Great speech

I thought this part of Obama's Labor Day speech at Milwaukee was brilliant. “They drove our economy into a ditch. And we got in there and put on our boots and we pushed and we shoved. And we were sweating and these guys were standing, watching us and sipping on a Slurpee.And they were pointing at us saying, how come you’re not pushing harder, how come you’re not pushing faster? And then when we finally got the car up -- and it’s got a few dings and a few dents, it’s got some mud on it, we’re going to have to do some work on it -- they point to everybody and say, look what these guys did to your car. After we got it out of the ditch! And then they got the nerve to ask for the keys back!"

Simply and crisply makes the point.

However some bloggers have pointed out that this could alienate voters as it presents a picture of the economy having only a few dings .... for some people it is a lot worse.

Still, a good speech. I wonder how much input Obama gives to his speech writers - how much creativity come from him and how much from the speech writers?

Questioning candidates

It is amazing to me that the Tea Party candidates refuse interviews and choose to speak to only "friendly" reporters. Is it because they don't have the confidence in their views to have a dialogue on them? If they cannot discuss their views with a reporter how will they listen to alternate points of view if and when they govern? My first thought that it is extremely unacceptable for any candidate to refuse questions from any reporter.

But then is the point that reporters are partisan and the media will spin things out of control? Did I want candidate Obama to be interviewed by Rush Limbaugh and have him quoted out of context for a zillion news cycles?

When you look at it in the abstract, it is unfortunate that detailed dialogue, especially with people who hold an opposing point of view, is avoided while running for office. It reminds me of a situation when a co-founder of an organization I volunteer for was severely criticized for speaking at event organized by a group many didn't approve off. His answer to them was that he saw no harm in speaking at any forum he is invited to speak at - whether it is to the left or the right or somewhere in the middle. Any forum is a place to talk about his views, and answer questions on his views. That seems mature compared to political candidates refusing to answer questions from people they don't agree with.

I think it at least partly comes down to the fact that voters do not take the time to go through the fluff and logically discuss issues and weigh candidate positions. They get carried away by media storms.

Tea Party Momentum

I have been telling friends and family that the Tea Party enthusiasm is going to backfire on the conservatives. The Tea Party might be successful in getting their candidates win primaries, but in the general election this will help the democrats because mainstream America will simply not vote for the Tea Party candidates. They will either stay home or vote for democrats. But then comes the news that in the last quarter the republican candidates (including the Tea Party candidates) have raised more funds than the democrats and the democrats are really struggling ....Is my faith in mainstream America misplaced? I would be surprised if 'mainstream America' has moved this much to the right.