This past Thursday the Republicans held a debate in Orlando.
I've tabulated out some letter grades for
the candidates based on their performance. Although there was no outright "winner" last week,
Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum did the best job meeting their present
campaign needs.
Romney B+
Johnson B+
Santorum B+
Cain B
Gingrich B
Perry B
Paul B-
Huntsman C+
Bachmann C
Had I published these comments on Friday or over the weekend I would have felt compelled to focus on the predictable Perry/Romney tussle and its implications for their primary campaign showdown. But last Thursday's debate was more compelling than that, and involved a wider selection of candidates than the two governors.
In late 2007 I wrote here that "I can't stand
mitt."
At that time, Mr. Romney was engaged in what seemed like consistent
emotional politicking, culminating in the candidate attempting to characterize
the grief he would feel should he lose a son (hypothetically) fighting in Iraq.
It was emotionless, stiff, and felt very much like an act of theatre.
This past week, the GOP candidates debated at the Reagan
Library, and while many of Romney’s characteristics that I disliked in '08 are
not gone, his tone has improved decidedly.
Where does the race stand now?
Rick Perry is a go-to guy for referencing. He's the most
expressive candidate, sending thumbs-ups to Gingrich, nodding along with
Huntsman, etc. I see Perry maintaining this status, as a candidate that others
sound off on and sculpt their positions around, but I doubt he can steadily
grow his campaign all the while.
Bachmann always hammers on the “repeal Obamacare
immediately” urge. So too: "energy is too high, let's have a goal of
bringing it down." Cheap gas and no more Obamacare? Agreed, now exit the
race and let another candidate say that. Amid Perry’s entrance, and the media’s
portrait of a ‘two horse race,’ I struggle to see a scenario in which even a
strong showing in Iowa would persuade New Hampshire voters to give Bachmann a
second pass.
I hailed a cab last night at 10:45pm, after hearing from a friend via Facebook that a speech from Obama was forthcoming. I asked the cabbie to turn on WNYC, the local public radio affiliate, and rolled down the windows.
Times Square was quiet when I arrived around 11pm. Besides crowds leaving comedy clubs, restaurants, ending (or in the middle of) bar-hopping, and couples posing for photographs with the flashing signs, Times Square was no different than usual.
It took a few moments before I could notice anything. Which photographers were here to await the crowds they sensed would be arriving? For some time I could spot no official news crews, just people with cameras who heard the news and wanted to see what New York had to offer up in response to the night's news.
That sense of waiting, an awkward anticipation for something, anything, was what defined last night in New York.
I scanned the hundreds of digital advertisements and scrolling bits of text in Times Square but found little reference to the news I had heard broadcast over the radio. I wasn't foolish enough to expect a V-E day celebration, but heck, even the Metropolitan Opera and the recent royal wedding have been televised live to Times Square.
Inevitably the reporters showed up, and they came before the crowd started to gather in earnest. But the crowds waited. They waited until a television crew turned on their lights and pointed the lens at a man holding a small American flag. Just as quickly a handful of those on hand would rush over, hoist their iPhones and begin photographing the photographers.
I waited for two hours for this pattern to change.
Times Square was a vacuum. So long as you had an American flag, a handmade sign, or were willing to toot a horn or parade around with a Grateful Dead denim sweatshirt with a "God Bless America" patch sewn on the back, you could count on winding up in the national papers today.
What does it say about us?
Probably, that many more New Yorkers think themselves to be photographers or reporters in their own right than merely a spectator, a citizen caught up in a spontaneous eruption of emotion, but I wonder about what else.
A quick survey of opinion pieces today, particularly on liberal aggregators like the Huffington Post, reveals a number of articles condemning any celebration on the part of Americans at last night's news. For practical purposes in the war on terror, the quest for peace, or the long road to being left alone, the death of one man means little. So too, death is hardly a moment for exultation.
What I heard in Time Square last night, however, hardly seemed like celebration in earnest. Instead, I felt an awkward sigh of relief settling in around me, manifested occasionally in cheers, but often in simple conversation between strangers. Like the uncertainty surrounding the long-term impact of bin Laden's death, the hundreds I shared Times Square with last night couldn't decide exactly how to respond. The media captured the yelling and the repeated chants of U-S-A, but the scene was more complex than that.
In time will come answers, and with time the crowds seen last night — their moods shifting between uncertain silence and coarse shouts — will come to reflect the true opinion of this country on what has happened, and likely what the future will bring.
This blog receives but a few hundred hits each month. Of them, the majority of these visitors link in from a photo of opera singer Giuseppe DiStefano I published over two years ago. Sometimes I wonder who exactly the words here reach, but sometimes stories emerge that demand to be published regardless of how many people, if anyone, reads them.
Yesterday morning a woman entered a hotel in Tripoli used as a compound for foreign journalists and told a disturbing story of being raped and assaulted by Libyan militiamen. Within moments the security apparatus that sustains the Gaddhafi regime revealed itself as plainclothes officers and supposed hotel employees attempted to subdue the woman and separate her from the journalists eager to hear her story.
After a few minutes and numerous attempts by journalists to keep the woman from being hauled away she was finally shuffled into an unmarked vehicle and rushed away.
Should a single individual be made aware of the frightening states of fear, propaganda, and intimidation that exist in our world, this brief post will be the most important ever posted to this space.
“They’re not going to go back to their homes,” said Issa Abed al-Majid Mansour, an exiled opposition leader in Oslo. “If they do, he’ll finish them off. They know the regime very well. There’s no to way to go back now. Never, never.”
a dangerous new dynamic is introduced to Middle East. if a revolution loses steam, entire nations could find themselves at the mercy of true dictators enraged by the actions of protesters.
unlike the political chess match that was Egypt, those in Libya and Bahrain may find themselves going head to head with military forces increasingly emboldened to stand their ground. what happens if soldiers feel it is their 'patriotic' duty to demonstrate superior stability of their nation by mitigating chaos as they see it, and dig in against protesters & stand with their leaders?
The Political Courier is back for the long march to November 2012, but some serious time has passed since Obama carried the day in '08, and I've been up to a lot, too.
I spent a year working on across three continents: in South Africa, the UK Parliament, and a voter education non-profit in the Rockies. I've also transferred schools, making the move from Baltimore to New York.
For snapshots of my continued travels, as well as ongoing non-political projects and poetry, visit Uncover the Grail HERE.
Otherwise, The Political Courier is back, and it's time for politics.
I am a multimedia reporter and political commentator who's covered two presidential elections from start to finish, across more than two dozen states.
I currently work as a foreign affairs radio reporter at the United Nations, but my work takes me around the world to cover breaking news and feature stories.
As a New Englander raised on the nearby New Hampshire primary, however, the air of elections never seems far off, and I look forward to providing more campaign coverage from the Granite State before too long.
My campaign photography has been featured in print & online editorial for Polish and Norwegian outlets, commercial use by campaigns and PACs, exhibited in Germany, and was selected by the Nobel Committee to accompany Barack Obama's 2009 Peace Prize.
Photos are available for purchase by campaigns, PACs, and by collectors at both the individual and institutional levels. Print or online media usage of my work is free with appropriate byline credit.
Contact luke@politicalcourier.com for licensing information.
Welcome!
In the early months of 2007 I scoured the internet for a fresh source of news about the New Hampshire primary. Outside of NECN and various blogs there wasn't much, especially anything from a student's perspective. Within a few days I was in the Granite State mingling with candidates, supporters, and staffers. Since then I haven't slowed down.
Throughout the 2008 election I edited The POV Magazine and covered the campaign in nine states for various news outlets, as well as this blog.
The 2012 election will bring more of the same as I the cover the twists and turns of the campaign from a variety of states and from my academic headquarters in New York.
