It’s good to new Mr. Rich back, this time in New York magazine, but he took the time in his first piece to not only revisit recent history, but also prove why his political analysis is going to take a while to recover. From “Original Sin”:
The ultimate indignity, though, was a Washington Post / ABC News poll showing Obama in a dead heat with Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney! If any belief unites our polarized nation, it’s the conviction that Romney is the most transparent phony in either party, no matter how much he’s now deaccessioning hair products. It’s also been a Beltway truism that a Mormon can’t win the Republican nomination, let alone a Massachusetts governor who devised the prototype for “ObamaCare.” But that political calculus changed overnight. That this poseur could so quickly gain traction, even if evanescently, should alarm Obama.
It was on Monday, June 13, that the new state of play crystallized. That morning, Immelt unveiled his vacuous op-ed and rendezvoused with Obama in Durham, North Carolina, for a double-feature dog-and-pony show: a meeting of the otherwise invisible White House jobs council (only its second to date) and yet another small-bore presidential photo op promoting yet another green-tech employer illustrating the latest dim-wattage administration slogan, “Winning the Future.” Unfortunately for the White House, the Times front page delivered another message above the fold that morning: OBAMA SEEKS TO WIN BACK WALL ST. CASH. Among the objects of Obama’s affection interviewed was an unnamed Democratic financier who found it ironic that “the same president who once criticized bankers as ‘fat cats’ would now invite them to dine at Daniel, where the six-course tasting menu runs to $195 a person.”
There’s no doubt that Mitt Romney is a phony. The evidence comes in video tape from years prior to this latest revamp on his political style.
Rich’s real problem is making piece with his own part in making the case for Barack Obama, which was predicated on the embarrassment of Bush-Cheney that was fueled by fury, that allowed him to completely ignore the type of politician Obama has been from the start.
Writers like Frank Rich are important, because people trust him. But he’s got a long way to go to get back to the place he once held, as no one was more blinded by candidate Obama, a person that simply only existed in Mr. Rich’s mind.
If Barack Obama had been the man Rich thought he was, wrote that he was, he wouldn’t be staring down at a “dead heat” with Mitt Romney right now.
How many people here believe that? Go ahead, raise your hands. Now, what metric are you using to compare Romney to all the other phonies?
I’ve described Obama as a con artist since 2008. Haven’t had anything good to say about Romney other than that he was one of the few sane GOP presidential candidates, which is an attribute I applied to Obama during the general in 2008 (the con man versus the crazy man).
And frankly, I could apply the term “phony” to most politicians of any real prominence. It’s almost an occupational necessity.
Which all makes me a radical crazy in Rich’s universe, I suppose. Rich sees things clearly sometimes, and is very good at writing about what he sees, but his blind spots are huge.
Romney’s phoniness comes with too many video clips, that’s one problem, but the biggest remains health care.
As for Rich, he’s massively overrated.
After reading your post I have to wonder what your definition of Dead Heat is since there are no actual numbers or link to said poll. I could also make the counter argument which would go something like this! Despite carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders President Obama is competitive with a man most people still don’t know and who carries no burden of authority! For the record I just checked Rassmussen Reports has the President at 49%! Rassmussen! Hell Fox News has him at 46-46! Unlike you here is the link! LOL!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html