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Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - Volume 3, Number 5 – Last
Update: August 31, 2012 © Copyright 2012, The Ultrapolis Project. All Rights Reserved.
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION WATCH Republican National Convention Review Briefs – Updates Through
Convention IN THIS ISSUE: ·
RNC First Night Slightly Off
– Review and Readers’ Comments ·
RNC Second Night Starts Low,
Ends High ·
RNC Third Night Starts High,
Ends Not so High |
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Friday, August 31, 2012
- Volume 3, Number 5 – Edition 3 © Copyright 2012, The Ultrapolis Project. All Rights Reserved.
Republican Convention 3rd Night Starts
High, Ends Not so High Beautiful Biographical Videos, Moving
Personal Stories, Followed by Awkwardness and Something Missing We
won’t bore you with repeating all the details that are already amply out in
print, television, radio, blogs, forums, social sites, and tweets. You
surely already know what happened: A series of moving presentations on the
life and times of one Willard Mitt Romney, presentations that introduced to
the public the important and inspiring aspects of Gov. Romney’s life not so
widely known, these did not make it to the prime
hour. Instead, the highlight of television coverage for the formal
acceptance of the GOP’s nomination for president of the United States began
with an uncomfortable appearance by Clint Eastwood and his invisible
partner. Whatever Mitt Romney is, this one part of the convention was the
one that least reflected Gov. Romney’s temperament, style, or thinking.
Like McCain’s 2008 ill-fated reach for something to excite and enthuse the campaign, the Romney camp blindly reached into
a bag of surprises, and did not pull out something delightful. About
Mitt Romney’s speech, it was true Mitt Romney: competent, and focused on the
business-side of things (the cheers got louder once he moved on from his
lengthy words on how businesses creates jobs - even Republicans tired of
it). It was decent, level-headed, admirable, and inspiring – but, not
very inspiring. Looking at old footage of conventions of years past,
you see the difference. Perhaps there are too many speeches at the
conventions now. Maybe the conventions and speeches are now too-scripted,
and people just don’t feel the excitement. Maybe everybody is texting,
tweeting or taking yet another self-portrait. Or maybe, the Republicans
just never could find the center of their vision to give them the huge amount
of moral energy necessary to power their message. Even the rising star
of Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio, intelligent, well-intentioned, articulate,
and sincere – looked uncertain every time applause did not ring out
immediately. We never saw that in the likes of Ronald Reagan or even
George H.W. Bush. Something was missing in that hall. The
best lines from Gov. Romney came when he mocked 2008 presidential candidate
Obama’s words on his grand goals for the planet, and Mr. Obama’s alleged
interest in being the world’s president instead of the U.S. president: President Obama promised to begin to slow
the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. … MY promise...is to help you and
your family. I will begin my presidency
with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour. America, he
said, had dictated to other nations. No Mr. President, America has
freed other nations from dictators. (Aside:
In fairness to Barack Obama, his ambition to help secure the planet’s
environmental future is not a bad one. It is even noble. But the
thing that sticks in the craw of many Americans who happen to love their
country and thought well of it before Mr. Obama appeared on the scene, is the
sense that President Obama thinks America can only be great because he is
president, and not that he is president because America is great.) Willard
Mitt Romney would make a decent, competent and amiable president – a
successful administrator of America’s current foreign policy, an able manager
of America’s current economic conditions, a compassionate communicator of the
nation’s current needs and desires. But somehow, despite the apparent
near-perfectness of his whole life, he is not the best campaigner for a new
vision of the nation’s future. And, we need one.
Reader Comments (In Order Received) Why does everyone seem to forget that
President Obama had to take on the financial crisis and issues that were
started under the Bush administration? It took Bush two terms to create
the mess. It will take two plus terms to repair it. ALL Americans
need to assist in fixing it – not just the government. I am very
interested to see how many jobs will be “recreated” if the Republicans take
the Oval office in 2012. After all, did the Republicans not help to
sabotage our economy? -Bonnie Vaults Must you always try to strike a
balance? Why can’t you just say Mitt
is the better candidate – period! -Monica Wells I
think I see eye to eye with you on most (if not all) things you wrote. I
would have hoped (and expected) better scripting. Clint
is my favorite actor of all times, so it was for me a pleasure to see him. I
liked what he did. It was cute, funny, although for many conservatives it may
have been a little too vulgar and in particular it certainly doesn't fit with
who Mitt Romney is. But I think it didn't fit well with the flow of things. If
they had gone from the "common" people talking about Mitt to the
movie about him and then to him, that would have been absolutely perfect
(yes, with no Marco Rubio in there). -Joaquin Arguelles Well said! -Richard Gonzalez [Your newsletter] is a wonderful
compilation of pertinent information; succinct, enlightening and very well
written. -Veronica Scarbrough |
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Thursday August 30, 2012 - Volume 3, Number 5 - Edition 2 © Copyright 2012, The Ultrapolis
Project – All Rights Reserved Republican National Convention 2nd
Night Starts Low, Ends High After Long Train of Red Meat for Hard Right, Rice & Ryan Lift Tone,
Aim High After
what seemed a never-ending and blunt appeal to the self-interest of business
owners, with the relentless, repeated, and disingenuous turning on its head
of Obama’s mostly true – if unfortunately worded – phrase “you didn’t build
that,” to “we built it,” we began to despair that our 2010 predictions of a
turn to the anti-intellectual hard right within the Republican party were
turning out true without any qualification (at the time, many liberal
observers, in public media as well as in our own personal encounters, were
commenting that the memory of the 2008 electoral loss would move the party to
be more ‘responsible’ and moderate - See UWFR Oct 28, 2010).
Rand Paul in particular unabashedly pushed a message and tone that implied
that anyone who was not a successful business owner was not working hard
enough, and no one successful owed society anything – a claim that ought to
make blush any believers of Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Buddhist teachings,
if not outright indignant. Perhaps
if Mr. Obama had simply added the word ‘alone,’ to his admonition that “you
didn’t build that,” when talking about government facilitated benefits such
as roads, he would have diffused the perception that he was saying that
people who built their own business did not fully earn the rewards. Yes,
those who build honest businesses from the ground up, who take on risks and
huge responsibilities, suffer losses, work extremely hard – they are the
backbone of national prosperity and deserve to be richly rewarded for their
risk and toil. But, in truth, none of us provide our own teachers, our
own schools, our own parents, or the framework of institutions that make our
own upbringing possible. We only get to do that for the next
generation. A measure of humility and gratitude is in order when we
have been blessed by talent, ability, education, and an environment that
allowed us to flourish in ways so many others are not. After all, isn’t
what America makes possible the point of how America is exceptional?
There are arguments to be made against wasteful and corrupting government
largess, government facilitated idleness, and confiscatory taxation; and in
favor of greater personal responsibility and freedom. But, justifying
arrogant avarice is an embarrassing disgrace – and a losing proposition. Respite
finally came in the form of John McCain, Condoleezza Rice, and yes, most ably
in the charged presence of Paul Ryan. McCain tried to make the case for
a muscular moral American presence on the world stage (not a popular message
in either party, as most liberals are uncomfortable with the muscular part,
and most far right conservatives and libertarians seem to never find
justification in the moral part). The awkwardly professorial
Condoleezza Rice was stately, while somewhat ignored by the audience, but she
did raise the level of discourse to a higher ground. One of the best
and most well-received lines came at the end of this statement: And on a
personal note– a little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham – the most
segregated big city in America - her parents can’t take her to a movie
theater or a restaurant – but they make her believe that even though she
can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter – she can be
President of the United States and she becomes the Secretary of State. Her closing remarks elegantly tied self-interested logic with noble
idealism, and reminded us why she rose so high: That is
why, that is why, this is a moment – and an election – of consequence.
Because, it just has to be – that the freest and most
compassionate country on the face of the earth, will continue to be the most
powerful and a beacon for prosperity and liberty across the world. Last,
but certainly not least, the much anticipated speech by vice-presidential
nominee Paul Ryan did not disappoint. Gone was
the coarseness of Rand Paul and the collection of “I did it all”
acolytes. Instead, we heard a sharp, yet well-measured defense of
Republican values that, in a Reaganesque manner, knew it had to reach more
than just the people in the hall. At his first mention of caring for
the needy, the audience seemed a little uncertain – who could blame them
after what they had heard endlessly for now two nights? Yet, he
proceeded with eloquence that made clear to us how well Romney had
chosen. Even the “we built it” refrain was artfully and gracefully
repositioned from a defensive, crude retort, into a thoughtful reply: And if
small businesspeople say they made it on their own, all they are saying
is that nobody else worked seven days a week in their place. Nobody showed up
in their place to open the door at five in the morning. Nobody did their
thinking, and worrying, and sweating for them. After all that work, and in a
bad economy, it sure doesn't help to hear from their president that
government gets the credit. What they deserve to hear is the truth: Yes, you
did build that. Now, that is an appropriate and even
compassionate response. Paul Ryan, if on a few occasions had this
rather charming slight hint of a shrug every time a line didn’t get immediately
an expected applause, overall hit a home run. Yes, he avoided specifics
on how a Romney administration would do better, but we suspect he will also
do that well enough soon enough. So long as he does not get cocky, Joe
Biden has no chance against him. At the end of his speech he had
everyone on their feet – and he didn’t have to cheat (see our remarks from
Tuesday). He may not become vice-president of the United States in
2012, but he may very well become president in 2016. The best line directed against the president was from
New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez: “…He can accept responsibility for breaking
his promise and adding $5 trillion to the national debt. Because, he did
build that!”
Comments may be
directed to contactproject@ultrapolisproject.com, or if you receive
the newsletter email, also via a reply to the email address from which you
receive it. © Copyright 2012,
The Ultrapolis Project
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Tuesday August 28, 2012 - Volume 3, Number 5 - Edition 1 © Copyright 2012, The Ultrapolis
Project – All Rights Reserved Republican National Convention First
Night Slightly Off Strange Stepford Quality Underlies
Campaign Weakness The first full evening of convention
oratory stitched together a motley assortment of speeches that ran from the
mostly robotic and vapid (this is the best and the brightest?) to the few
generally effective, and with only the success of entrepreneurship connecting
most of the array of speakers. (Note: most Americans are not
self-employed.) In the most striking disconnect of the night, Ann
Romney made ‘love’ the center of her message, only to be followed by a
more-powerfully delivered keynote speech by New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie that said respect is more important than love. Another odd
effect that seemed to repeat itself throughout the night was a strange, yet
persistent offset between delivered applause lines and… the actual
applause. The effect receded as the speakers got better, but it
remained rare to hear applause that did not seem queued and where the
audience did not seem to be merely obliging at the ‘right’ moments. Though many pundits immediately declared
Ms. Romney’s speech as excellent, and Governor Christie’s as a rousing
“barn-burner,” we saw something different. While Ms. Romney’s speech
may have been sincere and included some strong lines (i.e. “this man will not
fail”), and she showed herself to be a very capable and contemplative speaker
(no Palin here), there still was this sense of a carefully crafted formula
being delivered. Perhaps we would not have noticed if she had not been
preceded by so many two-dimensional wooden women speakers, but she was, and
so we did. Chris Christie delivered a speech that met
its goal, in this case, bringing people to their feet - but he cheated a bit
by actually asking people to literally “stand up.” The governor did his
job, but others before have done better where he was, just as he has done it
before so much better elsewhere. One bit of advice for the RNC organizers:
lose the constantly changing backdrops. We don’t need carefully chosen
pictures showing up on cue to illustrate the speaker’s point, or what looked
like at other times, rotating clouds in close ups. A convention speech,
especially a keynote speech, is not a PowerPoint, and the pictures showing up
on cue, effective when used sparingly, were more often comical. As for
the rotating smudges of white on blue in the speaker close-ups, they gave the
effect of the speaker (or the viewer) being on a psychedelic trip - maybe
this is what caused the applause mis-alignments? Perhaps, but we think
no, it was the emotional shallowness present in the hall due to the reasons
we have been predicting and noting since October of 2010).
Reader Comments (In Order Received) OMG!
Excellent review of the RNC! -Bonnie Vaults You
noticed several things I did not. I enjoyed the convention very much so
far (especially Ann and Chris Christie). My wife and I were looking at it
from an emotional point of view. At one point I even told my wife: "80%
of what these people are saying is true, 80% of what the Democrats say is not
true". <-- I don't know how true that is, but I believe it. -Joaquin Arguelles This
is why I like to hear from you. Always an insight I missed, and right on
target, though I think you short-changed Ann Romney. -Scott Hamil Enjoyed your
thoughts. Thank you for sending. -Ken Council Why
are you so negative on the Republicans? I thought you supported Romney.
-Steven Smith
Comments may be directed to contactproject@ultrapolisproject.com, or if you receive the newsletter email, also via a
reply to the email address from which you receive it. |
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Main Index of the Ultrapolis World Forecast & Review © Copyright 2012, The
Ultrapolis Project – All Rights Reserved.
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