Monday, January 31, 2011

This is a Competition, NOT an Exhibition

axelrod_0323_480x360 Axe-man, headed back to organize the next Competition

Well, I will say, David Axelrod’s departing words before his send-off last Saturday go a long way towards explaining things around here.

“Elections are not referendums, they are contests…"

It appears the O-Team has a unique grip on this situation. Elections are not about referendums, or policies – they are popularity contests! How did I miss that? And Axe-man knows that without the help of “enthusiastic youth voters” next time around, Big Guy is probably not going to be “popular” enough to win the contest.

“Enthusiastic youth voters -- many engaged in politics for the first time -- helped fuel Obama's 2008 presidential bid. How will Obama win the votes of young voters who may face tough employment prospects?

"We need to communicate vigorously with them," Axelrod said. "... I think younger people more readily than anybody should appreciate what the president -- and will appreciate what the president -- was saying the other night,”

WTF! Now I get it!!! the Win the Future program is for the ‘yoot’ of America! We’re just speaking their language.

Here’s where Axe starts to get a little murky though:

"And so, well, [former President] Clinton repositioned himself and, you know, [Obama] must be repositioning himself. I think what we've done is we've returned to first principles. So much of what he's done is a reflection of things that he said for a long time.

Huh?

Let me see if I can help explain: we’re repositioning Big Guy so he can return to his first principles: big government, big spending, big Sis, big debt, all the same big ideas that he’s been ramming down everyone’s throat since he WON the big contest. All the big ideas that voters seemed to reject last November - No, I guess I can’t help after all.

We’ll just have to take Axe-man’s words at face value: we’re not going to change anything other than the scenery. That way maybe people will think they’re watching a whole new play.

barneys basement via rants WTF Now! The Road Version

And it’s always good to have entertainment going on to distract people from potentially upsetting news. Like Cairo burning:

cairo

Butt don’t worry, Big Guy is not resting until the entire situation is resolved.   Oh sure we went to the Wee Won’s Basketball game on Saturday morning – we are parents first and foremost after all.

garden boots Returning from the Wee Won’s game in our Jimmy Choo’s: hey! we forgot the Wee Won!

And then we had to go to Axe-man’s party Saturday night – as reported by Gateway Pundit:

As thirty years of United States Middle East strategy teeters on collapse, Barack Obama spent Saturday night at a going away party for David Axelrod who is leaving the administration to set up Obama’s reelection campaign in Chicago. The party was held at the Dupont Circle condo of former Obama aide Linda Douglass.

Everyone was there.  You want names?  Arne Duncan; Steve Chu; Tim Geithner; Julianna Smoot; Bill Burton; Jay Carney; Carol Browner; Axelrod's assistant Eric Lesser, Jon Favreau; Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein; Stephanie Cutter; Reggie Love; Dan Pfeiffer; David Plouffe; Maureen Dowd; E.J. Dionne; Ed Henry; Gwen Ifill; Judy Woodruff; Major Garrett, Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd and many, many others...

Who would’ve missed that party! Well, Lady M skipped it. She had to wash her “hair.”

Axe-man’s last official duty was to explain the one, and only, minor fault during his tenure:

"If we were guilty of anything the first two years, it was we were getting so in the weeds of governance that we did not articulate consistently our principles, our values and our vision. But the principles, values and vision that he is projecting now are completely consistent,"

In all my years in Washington D.C., that has been the only mistake the Democratic party has ever admitted to made: they just didn’t get their message out. Butt, since, as the Axe pointed out right up front, it’s really just a popularity contest, that’s not as big an issue as you might fear. And it would never occur to anyone around here that the message made it out altogether too well, and people just didn’t like it.

O mullahs Who will be the last man standing in the Middle East?

And remember, this is a competition, not an exhibition: no wagering, please.