POTUS has done something revolutionary in American politics and that is his very recent stance on same sex marriage. I am not going to examine its sincerity because I do not know the man yet when I read some of those claiming this was done in some form of simple gamesmanship I chuckle a bit at how simple minded people can be. Of course it was calculated, sincere or not, and it just might be one of the most brilliant moves he has made thus far. Simple gamesmanship does not even begin to peel the layers off this onion. First he just put it out there and that is brave, yes also calculated, but still brave. Simple logic, considering the possible firestorm he could create, is to leave the issue where it is for now and only take the standard, run of the mill stance, he is let’s remember running for POTUS. He pushed all this to the side and there are probably some very good reasons, other than he had the compunction to take a brave and strong stance on a fragile political issue, which those who are trying, pretty weakly I would observe, to stymy him for.
Second the common numbers and indicators people still cling to are not at play. Much like saber-metrics is revolutionizing, albeit quietly, baseball the political pundits and campaign gurus know the numbers and how to play them. Obama is much like a really popular indie band. He knows his core and he also knows his weak area. Those in his weak area are not going to vote for him even if he had stormed into Pakistan Rambo style and killed Osama Bin Laden with his bare hands, carried his body out on his shoulder, and brought it back to the US for everyone to see on a prime time TV show hosted by all the major networks,Fox News included. He is hated that badly by some people and we will not get into some people’s reasons, unspoken or otherwise. Both candidates are not going for any long balls in this game, not swinging for the fences, just trying to punch a few through the infield. A couple of flares and maybe a few grounders with eyes is all either really needs. Forget the right or the left. The middle infield is where this game will be won and Mr. Obama has painted his contender quickly in a corner if he chooses to step unwarily into the wrong area.
Common conservative sense would tell Romney he needs to stick with the base and play to the low information voters, not my term but a GOP one. Where this logic will run afoul is that the low information voters are not in the middle. The fence straddlers are fairly to highly informed voters who are looking for some indicators before they make a decision, moral, philosophical, intellectual or otherwise. The POTUS has set the bar high early. Not to mention there are some interesting rumblings that Mitt may get made out “class bully” who picked on a kid for being possibly gay. Coincidental timing or not folks this is not just an election, this is for the presidency, and all bets are off. There is no crying in this game. Should that dog hunt Mitt is starting this game a few runs behind.
Third, what polls have shown to not clearly represent is the younger generation. Either they were too young to vote last go around or they have not been locked into place. There are many intangibles when it comes to the youngsters on stats, numbers, and issues. Yet one issue that seems to ring true consistently is that the majority of the younger generation do not care for gay bashing or homophobia. This is a large voting block dead in the middle because they are not easily quantified. I can guarantee you that one candidate has gotten their attention and it is not the one who allegedly held another kid down, allegedly cut his hair, and allegedly called him hateful names and basically, allegedly, bullied the kid. Sure we all make mistakes as kids or college age adults even, but also 99.99999% of us don’t run for president. Again there is no crying in POTUS elections.
I will now step down from my baseball analogy soap box and do some more serious thinking about why it is important to live in a country where we try not to make other people feel like something the cat dragged in.
Thank you for your time if you made it this far.
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