Here’s the irony: Romney better hope SCOTUS upholds Obamacare (despite his phony protestations against the plan) or else he’ll lose a primary campaigning point. That along with a slowly approving economy would do him in.
I don’t know. I think Roberts and Scalia are on the verge of becoming a right-wing Earl Warren and William Brennan - they’ve going too far and there’s going to be a public backlash. The Democrats will be able to gain votes by denouncing the judicial activists that the Republicans have put on the court.
I think Obama sees this potential and is ready to seize it if the Supreme Court overturns his health care plan. That was the point of his public statements about “an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress” and “the Court has traditionally exercised significant restraint and deference to our duly elected legislature”. He’s laying the groundwork for making an out-of-control court into a campaign issue.
Absolutely. A SCOTUS overturn would both weaken Romney’s platform and embolden Obama’s support. Although, those who are adamently supportive of Obamacare will, for the most part, already vote for Obama. Of course, it could be argued that having Obama’s signature achievement be overturned will bruise his claim to being an effective leader, at least among undecided voters or those looking for a reason to vote for Romney. Obama has to be careful about making a case for turning Supreme Court nominations into political decisions. We all know they are and have been for some time, but presidents have always been careful to not wrap their selections in political rhetoric.
Regarding the OP, what does the esteemed community think these days? Economy’s not looking too good at home and even worse abroad, the Obama administration seems to have handled the whole gay marriage thing with singular ineptitude, and an incarcerated person gave the president a run for his money in the WV primary. Does “President Romney” now roll trippingly off your tongue?
Here on Non-Bizarro World, Mitt Romney is still a joke and Obama’s chances are looking pretty good.
While over here in not-so-over-confident world, we’re eyeing the European almost-crisis and wondering if it all goes higgledy-piggledy how soon the effects would wash up here. There is no doubt in my mind that any European-associated downturn in our economy would be fully considered Obama’s fault/doing (truth notwithstanding).
The people who will actually decide the election aren’t really paying attention yet. Yes, a lot depends no the base (who’s is bigger, who’s all belong to us, etc.), but the middleground made up of people who don’t really care for politics or staying all that informed. People who think the Today show or Good Morning America is boring because it’s too newsy. No offense to them. There are lots of things I don’t pay attention to either. But they don’t know enough about or read deep enough into Romney to consider him a “joke” candidate. Whatever makes them undecided at this point won’t be cured by an in-depth probing of either candidate’s background or position. I have no idea what will make up their mind, but regularly reading FactCheck or following the WaPo’s Pinoccio test isn’t in their cards.
Be afraid.
Be very afraid.
. . . brilliance.
Right, so their opinions will be based on some vague sense that Romney is an out-of-touch rich guy who like…beat a dog or something? And something about an Etch-a-Sketch.
You’re right that a lot can change, but Romney is not doing well in the “memes going around about the candidate” contest. He’s got animal cruelty, gay bashing, being Richie Rich, and Etch-a-Sketch. Obama just has being a gay Kenyan Muslim and that’s old news.
Only if one is tripping.
You don’t have to know much about Romney to consider him a joke. He’s going down hard.
You really seem out of touch. Even Karl Rove’s web page indicates that if the election were held today, Obama would win in an electoral landslide.
I just cannot see Mitt Romney coming off well once the campaign gets into full swing. He simply cannot shake his white privileged side. W was actually able to overcome his pampered upbringing and come through as a regular guy, whether you liked him or not. He had a certain hominess, some would say idiocy, that actually worked in his favor to dispel his actual elite upbringing. I just do not see that in Romney at all, from his talking about his wealthy friends as if it is nothing, to offering to bet $10,000, even to strapping a dog to the top of a car, all indicate that he just doesn’t get it and will have trouble connecting with the independent voters that hew ould need to win.
Not trying to be snarky, but could you elaborate? What’s been inept in the administration’s approach to gay marriage? What would an -ept president have done?
Small margin, and within the error rate of the poll, but certainly not a shellacking for either one.
But, Bricker, *everyone *I know is voting for Obama!
But yet he’s against gay marriage? :o
I’m not sure how all the numbers play out, but I doubt a 50-50 split in polling would translate to a 50-50 split in electoral votes. Isn’t Romney at a disadvantage in that regard going in?
In my opinion (and whatever else would it be, after all), the economy is the key here.
If the reported unemployment figure goes up to, say, 9.5% and foreclosure rates remain high, then Mr. Obama could well be ousted. If the EU has a major dip into recession during the 2nd or 3rd quarters of this year, then the US could easily follow. That would certainly have a negative impact on the world economy (or might be considered a bellwether for other economies).
A recession and increasing unemployment in the US could definitely make ‘President Romney’ happen.
Some say that is the GOP’s current policy: prevent changes that might benefit the economy and promote changes that damage the economy so that they might win back the executive. I would like to believe that these people are attributing malice when they should be attributing stupidity, but nevertheless, it appears that the strategy could lead to electoral victories in the fall. And that is, after all, what the whole system is built around, isn’t it?
Good point, and I don’t really know who to trust as a prognosticator, but I do tend to credit Nate Silver for accuracy and transparency (though he IS a Democratic-leaning voter, himself!)
His take is here: A 30,000-Foot View on the Presidential Race - The New York Times
People are pissed and they are pissed at Obama. I sincerely hope he is not re-elected. I’d really hate to think that we, as a nation and a society, would be that stupid a second time.
But then again, no one ever lost money by underestimating the stupidity of the American voting public. After all, we did elect him the first time around.