When the popular vote is tallied up after the presidential election in November I suspect it will be fairly close. When the electoral votes are tallied up I suspect, barring some unforeseen circumstance, Obama will win quite handily. His campaign strategy is incredibly solid and he's winning in the majority, if not all, of the key swing states.
I mention this not really to praise Obama and his team, but to encourage you to consider what could happen if this particular candidate (Obama) wasn't so skilled. It would be nice to believe the American people would just choose the "best" candidate in the long run but I think that's wishful thinking and dangerous. They are going to choose Obama again because he understood very well how to resonate with the people he needed to connect to in the states where it mattered the most. Even though I praised the Romney team every step of the way through the tumultuous (four u's in that word) primary season, I've been amazed how poorly his team has lead him in the general election. I'm assuming their strategy ended up being "let's just totally rally our base and pray they turn out in enough numbers to win" and that seems a huge mistake to me. Independents decide presidential elections. Throw in the fact that independents are a growing group and it seems foolish to completely ignore them.
Consider what reality would be like if the talented people that call the shots for the Obama team were in control of the Romney team and the morons that head the Romney campaign were leading the Obama team (Socrates would argue this just isn't a possibility but appease me). In a little less than two months time the leadership of this great nation could be in the hands of some very scary people. People that deny facts, cast shadows, and point blank lie without batting an eye could have the power to drag us right back to the dark ages in this alternate reality. And even if it doesn't happen this year, are you cool with it happening four years from now? Are you willing to roll the dice and just hope the best campaign team gets the job done for the "good guys"? I'm not.
If we're going to have a two party system then we all should feel obligated to make those two parties the best they can be, regardless of our particular political persuasion. Since my tenure on the social media scene I've been labeled a RINO, a liberal, an Obama lover, confused, and much worse because those on the right hate the fact that I "only pick on them". I expose the tactics and the attitude of those on the fringe right because they have made it impossible for this two party system to have even a slight chance of working for us. I agree with more policies of those on the right than I do of those on the left. However, the fringe right that has hijacked the GOP makes it impossible for me to align with them. They're embarrassing and they're foolish. An alarming amount of them still believe our President was born in Kenya, they deny climate change, they sign pledges to never raise taxes prior to taking their oath to uphold the Constitution, they deny science when it works against them, they don't understand national energy policies, they are willing to accept lies if they are things they want to hear. I don't mention these things to simply hate on this reality; I harp on them so we can make reality better.
We all have our own style. My style is to get your attention and hope enough of you will sustain interest in the message. And to be very honest with you, the group of people that I have attracted is very humbling to me. My plan all along (and I've mentioned this before) was to slowly collect an army of intelligent people to impact the world in the most positive way possible. If all of these solid people are simply willingly to share their ideas and bounce them off of one another then how could that not influence others in a meaningful way?
I'm the first to admit I have very few answers on how to fix some of our real problems. However, I feel fairly confident in my abilities to comprehend how we tick and how we must tick in order to achieve great things together. I'm under no delusion that I will change the mind of those that have no interest in having their minds changed, but I'm hopeful that enough of you will find a way to use your style to impact others for the better.
The latest political story to emerge upon us was Romney's blunder about attacking Obama prematurely and unnecessarily in regard to the death of a US Ambassador in Egypt. Romney was just wrong at so many levels. What became very obvious was those who were too ignorant to even understand the grave error committed by the GOP candidate. I'm sure we already all knew who those people were but they felt obligated to confirm it once again by posting idiotic, uninformed, and childish comments on social mediums. Those people are trying to influence others when they make those posts. It might seem polite and convenient to ignore those posts but it also seems a tad dangerous.
I find it very encouraging that many conservative voices came out and condemned Romney's error. Again, not because I relish mistakes by Republicans, it's because I know we don't stand a chance if we don't acknowledge our mistakes and try to learn from them. This is one of the first times, if not the only one, where the main stream Republicans have stepped up and confronted their Tea Party hijackers.
The Washington Post, winner of tons of Pulitzer Prizes and political insider newspaper, stated this move by Romney "discredited" his campaign. Peggy Noonan, a total right wing journalist, author, and speech writer for Reagan, spoke negatively on Fox News about Romney's comments. John Sununu even thought Romney "should have waited" to say anything. Peter King of all people came down against Romney.
We can sit back and cross our fingers and hope the Republicans extinguish their pesky little fringe fire or we can help those on the right battle the flames before the entire country goes up in smoke. I authored a piece a couple weeks back predicting the whirlwind of political stories and events that will bombard us in the next few weeks. I suspect there will be plenty more opportunities for those on the right to step up and try to gain credibility on the sanity front over the next two months. We must find a way to make it acceptable and comfortable for those on the right who are willing to call out their own. We have to get back on solid footing where we agree to see reality for what it is and then compromise through our different approaches to making life better.
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