The answer lies in Obama’s method for reaching the undecided. The way to them is through pop culture outlets made available by a media willing and able to tip the scales against Romney. He is never going to slow jam the news with Jimmy Fallon as Obama has done, nor should he. Obama diminishes the office of the presidency the more he deigns to appeal to low information voters.
These voters by and large do not actively pursue information to make a decision. Instead, they consume the news in bits and pieces as it permeates with their lifestyle. The Romney campaign should not feel confident that their sources of information, many of which have received the attention of the President, will present the race with balance. This leaves the undecided, low information voter ill-equipped to make the right decision.
The muddled mess that has been the Romney campaign has ignored this aspect of the race. It’s been too busy fending off a cantankerous press, with forays into substance on the side. It’s a shame that these votes count the same as those of the engaged and well informed. Alas, they do, and Obama understands that crucial fact. Romney’s best bet is that undecided, low information voters decide to sit this one out. For Republicans, here’s to hoping for a rainy day.
1 Comment
Dominic–
Have you ever considered that perhaps YOUR expectations and views on what diminishes the office of the presidency are…well…only YOURS? You act as if there is a standard that you get to define. I find it hard to believe that a President who identifies with popular culture and uses it to his advantage is somehow “diminishing” the office of the presidency. On the flip side, many would argue that a President isolated from mainstream society and unable to identify to it is actually more demeaning. Obama is perhaps more recognizable and relatable to America’s mainstream because well…he is mainstream. It is not his fault that conservatives continue to elect men of family wealth who grew up like 0.01% of the population. It is your fault.
Its more classic complaints from the hyper-conservatives…where everything from higher education to music and movies are bias against them. Yes the party of equal lots in life and personal responsibility that shamelessly wants everyone to create a separate playing field for them. I find it sad in a way that conservatives have ultimately given up hope of ever evolving their ideology to be more in line with American mainstream society and find it frankly sad that all they will do from here to (eternity?) will be to complain and cry about it.
The truth you will have to face as a conservative if you want any glimmer of hope of ever winning office…is that you cannot simply refuse to evolve. Because like the dinosaurs, you will go extinct. (Oh and first just accept evolution is real).