Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Do You Hear What I Hear? Up on the stage? Yes, It’s Political Rhetoric

     The more I watch CNN or even turn on the television, the more I am amazed that no matter what I watch it always become political on some level or another.  I mean, even the most basic commercial involves either an endorsement of a corporation or an issue that can be tied back into a “family value or ethics” argument or a point for the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.  Actually, it doesn’t even have to be a commercial.  I’m currently watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory (Episode 54, “The Maternal Congruence).  This episode touches on divorce, drinking, mild humor, and certain family “values’. In fact, the mother gets drunk, which I’m sure everyone has experienced at one point in time or another…especially in college, and attempts to have an affair with Sheldon or a busboy from Penny’s place of work (The Cheesecake Factory).  While it is indeed funny, it reminds me of the political “breaking news” of the day concerning GOP candidate Herman Cain.      While giving an interview on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Cain decided to get ahead of a story that will dominate the news for at least two weeks.  It seems as though a third woman is about to come forth to accuse Herman Cain of having an affair or something just as scandalous.  The fact that Herman Cain is playing offense regarding this situation shows many things: 1) he is slowly becoming more like a politician that he swears he never was to begin with – and thus learning the political game; 2) he is serious about running to capture the GOP nomination to take on President Obama in 2012; and 3) he finally has surrounded himself with people that have either worked at least one election cycle or just have a sliver of common sense. 
     Now, with every step forward taken in politics, there are always two steps backwards…especially the candidates that claim that they are not a Politian or a witch.  During this interview, Herman Cain was asked about his response to the Middle East and a clip was shown regarding a response in which he took a minute or two longer to answer a question about Libya.  Now, I should mention that I thought the interview was going rather well given Cain’s decline in the national polls; however, he messed up his chances after saying that he was taking time to make sure he wasn’t going to say anything wrong because he was a little tired from the forty-minute interview.  He further explained that he had a lot of events scheduled back-to-back and he was starting to pace himself more so that he would not be as tired.  I’m sorry, but if you are running for the President of the United States, you are going to have to have back-to-back meetings, multiple situations where the President will have a limited number of hours to sleep due to issues out of their control.  Furthermore, if a forty-minute interview gets you so tired where you mess up on a county that could present a significant change in foreign policy, then I can’t image your potential state of the union speech, address to the United Nations, or even your foreign policy stances without falling asleep myself…and I’m an actual politically-minded person unlike Cain’s “I’m not a politician even though I give political answers.” I mean, is this the reason, or at least one of the many, that Herman Cain has fallen within the recent weeks in national polls?  I highly doubt there is still time for him to rebound – the Iowa Caucuses are five weeks away and the New Hampshire Primaries are six.  I hardly think that is even enough time to fend off another accusation, sell oneself as the real candidate, and still win in these two important political states. Oh well, I guess time will tell. Honestly, I give it until the end of the week and then Cain will drop out.
     Speaking of time and politics, I think the endorsement of Newt Gingrich by New Hampshire’s Union Leader has thrown a wrench into GOP’s plans to defeat President Obama next year.  The argument could be made, against Romney not getting the endorsement of the conservative paper, that the New Hampshire republican’s have seen how good ole Mitt governs in the state of Massachusetts.  They see that Romney only is concerned with whatever is good for himself and how he has a position on every issue except the right position (that could be a pun and it is sem-intended).  I think one of the few things Gingrich has going for him is that he has been bipartisan in the past (and by past I mean the 1990s) and also former President Clinton speaks positive thoughts about him (and remember that Clinton was the President in the 1990s, haha – just a little trivia for those that forgot the 1990s).  Well, at least Gingrich is the new guy to drop in the polls for the GOP race to lose to President Obama.  I just hope he doesn’t fall as bad as Perry did…and continues to do with each sentence he attempts to finish sounding semi-intelligent.  Oh, did I say too much???             

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