I watched President Obama's address to Congress and the nation a couple of nights ago, and the Republican response to it. Since then, I just can't shake the feeling that this was one of the greatest mismatches of all time.What the hell were the Republicans thinking? Did they think they had to answer one man of color with another? They should have learned their lesson when they tried to run Alan Keyes against Obama in the senate race a few years ago, and got badly beaten. It does you no good to present a token alternative "man of color",if that man has no real substance.
The Republicans are trying hard to find a token to make it look like they appeal to others besides white people. But so far, all they've been able to come up with is Alan Keyes, Michael Steele and Bobby Jindal. That's pitiful.
What they don't seem to understand yet is that President Obama is not a "token" put up by the Democratic Party. He is a man of substance, who ran against the best the party had and beat them fair and square. Tuesday night he showed that.
The president looked like a man who understands our problems, knows what needs to be done and knows how to get it done. Jindal looked like a whiny kid parroting what his parents had told him.
After watching both speeches, the following sports analogy came to mind. Remember when you were a kid and were choosing sides to play some sport? Obama looked like the kid you would always choose first. Jindal was the reason you didn't want to choose last, because you would have to choose him and you knew he'd screw up.
This can't be the best the Republicans have to offer. If it is, the 2012 election will be as big a mismatch as Tuesday night was.
Do you suppose they recognized that whoever followed the President couldn't measure up, so they found someone they could throw under the bus without sacrificing their own political connections? I felt kind of sorry for him.
ReplyDeleteIt was like Tina Brown said, TV is all about the optics and 80 percent of the American public bought in to the hour-long speech. You only had to watch Bobby Jindal's hopeless effort to be the new, racially inclusive face of the Republican Party-it was like having Dougie Howser, M.D. follow Hugh Jackman MC.
ReplyDeleteIf Dems get to pick, Jindal and Palin will be high on the list for the GOPerv candidate. Please, bring it on....
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, there's one line from Governor Jindal's speech that I think we can all agree upon:
ReplyDelete"Republicans lost your trust -- and rightly so."