July 22, 2012
WHAT'S MOST PECULIAR ABOUT IT...:
Two uncomfortable men (Robert Fulford Jul 21, 2012, National Post)
...is that if Mr. Romney were to simply argue that Bain represented the ways in which modern economies have been made more efficient and made everyone more affluent, while Mr. Obama continued his attacks--based on the idea that the economy should create jobs at the expense of efficiency and wealth creation--we'd end up with the most ideologically consequential election since 1912.It's not hard to figure out why the 2012 presidential election is such a downer. The economy looks bleak and global instability is more dangerous than usual, but there's something else: Neither party is running a real politician for president. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney deploys the skills of persuasion and compromise that identify someone suited for politics.Both are talented in various ways but they know little about braiding disparate sections of society, an essential element in political leadership. We find ourselves watching two uncomfortable men trying to be what they are not. The last time the parties produced such awkwardly inadequate champions was 1976, the year of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
This even though neither man believes in much of anything--politically--and they disagree even less.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 22, 2012 10:12 AM
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