The people have spoken.
They have re-elected their president for another four years.
While I admit to being no expert on the subject of running campaigns; I do have
thoughts and opinions as anyone else may who had invested a great deal of time
and energy trying to assist their candidate(s) to victory.
Will anyone ever read what I have written? Is there anyone else out there who reasons as
I do? Does anyone really give the
slightest darn what I think? In the
great scheme of things I suppose the answers to my ponderings don’t
matter. What does matter is that it is
cathartic to write them down; to get them out of my head, and onto virtual
paper.
In reflecting upon
the results of the 2012 election, I have been grappling with the same age-old
questions posed by the losing side of any election campaign; How can “these
people” (the majority of voters who elected “candidate X”) think the way they
do…what is wrong with them…how can they not see what I see, etc? Getting to the bottom of these nebulous
musings is like trying to catch fog in a mason jar. For conservatives like me, the paradigm in
which we live is so black and white in contrast - so “clear” to our entire being
that it is nearly impossible to venture outside it, to even catch a glimpse of the
converse universe.
Both conservatives and liberals each have a time-tested way
of energizing their bases. These voters
are basically a “given” and I’m not suggesting an abandonment of this effort; I
merely suggesting a fresh look by conservatives specifically at the table-turning
voting electorate that shuns and ignores things that are uninteresting to them
or their (in-the-moment) lives.
Let’s take the rough percentages and margin of victory from
the just completed presidential election.
As of this thesis the popular vote went, 50% of Americans voted Obama,
and 49% voted Romney. If you are reading
this as a conservative you know why the 49% voted for Governor Romney. If you
are reading this as a liberal; you wouldn’t have a clue, and the point of this
blog entry would have bored you by now anyway.
While I admit to not knowing the exact percentage breakdown on the following
categories, allow me to guess at a few magnet issues that appeal to that 50% and
influence their voting trends:
- Woman’s reproduction and choice
- Health care
- Screw the rich derangement
- Immigration
- Environmental and “green” initiatives
- Labor unions
- Free stuff
I may have missed a few, but that’s not the point. Let’s
imagine that the above list constitutes the lion’s share of that 50% amount -
people who vote democrat for one or more of their core issues. The REAL question -the one that needs to be
answered is: What about the “rest” of
the “independent” left-leaning electorate…the percentage that has put democrats
over the top in the two (head-shaking) terms of Bill Clinton and now has Barack
Hussein Obama back in the POTUS saddle for another bumpy four-year ride?
After this election I
truly believe that I have the beginnings of a theory that is so simple that
conservatives (republicans) completely miss (or dismiss) it. I’ll call it (AIS) or the “American Idol
Syndrome.” For those conservatives still
reading this, you are now either chuckling or your jaw is starting to
drop. Think about it…democrats have long
understood this concept without actually naming it. Republicans focus on elimination of supposed “cheating”
and voter ID legislation to save the process of casting legitimate votes as
their salvation and path to the Whitehouse.
I say, forget those efforts and EMBRACE the AIS voter, and the concept
of wooing them!
Democrats understand that there is a certain percentage of
American voters that will forever be swayed by “popular” opinion and just how “cool”
and “with it” their candidate “appears.”
Face it, that particular voting bloc has been asked to root for specific
human beings and to cast their “votes” accordingly since before the TV show “Survivor”
hit the airwaves. The individuals “chosen”
by these AIS voters need to be cool, good looking, talented, approachable,
funny, vulnerable, and to forever come off as the underdog. Obama’s re-election bid handlers successfully
spun this sitting president (with his woeful economic and abysmal fiscal record) as
the challenger…the challenger! American
AIS voters bought it as they sat lapping up the late-nite host interviewer’s
softball questions for Obama designed to make them “feel” that the guy was one
of them, and was getting the shaft. If
these voters would have had a call-in number flash on the bottom of the screen
during Letterman or Jimmy Fallon’s show; believe me they would have “voted” then
and there for the president to stay on the island, or to advance to the final
round.
Republicans entirely dismiss the so-called “social” issues
as meaningful election-fodder when staring at eminent fiscal collapse has them
distracted. Old guard campaigners on
their team have only one playbook and unfortunately it does not include being “popular”
as an option. I suggest hiring a successful
Hollywood director/producer next election cycle to craft an image that has
America eating out of the republican candidate’s hand, instead of the same old
offering of pan-scorched spinach. Again,
I’m not suggesting an abandonment of conservative principals - just a little maple
sugar sauce on the carrots for those that need the extra enticement into
consuming something that’s good for them; despite its reputation.
My thoughts…what are yours?
