Search This Blog

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Washington Post Tries to make Life into Reality TV

On the front page of the Washington Post today is an article about the trials and tribulations of the Republican Party. Here is the essence of what the Post is "reporting":

"The GOP heads into Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary in an unexpected and uncomfortable position. The party that once seemed to have so many advantages going into 2012 — a fired-up base, an unpopular Democratic president, a struggling economy — now finds itself stuck, ambivalent about its front-runner and unable to decide on an alternative."

It never fails to amaze me when the liberal media tries to remake reality. In this case, the Post seems to be trying to change the election into some sort of reality TV series. Things that have not changed are now ignored and actual relity is twisted to try to create dramatic conflicts, whether or not those conflicts actually exist.

Let's start with actual reality. We still have an unpopular Democrat president. Using the Rasmussen poll which has tested Obama's job approval ratings every day since the start of his term, we find that the public disapproves of Obama's efforts by 53% to 46%. This is the same result as a month ago (December 5), as two months ago (November 5), as three months ago (October 1), as four, five and six months ago. Indeed, since the bump last May when bin Laden was killed and Obama's approval rose for two weeks, Obama's approval has been in the same range. Indeed, on November 6 of 2010, at the time of the blowout win by the GOP in the midterm elections, Obama's disapproval by the American public was by 53% to 46%. In short, Obama remains and unpopular Democrat president.

We also still have a struggling economy. The growth rate in 2011 was bordering on a recession. Sure, there were moments when things looked better; the initial growth rate reported for the third quarter got up to 2.5% (hardly robust, but better than other recent quarters.) Of course, when subsequent information became available, that number was revised downward twice, ending up well below 2%. Hopefully, the fourth quarter will turn out to have had higher growth, but there is no reason yet to assume so. Unless growth exceeded 3%, however, there is no way to describe the economy other than as struggling. Well what about the new jobs figures you may ask. December's numbers were good, but that is compared to the terrible numbers in the months before that. The unemployment rate has hit 8.5%, a truly awful number for a point two and a half years after the start of an expansion. Nevertheless, Obama trumpets this number as an "achievement". Imagine a doctor who nearly kills a patient in an operation only to have the patient left on a respirator for months. Suddenly, that patient is able to breathe off the respirator and the same doctor hails it as an "achievement". For Obama, it is not even that good; the lower unemployment rate is the result of millions of folks just giving up looking for work. In other words, we have a struggling economy.

Well, the WaPo says that Republicans are no longer fired up. That is because they are asking the wrong question. Asking GOP voters if they are fired up about the current candidate choice for president misses the point. Instead, GOP voters should be asked if they are fired up about defeating Obama. There is enormous passion to save the country from another four years of Obama.

So what about the GOP's supposed ambivalence about Romney? That is entirely normal. We just had the Iowa caucuses, the first voting of any sort. Only the liberal media would expect to see GOP voters all lining up behind one candidate with enthusiasm at this point. The primaries and caucuses are designed to let the voters select the nominee. And the voters do that on their own timetable, not the one that the media wants. Most GOP voters have not spent the last eight months looking for flaws in the presidential candidates like the Washington Post has. These voters are really just now getting down to the task of weighing the pros and cons of each candidate and deciding who to support. Sure, there are many people who have spent 2011 watching the campaign, but these folks are a small minority of the party. The Washington Post is incorrectly describing the normal process as ambivalence.

I guess someone has to break it to the WAPO, Obama and the Democrats were in trouble in 2010. They are still in trouble. No amount of wishful commentary masquerading as "reporting" will change that.

No comments: