The Elevator Pitch

Via the Maddow Blog (which I highly recommend by the way), comes word that the Obama-Biden camp has a pitch for their campaign:

"Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."

Putting aside the question of crowing about another human's death (I'm definitely squeamish about that), I think this pitch could be awfully effective for a couple reasons: 1) It's pithy, memorable, and specific, unlike "Win the Future," 2) The first part is basically "America, Fuck Yeah!" which is always a popular stance, and 3) It highlights accomplishments that are unquestionably the president's.

Big Day in Hyde Park

All of these things happened today:

1. David Axelrod announced that he is creating an Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.
2. Team Sassy watched Mayor Emanuel, Rachel Maddow, George Stephanopoulos, David Brooks, and Alex Castellanos have a sit down about the 2012 election.
3. Bridget came very close to crying her way into the event where this all took place.
4. Ilsa enabled Bridget to preserve some of her dignity by (sooprise, sooprise) working her connections at the University (real quote: “You didn’t say your friend was ILSA FLANAGAN.”)

It was a fascinating, and oddly sexually charged, conversation. Here are some random highlights from my perspective:

1. The consensus was that Romney would be the Republican’s candidate and that he is a pretty problematic choice, or as Rachel Maddow put it: “[Romney] is the tallest midget.” Brooks tried to walk his criticism back a little, but it was still pretty clear that the Rs on the panel wished they had a stronger choice. This isn’t to say that they feel that Obama is a shoo-in, more that they’re surprised the Rs couldn’t do better.
2. Alex Castellanos ran Romney’s 2008 campaign, but doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of love for him. Nothing overt, but I wouldn’t say he was campaigning for him at this event. On the other hand, Alex (and other panelists) have very clear disdain for Newt. As Castellanos said in dismissing Newt’s surge in SC, “Every time Newt stands up, he hits his head on the ceiling.”
3. Maddow thinks that the Dem base is “inspirationed out.” She would like to see Obama use the SOTU to outline small clear steps the government can take to improve the economy, etc. Rahm disagreed, saying that is how you govern, but not how you campaign. Castellanos was somewhere in the middle, wanting to get people to be able to see “above the horizon again,” but also acknowledging that the fervor of 2008 was unlikely (“It’s not all that exciting when you lose your virginity the 2^nd time.” Yep. He said that.)
4. On the current political context, Brooks made an interesting point about not having a majority party and a minority party right now, but rather 2 minority parties. He believes that this forces parties to be more entrenched, insular, and unwilling to compromise.
5. I found Brooks to be extremely charming and engaging, but he demolished almost all of the good will I was beginning to feel for him when he said that he would like to see a Nader-Buchanan presidential ticket. Uh, say what again? 
6. Rahm was heckled by protesters shouting about budget cuts and Chicago being a police state. It went on longer than I expected, stretched out by the use of the "human megaphone," and was extremely annoying and/but pretty effective.

Thanks to Ilsa for getting me into the event. Looking forward to her thoughts on the afternoon.

Possibly Horrifying Findings About Independent Voters

The New Republic has a brief article on their site about independent voters. The subhead of the article, "What if these voters are just a clueless horde?," seems tongue-in-cheek but pretty much summarizes why this is so scary. Money quote: "At a time of economic peril, when one party wants to protect the essential structure of our limited welfare state and the other party seeks to destroy it, most independents, according to this poll, appear to be seduced by the last thing they have heard." Yikes!

Boss Hogg Passes on 2012

Mississippi governor, Haley (Boss Hogg) Barbour has officially declined to run for the GOP nomination for president. That's one less relatively reasonable candidate in that gaggle of crazies.