Monday, July 31, 2017

The Electoral Art of War by Charles M. Blow

In an attempt to put a stop to the so far successful Obama campaign, Mitt Romney decided to choose Paul Ryan, a prominent member of the Tea Party, as his running mate. This choice destroyed any chances Romney had of salvaging his campaign by focusing on the economy and instead, due to Ryan’s likely influence, it will probably focus more on attacking Obama’s policies than on tackling any real issues concerning the economy which is currently the most pertinent issue. By attacking Romney’s strength, which were issues concerning the economy, the Obama campaign pushed Romney into making a disastrous choice for a running mate, turning the scales in favor of Obama. Romney chose his running mate to try and counter Obama’s attacks on him by attacking Obama’s greatest strength, which is his likability. The Republican campaign can be considered to be hypocritical in its stance against the comments and policies of the Obama administration. When similar actions to Obama’s or Biden’s were done by members of the Republican party such as Herman Cain, there were no condemnations or comments from the ranks of the party but when the members of the Obama administration did the very same things, they were heavily criticized by the Republicans. This shows that the Republicans are selective in what they perceive to be the wrong policies, keeping quiet when it is one of their own, and making unsubstantiated comments when it is a member of a rival party. The call by the Romney campaign to stop any personal attacks during the remaining period of campaigns can be considered ironical because of the fact that it is the one which concentrated more on these personal attacks.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

The Welfare Gambit by Charles M. Blow

There have been desperate attacks from the Romney campaign team targeting President Obama’s social welfare policy. Romney himself has stated that Obama has instituted measures that will drop the work requirements of individuals, enabling workers to get employed in jobs for which they have not been trained. This can be seen as an attempt to discredit Obama’s welfare policy which is designed to ensure that there are more employment opportunities for the unemployed Americans as well as reducing poverty. This is something that no Republican government has succeeded in doing and the Romney campaign’s claims have no basis in fact. It can be said that these attacks were made due to the desperation of romney’s team in a bid to gain mor ground against the Obama campaign. This is despite the fact that many Republican governors have applied for or requested funds and waivers from the federal welfare program which was instituted by the President. Furthermore, these persistent statements by Romney conserning welfare can be considered to be untrue because during his term as governor, he offered welfare recipients even more generous packages than what Obama is offering. This might be Romney’s attempt to gain the confidence and votes of the more conservative members of the Republican party who would otherwise not have voted for him. It might also be viewed as a way of trying to bring together all the different factions of the Republican party so that it can show a united front when backing him for his presidential bid.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Anglo-Saxon Heritage, Multicultural Future by Charles M. Blow

An article on The Daily Telegraph in July quoted and advisor to Mitt Romney as saying that the special relationship between Britain and the United States existed mainly because of a shared Anglo-Saxon heritage and that the current administration does not appreciate it. This remark can be taken by some to be extremely racist because only a minority of Americans identifies their ancestry to be English. Such comments from an advisor to a presidential candidate may clearly display the real attitudes of that particular candidate and the negative influences that will be a part of his administration. The Romney campaign did not completely deny or retract that particular statement nor did they make an apology for it. This is not the first time that negative influences have appeared to distort the Republican campaign. One of the staunchest supporters of Mitt Romney is the business entrepreneur Donald Trump who has appeared on record saying that President Obama is not an American citizen and that he was not even born in the United States. Such matters have already been dealt with during the previous election campaigns and also when the President displayed his birth certificate to prove his American birth and citizenship. However, Trump has continued to pursue this line of attack against the President without considering how much his statements are hurting the Romney campaign. Romney has not attempted to break or to distance himself from his relationship with Trump and many may assume that Trump’s comments may be what Romney considers to be the truth. It is not advisable for Romney to continue keeping people with little constructive comments around him if he wishes to step into the White House.