I’m starting to wonder if the speculation that the world as we know it is scheduled to come to an end just before year’s end has something to it.
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| Will Barack Obama appear "presidential" enough in handling hurricane relief? Or will we have President-elect Mitt Romney come next week? Photograph provided by White House |
It’s this presidential campaign cycle – which had its two significant nominating conventions impacted by Hurricane Isaac (the Republicans had to cut their convention short by a day, while the grand finale of the Democratic convention had to be moved indoors).
NOW, WE HAVE the formerly-Hurricane Sandy taking a serious bite out of the last week of the election cycle.
For all practical purposes, the campaigning is over. Because both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have enough sense to realize how crass they would appear to be, if they were to try to continue to campaign as though nothing out-of-the ordinary were going on.
Early voting centers across the East Coast also are likely to be converted into relief centers. Which could hurt the Obama campaign that seemed to be counting on getting as many people to vote as soon as possible so that by Tuesday, he’d have such a huge lead before Election Day that it would take a herculean effort by Romney to overcome.
And considering how many of the ideologues are more interested in dumping Obama than really doing anything to help Romney, it would make it seem highly unlikely to occur.
IN FACT, IT really puts Mitt Romney in a position where he has to sit back and watch.
For Barack Obama will get to remind us in coming days that he IS the president. He ultimately is going to be the face of the relief efforts.
Which GOP ideologues are desperately hoping will mean that Obama will do something stupid or foolish; thereby giving their party standard-bearer a chance to gain some “undecided” votes.
But that is not a given. Let’s all recall the ’08 election cycle, particularly that moment in September when that year’s GOP nominee, John McCain, suspended his campaign because he said his presence was needed in Washington to put together a $700 billion bailout package for the financial industry.
I SEEM TO recall that McCain came across as rash and giving of knee-jerk reactions that had not been thought out, while Obama presented a calm, cool and rational image. Which may well be why Romney will try to do as little as possible to screw things up for himself!
Of course, if Obama comes across as “presidential” (that vague concept we really can’t define, but we know when we see) in the next few days with his oversight of federal relief efforts, he could wind up clinching the presidential post for the next four years.
Which I’m sure the ideologues would see as the ultimate evidence that the world is ending. Although I suspect that the bulk of us are going to be appalled no matter who wins this election cycle.
Personally, I just can’t get over the fact that the weather has become a major player in the way this election cycle has carried out.
MAYBE MOTHER NATURE is making her thoughts known about not being pleased with the way the candidates are conducting themselves.
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| Sandy on Saturday. Image provided by NOAA |
Some severe weather gusts here and there (including the storm that threatens to impact the bulk of the United States east of the Mississippi River) cause the candidates to alter their tactics for gaining supporters.
It’s too bad she doesn’t like us as much as she does real-tasting butter. Then perhaps she would have arranged for a permanent gag on political people so that they couldn’t say so many stupid things.
Or maybe those Mayans foresaw all these storms coming at a campaign cycle and realized a significance that we have yet to appreciate!
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