In reality, nothing has changed since the first presidential debate. The fundamentals of the election or the two candidates haven’t changed. President Obama is still fighting for the middle class, health care for all Americans, a quality education for our children, Pell grants to attend college, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security—just to name a few. And Mitt Romney is still fighting against all of those items.
The only thing that has changed since the first Presidential debate is the media’s perception of the presidential race. Yes, President Obama’s debate performance left a lot to be desired. And Mitt Romney flip flopped his views and lied his way to likability. But, nothing of substance really changed between the two candidates. So I’m confused as to why there’s a lot of moaning, bemoaning, blaming and shaming going on in Democratic circles.
Democrats and Independents who stood with the President before the debates should be standing with him now. I can’t imagine anyone changing teams during the Super Bowl when their team starts to falter or throws an interception in the fourth quarter of the game. No one does that in the Super Bowl or the World Series. We continue to cheer our team on, regardless of the situation. And regardless of who wins the Super Bowl or World Series, nothing will change in our lives. But in this election, everything will change for middle class Americans, if President Obama is not re-elected. We will go back to the Bush years—only worse, if that is imaginable.
At this point, we cannot believe the media hype—good or bad. Many folks are driving themselves crazy looking at the polls and bemoaning what could have been. The only thing that matters now is for Democrats to get to the polls and vote –early, if at all possible.
Romney and the media are both playing the fear game in different ways. The media is instilling fear in Democrats that the election is being lost before any votes are cast. Meanwhile one Romney conservative Pac will warn of the world coming to an end if President Obama is re-elected. The TV and radio ad of America’s Next Generation Super Pac to run in swing states preaches fear and says the following: Click to hear the entire ad http://goo.gl/M7kSu
“If Obama wins again, our America is gone forever.”
“Welfare replaces work.”
“Millions of illegal aliens become citizens.”
“Liberals take over our courts.”
I still don’t know whom or what the “our” America refers to in the ad. I do know that for a man whose grandparents and father at an early age were on welfare, Mitt Romney is hypocritical about his own family history. His grandparents and father received welfare when there was no work program associated with it.
Lenore Romney said about her husband, George Romney (Mitt’s father) in a 1962 interview:
LENORE ROMNEY: “You know we’ve only owned our home for the last four years. He was a refugee from Mexico. He was on relief, welfare relief for the first years of his life. But this great country gave him opportunities.
Too bad that Mitt Romney doesn’t feel the same way about welfare that his mother did—as a way of this country giving opportunities to folks who need them.
And Romney’s ad reference to “illegal aliens” sounds like undocumented minorities came from a foreign planet—illegally. President Obama has started a path towards citizenship for young undocumented immigrants referred to as “Dreamers” who have lived in this country for a period of time without papers as a child. Most Americans support this concept. Romney’s ad negatively speaks as if the “millions’ of aliens will take over America—like a Star Wars movie. If Hispanics think a Dream Act will pass under Mitt Romney, they need to listen to the ad and think again. And then get to the polls as soon as possible and vote for President Obama.
Liberals taking over “our” courts is a back handed slap at Justices Elena Kagan and Sonya Sotomayor—two amply qualified Supreme Court justices. And Mitt Romney’s idea of Supreme Court justices are ones who will overturn Roe v. Wade–a women’s right to reproductive choice.
The antidote to these fear mongers is to vote and vote early, if possible in your state. These conservative fear ads are directed against Hispanic voters, liberals, middle class Americans, minorities, women and of course, the 47% who Mitt Romney calls victims and will not represent if elected. If all these categories of voters vote for their own best interests, that’s enough for a win for President Obama, if not a landslide.
Democrats just need to get fired up and go vote for President Obama. Nothing else matters except the final poll taken on November 6.
Washington, DC based Debbie Hines is a former prosecutor and founder of LegalSpeaks, a progressive blog on women and race in law and politics. As a legal and political commentator she has appeared in national, international and local media including the Michael Eric Dyson Show, local NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates, RT TV, CBC- Canadian TV, NPR, XM Sirius radio, Washington Post and Washington Times among others. She also contributes articles to the Huffington Post and the Women’s Media Center.