So much for charging up the base…
Although the Romney campaign clearly hoped the selection of Super and True Conservative Paul Ryan as his running mate would fire up his base and, more importantly, fire up his polling numbers, the truth is, it hasn’t.
Reuters reports that only 26 percent of people they polled view Romney more favorably after his choice of Ryan for Vice President. Gallup polling shows that his support number went from 46% to 47% among registered voters after the VP announcement.
Splat.
So much for that.
It may be in part because the Obama campaign was well-prepared to expose Ryan for the anti-woman, pro-wealthy Super Conservative that he is. Just yesterday, President Obama pointed out that Ryan’s economic plan would literally reduce Mitt Romney’s tax burden to less than 1% annually:
Their ideas are pretty simple. They’re not hard to explain. They think that if we get rid of more regulations on big corporations and big banks, some of which we put in place to prevent another taxpayer-funded bailout, and if we do more tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans then somehow prosperity’s going to rain down on all of you. That is their theory.In fact, the centerpiece of my opponent’s entire economic plan is a new five trillion dollar tax cut, a lot of it going to the wealthiest Americans. His new running mate, Congressman Ryan, he put forward a plan that would let Governor Romney pay less than 1 percent in taxes each year. And here’s the kicker — he expects you to pick up the tab.
Governor’s Romney tax plan – this is not my analysis now – this is the analysis of independent folks who analyze tax plans for a living. That’s what they do. Their analysis showed that Governor Romney’s tax plan would actually raise taxes on middle class families with children by an average of $2,000. Not to reduce the deficit, not to grow jobs, not to invest in education, but to give another tax cut to folks like him.
Meanwhile, Dems are getting fired up. If my experience yesterday in the liberal stronghold of Washtenaw County, Michigan is any indication, we’re looking as good in terms of fired up volunteers and organizers as we were in 2008. At our County Convention yesterday, we held an organizational meeting for precinct delegates and well over half of the 100+ precinct delegates showed up to get started. After that, our Convention itself was our largest, most well-attended in years. Here’s a shot of a standing room-only crowd being addressed by Debbie Dingell wife of Congressman and Dean of the House John Dingell and Michigan Democratic Party rock star:
If you’re feeling a bit worn out and in need a bit of a recharge, have a look at this terrific video by Obama For America. It will remind you why all of this grassroots energy is so essential, so absolutely necessary:
“We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Back Now.”
By the way, the rest of the world is counting on us, too. I speak almost weekly to folks from Europe and elsewhere outside of the USA. Once they find out I’m an Obama supporter, it’s typical for them to ask me how it is that someone like Romney or Ryan could be at the top of a presidential ticket. In fact, according to a new Reuters poll, business owners around the world are hoping for another Obama victory.
Let’s give it to them, shall we. It’s time for us to be fired up and ready to go. Get involved TODAY!.
[Arrow image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net, Convention photo: Chris Savage | Eclectablog]
