I Can’t Believe Presidential Candidates Are So Out Of Touch
There is a reason why Mike Huckabee is on the map. There is a reason that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are running so well. And there is a good reason that John McCain is standing strong.
It is all about the one thing that consultants and pollsters really can’t give you: a feel for contemporary society and what the people are feeling.
Frankly, you cannot run for President and wait for every trend to capture YOU.
You’ve got to feel the pain, feel what it is like to be a contemporary American and understand that the real deal is when you’re out in front on the issues.
John McCain, who I predicted ( In December) would be the last Republican standing, is a man who can read moods. Americans want decisive leaders. He looks decisive and has the independent record to back it up. Mike Huckabee feels the undercurrent of the distress of the middle class. Give him credit. The guy can draw fans like a down home rock star.
Senator Clinton knows when to hold em and when to fold em. She folded her frontrunner status for one near tearful day, came up with a stimulus plan to fight a possible recession and she took New Hampshire and regained her sense of humility at the same time. Barack Obama, Mr. Charisma, knows people are ready for a more hopeful conciliatory time. He is sharp and sensitive.
ON THE OTHER HAND…
Mitt Romney, with so much class and style, has sabotaged his campaign by changing his mind a bit too much, wouldn’t you say? John Edwards is a very attractive candidate, but he has one theme – modern day populism. In a country run by the middle class, attacking greed is not enough. Although by the looks of the conduct of some banks and brokerage houses in the mortgage, meltdown, fighting greed may be in fashion again.
And where is Rudy? Ceding the early primaries, the always potent New Yorker seems to be giving it away. What’s up with his cash-starved campaign?
Fred Thompson seems to be running in place. Whose advising the guy?
There is a real irony to this campaign. Joe Biden and Bill Richardson, now out of the race, probably were the two finest prospects in terms of understanding the people of America today. Unfortunately, neither had the money to keep it going.
And money still talks today, unless you are Mitt Romney.
Comments(16)
“Whose advising this guy?” Whoever he is, he needs a grammar makeover. Are these syntactic guffaws for real? Or are they like George W.Bush’s faux vernacular, a ploy for the Dumb Vote. Shape up, Larry. You’re supposed to be the smart guy on the block. Patrick D.Hazard, Weimar, Germany.
Larry
Obviously didn’t watch the Republican Debate in Charleston South Carolina.. Fred won the Debate hands Down…. and Ron Paul won the Dennis Kucinich award!
Let’s not forget about Michael Blommberg Larry, if we’re concerned about money talking, he’ll make Mitt look like pauper should he run (Billions vs hundreds of millions in wealth). Bloomberg could really have a shot in a McCain vs either Hillary or Obama race. With all of these new voters coming into the market and 70% of them leaning Democrat, a political hybrid like Bloomberg would give even more uncertainty since all three candidates would represent change and all would be socially moderate to liberal. If it would be a tight three way split of the vote how would the electoral college stuff work? Could Bloomberg win a pluraity of the vote but then not have the electoral college votes and, perhaps even lose to the one with the least popular votes but who has most electoral college votes? We’re going to need to know how this works, as Bloomberg is going to enter and be a real contender. He’s a great mayor (better than Rudy) and a true INDEPENDENT agent of change with experience and not a lot of political baggage.
-George
Sorry. I hit this by mistake. (By the way, though I flinch at Larry’s schoolboy gaffes, I read him every day.He’s the clearest, most thougtful journalist in this paper right now.) PDH
For someone who examines the presidential
election process so closely you’d think Larry would have made up his mind already and thrown his support to one candidate or another. Yet he still sits on his fence and weighs the political impact that each candidate creates, every time they open their mouths. Every nuance and faux pas committed by a candidate is dissected by the media and Larry. If you ask me this process and the NFL football season last too long. Just as I predict the NFL season will go out with a whimper so to will the election of our next president. The people will have had too much exposure to the campaign trail. Only people like Larry will follow this thing through to the end. As with the NFL season, where only the fantasy league players and the two cities involved will care who wins the Super Bowl so will the campaign season end with two drained candidates who’s lives have been dragged through the mud and an electorate who can’t wait for their team to win the next Super Bowl.
Hello Lar
Glad to still see you are very active as your were during our 2 years of touring. You look good for your age as compare to me. Me a little problem with my health and going through a very difficult divorce but I m moving along as well as anybody. Going to be in NY next week for a business meeting so maybe I see ya. Take care buddy and good to see you are well.
Paul
Paul is that you Paul? I can barely make you out through the haze of all this political mumbo jumbo unleashed by Larry.
You’d think by now he would have gotten the message that it’s the Beatles that keep him current not current affairs. If only John or George were still here to make him realize this.
I think you have it backwards, Larry.
John McCain represents a ‘safe’ and well known name to Republicans. Most Republicans would rather vote for Guiliani but don’t see him as truely interested in the campaign and are reluctant to commit to him until he gets serious. Same might be said for Fred Thompson but I’m not sure he’ll ever be serious. Mitt Romney flip-flopped to many times but might be the best agent of change. Mike Huckleberry is fresh but has no credentials. Unless Guiliani gets serious and soon, McCain is going to have the nomination by 2/6. As a ‘Republicrat’ – too liberal to be a Republican – McCain will go down in flames in November. He, like Hillary Clinton, represents all that is wrong with American politics – too many lobbyists, too much PAC money, too many special interest groups, status quo/gridlock, party politics as usual.
On the Democratic side, President Bush has given the Dems a free ride to the White House this election. Unless they massively self-destruct, anyone they nominate will win, particularly against McCain. People want change and view Obama as that agent of change because he hasn’t spent the last 15-20 years in Washington. The change they get may not be what they want – higher taxes, bad healthcare, Mideast turmoil, jobs going to China, devaluing dollar – but they want change. For Hillary Clinton to sell herself as an agent of change is obsurd. And where are the “35 years of experience”? She’s been in Congress 7 years. She’s never accomplished anything on her own. Her husband was a national disgrace. John Edwards was an ‘ambulence chaser’ and now he wants to help people?
Here are the two real questions we should be asking:
1) We spend 4 years and billions of dollars searching for a President and we always end up with the same usual suspects and no one anyone wants to vote for. What’s fundamentally wrong with the system of identifying and electing a President?
2) No matter who is elected President and what the mandate, there is so much inertia in Congress that nothing substantive ever results. What is fundamentally wrong with our legislative branch that inhibits change and how do we fix it?
I think a single, 4 year terms is a start. No concerns about re-election, pensions or committees. Too many Kennedys, Byrds, McCains and Clintons in Congress for change.
hello Larry,i don’t think Hillary Clinton is ‘out of touch’,she seems to have the pulse of america,and feels the pain of the middle class,and has answers for the big disater that she will have to take on in office.
as far as O’bama he talks alot but says little,he does not have any answers for the big mess that will be waiting,just alot of false hope with nothing to back it up.
John Mccain seems to be ‘out of touch’ and past his prime,the rest of the candidates are playing for last place.
i just watched Hillary on ‘meet the press’ and she looked very presidential,i think anyone that viewed the show will agree.
Hey Mate
How the Liverpool 8 going? I am due there in June with my band. Lovely blokes to play with. Good luck on your tour in the US during the summer.
All The Best,
Paul
Jack Russell (Terrier?), Hillary is a fraud. She feels that she’s paid ‘her dues’ and is entitled to be President. Not sure where she got that idea from. Last thing America needs is another Clinton.
She is morfing by the minute as her aides, advisors and focus groups give her a new direction. She is more out of touch with what is going on in America than any of the candidates.
Don’t be fooled by the Clintons again.
Funny you should mention Biden, Dodd and Richardson. I can’t tell you how many times here in Iowa I heard people say how much they admired them, listened to them and agreed with them, but could not vote for them because they had no chance of making any headway against the tide of the big name candidates and their money. The Republicans that I spoke to were also dissatisfied with their big money and name candidates (believe me, nobody had more boring get togethers than McCain), but at the end there was a large enough organized group (the Evangelicals) in that party to just decide to vote for the candidate they felt really understood them and had been part of their issues for years.
I don’t need a plagiarizing phony or an ancestral entitled politico or a nice Hispanic guy to run our country. I want someone who can forge a new future with a concrete vision of where we should be heading. Politics today is controlled by the polls. Not one candidate has stepped up and defined his vision for the future. Sure the candidates talk about change, but they talk in generalities and not specifics. What good does that do? One day Hilllary hears the economy is in trouble and the next day she has a plan to save us. How transparent is that. I want a candidate that will deliver me from this madness.
I want someone that has the country’s best interests in mind. I need to know that this person is smart enough to handle the curve balls that are sure to come. The next president must realize that we the people are very unhappy with are current situation, and if they are not up to the task we will bring them down in a heartbeat.
Yo Ringo and Paul: thanks for writing. It is amazing how easy it is for some local people to sign in on a UK dot com.
But I always love to hear from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, even if they are the fab faux.
How are things at Penn?
To all: Great comments on the political scene. Jack: Hillary does look leader-like. Good point.
Rick: You may be right about McCain.
The Rudy story fascinates me.
Do you think he’s tired of the scrutiny?
Larry,
I think Rudy’s advisors told him that if he ran, he’d win. His name recognition and 9/11 response had him outfront early. I think they viewed the nomination as inevitable. Their big state strategy neglected Iowa and NH. By neglecting these states they got crushed. The resulting momentum shift is going to be tough to overcome. That being said. Romney will be out after Michigan. Thompson and Huckabee after 2/5. It will be McCain way in front. Will Rudy have the money and stomach to stay in the race? I think he got bad advice early, failed to react fast enough and now has the decision to make whether to go forward or further damage electability in future.