Obama Diverts, Distracts, and Divides
By Bradley Blakeman
Newsmax.com
Obama and his campaign have embarked on a
re-election strategy that has three key components:
1. Divert, 2. Distract and 3.Divide.
Let’s examine each tactic used to date and what we
can expect in the months ahead.
Divert: Divert
attention away from Obama and his administration’s
poor record, continue to blame Bush, and falsely
attack Romney on his business record.
The Obama Campaign and its surrogates continue to
blame Bush for all that ails us as a nation some
three and a half years from him leaving office.
This is what the left-leaning Center for Budget
Policy Priorities put out in a news release this
past week:
“The economic downturn, President Bush's tax cuts
and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain
virtually the entire deficit over the next 10
years," according to the center. The major drivers
of deficits through 2019, the center says, are "not
of President Obama's making."
And even though Obama’s attacks on Bain Capital has
brought the ire of Democratic big wigs like Mayor
Booker of Newark and Former DNC Chair and Former
Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania who have said that
the Obama Campaign is wrong to attack venture
capitalists and free market drivers — the Obama
campaign has increased its attack on Bain to divert
attention away from Obama’s own economic record.
The Obama Camp seeks to paint Romney as a corporate
raider who maximizes his own profits at the expense
of middle-class workers and is a bigger job-killer
than job-creator.
By Obama demonizing venture capitalists and free
markets he diverts attention away from his own
intervention in free markets when he nationalized GM
and presided over the laying off of tens of
thousands of auto workers and suppliers, closed
entire auto divisions like, Pontiac, Oldsmobile,
Saturn and Hummer and closed thousands of U.S.
dealerships in order to return GM to profitability.
Distract: Distract
the American people with issues like gay marriage
and contraception instead on concentrating on his
disastrous record on the economy.
It is a classic campaign tactic to distract the
media and the public in order to avoid dealing head
on with issues that are not favorable to your
efforts — like the economy, unemployment,
foreclosures, bankruptcies, inflation, etc.
We have seen a classic diversion by the Obama
campaign to rally their base and distract attention
away from the economy and to social issues.
The Obama Camp embarked recently on an effort to
pander to the gay community and women, when it
advanced an attack on religion by mandating
religious organizations to provide contraception
free of charge to its healthcare-insured employees.
The attack on religion was followed by a statement
by President Obama in a prime time TV interview in
which he stated that is views on same sex marriage
have been the product of a personal “evolution.”
This is what he said:
“I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is
important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think
same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
This is a 180-degree departure from what he believed
as a candidate for president in 2008. Obama would
have never had a chance to either be selected by his
party or elected by the people had he “evolved” his
present position on gay marriage in 2008.
Obama and his campaign staff believe that
distraction is a key component to changing and
controlling the news and making Republicans respond
to issues that are incidental if not irrelevant to
the issues that will decide the 2012 election.
Divide: Divide
the American people and pit one against the other in
a classic Democrat class warfare assault.
The most insidious of all Obama’s campaign tactics
is the strategy of turning American against
American.
The problems facing America are not the fault of the
people, but rather the fault of a government that
taxes and spends too much. A president who amasses
more debt than any other POTUS in U.S. history and a
president who could not produce a single annual
budget despite having controlled the House, Senate
and the White House the first two years in office
must blame others for his own failures.
The most likely suspects to blame for Democrats are
the wealthy. Their “Robin Hood” theory of economics
of taking from the rich and giving to everyone else
is not only wrong but it is divisive and hurtful to
our nation. We are all in this bad economy together.
Every American is hurting.
A good example of the president’s tactic of division
can be found in his own words:
“The free market has never been a license to take
whatever you can from whomever you can,” he said.
And “their philosophy is simple. We are better off
when everybody is left to fend for themselves and
play by their own rules.”
President Obama would much rather have the
government take whatever it wants from whomever it
wants and spend it however it sees fit — accountable
to no one. Obama believes that America is better off
when everybody is left to depend on government to
provide for their needs and when Americans are
dependent on government’s rules.
There is no doubt that in the weeks and months ahead
that the Obama campaign will continue on a path of
obstruction and confusion. If Obama had a record of
accomplishment there would be no need for
distraction, division or distortion.
He and his staff should be heralding healthcare, the
economy, and foreign policy. The problem for Obama
is that the current state of our union prevents
that.
If there is to be any hope of being re-elected then
Obama needs to change tactics.
When the dust settles in November, we will see that
campaign tactics never trump a positive and
effective campaign — one that sticks to the issues
that matter, and refuses to be distracted, diverted,
or divided on matters that don’t.
Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to
President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is
currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy
at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor
to Fox News Opinion. Read more reports from Bradley
Blakeman — Click
Here Now.
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