The background
Hot on the heels of the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida comes the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina – and President Barack Obama’s chance to show his party and the nation why they should give him a second term.
Heading into Tuesday’s Convention, Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are in a dead heat, according to a Reuters/Ipso poll, earning 45 percent each among likely voters. It’s now up to the incumbent to try to rekindle some of the excitement and enthusiasm from his historic 2008 campaign – as well as to credibly address the number one issue facing Americans: The economy.
But can he?
No, he can’t
Tim Stanley, blogging for The Telegraph, doesn’t think Obama can manage to rekindle the flame. The Democratic National Committee is having difficulty filling the stadium it’s rented for Obama’s speech and some big-name Democrats are staying away, reportedly worried that association with the President will taint their chances for re-election, he reported. “Republicans can take some comfort from experience that any relationship based on nostalgia is probably doomed. The memories can become bitter reminders of how good things once were and how awful they have become. This week’s convention might revive some of the spark, and propel Obama towards re-election. But for all the professions of love, a divorce in November still feels more likely than not.”
This Convention will be a slimmer affair, with only three days of closed-door official business and one day open to the public – but whether that’s down to wanting to engage the people or due to fundraising shortfalls remains to be seen, ABC reported.
Obama vs. Obama as convention looms
“President Obama has met his own worst enemy, and his name is Barack Obama,” Rick Klien wrote at ABC’s OTUS blog. During his speech to the Republican National Convention, Romney told his supporters that Obama’s term has been a disappointment, following the great expectations of his 2008 campaign – and that’s precisely the perception that Obama is battling this time around, Klien said. Governing has proved difficult, and that era of bipartisan cooperation that Obama promised was undermined by bitter battles over health care and the budget. “It is therefore disillusionment more than anger that represents the president’s most formidable adversary.”
Obama needs to explain why his second term will be different
The Republican Party’s most potent message is that Obama, particularly in his stewardship of the economy, has been a disappointment. How Obama answers that claim – and hopefully, The Los Angeles Times wrote in a leading editorial, with some fact-checking of spurious claims made by Republicans – will dictate the outcome of this election. “But we hope Obama does more than boast of modest progress and shift the blame for what hasn’t been accomplished,” the paper wrote. “The best response to Romney’s challenge would be to explain how, with a renewed mandate, the president will be able to enlist a Congress that may not be all that different from the current one in efforts to combat unemployment, repair the economy and move forward with the rest of his program, from climate change to immigration.”
Obama and the Empty Chair: He needs a plan
Perhaps the most indelible image from the Republican National Convention was Hollywood A-lister Clint Eastwood lecturing an empty chair meant to represent Obama. It’s a good metaphor for the campaign so far, Jon Avlon wrote at CNN: “No one talks back when you’re debating an empty chair,” he said, and likewise, playing fast and loose with the facts is easy when no one’s refuting the inaccuracies. Obama “has enabled the Politics of the Empty Chair to flourish by too often putting oratory above operational action”, but also by not clearly outlining what his second term will offer. That’s what he needs to do now, and “not just poll-tested bromides about defending the middle class, but actual plans, including an alternative path to deficit reduction that takes on some sacred cows on the left, including entitlement reform.”
More on the US election
- Ryan slammed over RNC speech ‘lies’
- The verdict on Romney’s RNC speech
- Clint Eastwood’s unscheduled RNC speech