Wednesday, April 11, 2012
So Santorum drops out and after much wasted time and effort the obvious is now obvious to all [well, most - since Santorum refused to mention Romney in his concession speech one assumes he still sees Satan at work here] - so was my angst misplaced? Yes and no - given that there was only ever one credible candidate in the race yet more votes were cast overall for the non-credible candidates [and some incredibly non-credible candidates at that - I still feel not enough people are sufficiently disturbed by the thought that for awhile Herman Cain, even though he never even made it to Iowa, actually looked like he had a valid shot at this nomination] - so that should give people pause I think [just 'cause you fell down the mountain and somehow survived doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking back up that mountain and wondering what the hell just happened] - and let's remember that Obama is going to run a populist campaign based on creating a caricature of Romney as deceitful, soulless rich boy, a caricature that Santorum and Gingrich have in many ways endorsed through their idiot rhetoric - so, since much of this election may come down to how well Romney counters this effort to define his character in a negative way by pinning it to a phony class warfare narrative, that the primary was drawn out longer than necessary by populist appeals to the base by Santorum and Gingrich that both seemed to question Romney's character and overall bona fides in a way not dissimilar to how Obama will attack him and at same time managed to pull Romney too far to the right, which also helps Obama - well, that can't be good - though, not fatal either [and I suppose one could argue that the right wing base having a problem with Romney could actually help him when it comes to independents - this is similar to the argument that says Romneycare may be a problem for blowhards like Limbaugh et al, but independents may actually view it as a good thing, an indication that the man is reasonable, open to intelligent compromises, not driven by reflexive ideological imperatives].
