ANN THE FIRST LADY.
There is little doubt that Ann is charming, poised, attractive, eloquent and highly intelligent. If this was an audition as to whether or not she would embarrass or not as a First Lady she passed with flying colors. (Mercifully however this element of a Presidential contender's eligibility has not as yet been institutionalized.) Her role was to be a key speaker at a poltical party convention speaking in support of her husband and his party - specifically, as indicated, with the two objectives in mind to get women back onsides and to turn Mitt from a frog into a prince.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS, THE GOP AND MITT.
Now one would have thought that in order to sort this matter out some of the reasons why Mitt and the GOP were getting such a bad rap with women might be addressed or the policies at least defended or explained. Lest there be any doubt as to what these policies were they were encoded in the GOP's radical Political Platform that had been passed in record time that very afternoon. (Only Ron Paul and his group got a bit testy about the fact that the Presumptive Presidential candidate can now designate all the delegates to the convention).
The Republican Platform on political rights redressed none of the Women's issues that have given Mitt such a bad rap. In fact the Republican Platform took away all Prochoice decisions including for rape and incest. Also there were no reassurances that women had an inalienable right to contraception, preventative health care and the like. Not to mention the role that Welfare plays for single mothers out of work - you get the drift.
WOMEN I LOVE YOU!
In order to prove that Mitt and The GOP were not at war with women she dedicated half her speech to them. Inter alia, Ann said:
"You are the moms of this nation - single, married and widowed - who really hold the country together. Wer'e the the mothers, wer'e the wives, wer'e the grandmothers, wer'e the big sisters, wer'e the little sisters, wer'e the daughters".
"Your'e the ones who always have to do a little more".
"You know what it's like to work a litte harder during the day to earn the respect you deserve at work and then come home to help with that book report which just has to be done"
"You know the fastest way to the Emergency Room...."
"You are the Best - the hope of America.."
"There would not be an America without you".
Although this looks worse in the cold light of day then it sounded in the heady hall of the faithful, it is hard to believe any woman who was worried about her "rights" could have been reassured. In this day and age Ann's patter is paternalistic yet is obviously code for "Women we are not at war wer'e on your side. Trust me I am a woman too."
All this was supposedly code for we love women, some of our best friends are women how could you think we are at war with them?
MITT'S LIKEABILITY GAP
Next item on the agenda was that Mitt was real and friendly. She needed to say that he cried at night when people lost jobs at Bain and that he has gone through torture changing his mind on anything and everything. That he was furious with his Blind Trust for investing all that money oversea and so forth and so on.
He is not"liked", in the main, because he has been framed, to quote Newt Gingrich, as a Vulture Capitalist. Not as Ann may think because people didn't know that he made her laugh. He is thought to be hardhearted not because he didn't have it rough early on their marriage but rather because he pays less taxes than someone in the middle class and wants to pay even less. He outsources jobs he is good at making money and doesn't really care how he does it. This is what Ann needed to refute or explain.
IF YOU KNEW MITT LIKE I KNEW MITT...
" His name is Mitt and you really should get to know him", Ann began. Ann then continued with a touching story of both sides of the family - code for how they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Also she regaled the story of their early marriage and the birth of the children and then the reassurance that he is she knew this man and he was decent and honest and hardworking.
.
"He has tried to live his life with a set of values centered on family, faith, and love of one's fellow man. From the time we were first married, I've seen him spend countless hours helping others. I've seen him drop everything to help a friend in trouble, and been there when late-night calls of panic came from a member of our church whose child had been taken to the hospital"
All very reassuring that he is a fine fellow but what about his responsibility to the electorate he wants to represent?
Then Ann went where no one else dared to have gone before. She said what a jolly good Governor he was in Massachusetts where most of the citizens are Democrats. In the light of the campaign Romney is running this is dangerous. It is the only gesture to the middle thus far. If this becomes a talking point it has to end up doing Mitt more harm than good.
She also maintained that Bain had given so many good jobs and that Mitt doesn't tell how he has helped others as he regards it as a privilege not a political talking point.
She then reassured America "That this is the man America needs".
Ann had done her best to reframe Mitt as being human but it is a hard task to translate that "humanism" into the politician he has been framed as. Better to say that he is a good manager has to make tough decisions that he doesn't shun from difficult situations and he really doesn't enjoy firing people.
SUPPORTING CAST.
Ann was backed on the Women thing by getting every other woman in the Republican Party that held high office to speak too at the Opening Night. This is Code for there is plenty of room in the Republican Party for women on whom we obviously haven't declared war on. Chris Christie backed her on the women thing by talking about his mom - Code for women and we won't sell mom's Medicare down the river. However, he did not devote too much time on reassuring us about Mitt. Maybe he thought Ann had done a good enough job. However, his egotism could not have made him to popular with the new establishment.
THE SADDEST THING OF THE LOT.
With all this obvious hype, code, banalities and the like, it is sad to see political pundits in show after show discuss whether any of this moved the needle with independants or women or whatever. It really is nothing but a lovefest as none of the issues are really debated.
America, when all this fanfare is stripped away, is having an election on a number of key issues which include:
* Whether or not to accept a radical change in the way it runs it's economy to, as yet unheard of, trickle down economics with the rich and companies paying the minimum of taxes. This is taking place in an environment, as David Gergen has maintained, where the GOP administration of Bush caused the debt and job problems and the Democratic administration of Obama hasn't fixed them.
*The "Entitlement" programs of food stamps, unemployment benefits, Medicaid and Medicare are in for elimination or drastic revision and cutbacks.
*There is a proposed change in the Social Agenda particularly as regards to women's rights on abortion, contraception and hormonal therapy. This move is far reaching and on every level of Government. There are a 100's of bills, referenda on these issues at State as well as Federal level.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to try to effect this change. For the first time in history an incumbent President has been so badly outspent by a challenger.
So we don't need circuses, rhetoric, homilies and banalities with the media cheerleading it on. Having heard the second night's speeches, although of a much higher standard, were no better on substance than the first. (Condi Rice's good effort added nil to answering the above isues and Ryan even less). We need an honest debate. The Conventions do not seem the best place to have it.
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