Welcome, friends. The purpose of this regular series is to promote enthusiasm and action among Daily Kos members. Romney will very likely out-fundraise President Obama. However, we believe that we can still win if (1) we can remain competitive financially, and (2) we volunteer our time and energy (GOTV, canvassing, phonebanking, LTE, ...).
ObamaNightlyNews posts every night at 9:00 ET, 8:00 CT, 7:00 MT, 6:00 PT
|
In today's Obama Nightly News, we'll talk about two ways in which President Barack Obama inadvertently models for us all what "class" is all about.
This has been a whirlwind week in politics. Both sides of the political divide were forced into a firestorm sparked by a Todd Akin interview last Sunday during which he made controversial and thoroughly-debunked statements that presented rape-induced pregnancy as mathematically rare; posited (unscientifically) that women are able to "shut down" conception during rape; and utilized the grammatically lamentable (or, if interpreted as denoting "types" of rape, insidious) phrase "legitimate rape".
The incident shifted the spectrum of political conversation away from Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, particularly the tax returns of the former Massachusetts governor, and reignited discussions on the War on Women and how GOP policies, priorities, and perspectives generally stymie women and their rights.
Ever the classy and presidential statesman, President Barack Obama avoided commenting on the controversy or on Akin until asked by a reporter, during a surprise appearance for the White House Press Corps, how he felt about the incident. Obama famously responded with what may remain an indelibly iconic, pitch-perfect quote for years to come: "Rape is rape."
In light of the GOP's previous and planned attempts to define classes of rape as "forcible" in order to place limitations on abortion rights, the President also went on to make the commendable point that "we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
Even as the Akin rape controversy continued to reverberate throughout the internet for several days, the President and his campaign team mostly refrained from cashing in on the anti-GOP and anti-Akin sentiment by making below-the-belt jabs at the opposition amidst the controversy, showing instead a respectable professionalism and messaging discipline that conspicuously focused on the public education sector and related topics.
Romney, on the other hand, reportedly forbid several news outlets from asking him Akin-related questions during interviews, a refereeing of the media that should give all citizens, particularly 1st Amendment advocates, pause when they consider what a Romney presidency might look like.
Finally, in a move that surprised many and raised more than a few media eyebrows, Romney made a direct reference to "birtherism" (which his team subsequently spinned as a mere 'joke') during a Michigan rally, saying:
“I love being home, in this place where Ann and I were raised. Where both of us were born...No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.” via The Plum Line, Washington Post
Widely received as a classless reference that plays into a racist, xenophobic conspiracy theory that
more than half of Republican primary votes actually believe, the allusive dog whistle comments added insight into the mind of the would-be GOP presidential contender—as did the Obama team's simple, effective response on Twitter:
Classy.
Link to
Transcripts and Documents.