, announce a major new speech that will supposedly 're-frame' your campaign, get all the media there and then go out and.........say the same stuff you've been saying for 3 1/2 years.
Good job, RNC.
UPDATE: So yeah, announce a major new speech that will supposedly 're-frame' your campaign, get all the media there and then go out and.........say the same stuff you've been saying for 3 1/2 years.
Good job, RNC.
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