Hmm... it's been a busy year. I didn't make any entries into this blog. But I did start another focusing on my photograpy.
2012 has been a year of math. Who would have expected this year's presidential race to be so dominated by numbers with special attention paid to percentages.
Let's start with my favorite GOP comedian this year; Pizza mogul Herman Cain. Like a deranged George Jefferson, Herman proposed a simplistic solution to our complicated tax code, he called, his 9-9-9 plan.
I won't go into detail here except to say it was reported to sound very much like the 9-9-9 plan of the SIM City video game. Herman finally suspended his campaign after dropping to about 8% support.
The gaping chasm between the ultra rich and the rest of us was a major point of contention and the subject of several of my blog posts. The growing discontent gave rise to the Occupy movement and the division of America into the 99% and... obviously the 1%. The movement gained steam quickly but faded into media obscurity with little to no coverage anywhere. HOWEVER, the ideas it gave birth to, shaped the political discussion and was a cornerstone of the Obama campaign: fairness for all, shared sacrifice and for the rich to pay their fair share.
After being consistently attacked for an unemployment rate that was above 8% and after a lack luster debate performance, President Obama got some wind in his sails with October unemployment numbers hitting a low of 7.8%. Now sure his detractors played down the report but it was definitely a surprise otherwise famed GE CEO Jack Welch wouldn't have claimed the numbers were "cooked." Turned out the numbers were real as the they slowly ticked down even further.
There were a lot of numbers and math thrown around this year. Romney talking about a budget which frankly didn't add up, Clinton talking about arithmetic and who can forget the real math superstar Nate Silver and his political crystal ball, but the percent of the year has to be....
without a doubt....
Mitt Romney's comment about the 47%.
This faux pas, arguably cost him the presidency because it confirmed the narrative the Obama team had carefully constructed for months, painting Mitt as an aloof cold hearted businessman that only cares about the rich.
Sure there were other factors like an almost flawless ground game by the Obama team, Obama looking decisive and presidential during hurricane Sandy, reaching across the isle to governor Christie to help Americans impacted but I don't think the Romney campaign was ever able to recover from the damage of that secretly recorded footage.
And it really makes sense, I mean most Americans have lost hope in politicians and accept that they will say whatever they need to in order to get ahead. The late speaker of the Assembly Jess Unruh said,
“If you can’t drink their booze, take their money, sleep with their women and then vote against ‘em, you don’t belong in politics.”
But this was different, because it didn't feel like Romney pandering to donors as he's done many times before. He spoke with a confidence and comfort that seem to betray these damning words as his own. The feeling was that he was unmasked and it was devastating. Ironically 47 is the percentage of votes Romney garnered in the 2012 presidential election.
As we move into 2013 and a year of more numbers I can only hope that they are just as entertaining but less damaging to our country. On Jan 1, of 2013 I can only hope that our divided government can come together on a resolution for the fiscal cliff and let it be the first of many for this year.
Happy New Year.
2012 has been a year of math. Who would have expected this year's presidential race to be so dominated by numbers with special attention paid to percentages.
Let's start with my favorite GOP comedian this year; Pizza mogul Herman Cain. Like a deranged George Jefferson, Herman proposed a simplistic solution to our complicated tax code, he called, his 9-9-9 plan.
I won't go into detail here except to say it was reported to sound very much like the 9-9-9 plan of the SIM City video game. Herman finally suspended his campaign after dropping to about 8% support.
The gaping chasm between the ultra rich and the rest of us was a major point of contention and the subject of several of my blog posts. The growing discontent gave rise to the Occupy movement and the division of America into the 99% and... obviously the 1%. The movement gained steam quickly but faded into media obscurity with little to no coverage anywhere. HOWEVER, the ideas it gave birth to, shaped the political discussion and was a cornerstone of the Obama campaign: fairness for all, shared sacrifice and for the rich to pay their fair share.
After being consistently attacked for an unemployment rate that was above 8% and after a lack luster debate performance, President Obama got some wind in his sails with October unemployment numbers hitting a low of 7.8%. Now sure his detractors played down the report but it was definitely a surprise otherwise famed GE CEO Jack Welch wouldn't have claimed the numbers were "cooked." Turned out the numbers were real as the they slowly ticked down even further.
There were a lot of numbers and math thrown around this year. Romney talking about a budget which frankly didn't add up, Clinton talking about arithmetic and who can forget the real math superstar Nate Silver and his political crystal ball, but the percent of the year has to be....
without a doubt....
Mitt Romney's comment about the 47%.
This faux pas, arguably cost him the presidency because it confirmed the narrative the Obama team had carefully constructed for months, painting Mitt as an aloof cold hearted businessman that only cares about the rich.
Sure there were other factors like an almost flawless ground game by the Obama team, Obama looking decisive and presidential during hurricane Sandy, reaching across the isle to governor Christie to help Americans impacted but I don't think the Romney campaign was ever able to recover from the damage of that secretly recorded footage.
And it really makes sense, I mean most Americans have lost hope in politicians and accept that they will say whatever they need to in order to get ahead. The late speaker of the Assembly Jess Unruh said,
“If you can’t drink their booze, take their money, sleep with their women and then vote against ‘em, you don’t belong in politics.”
But this was different, because it didn't feel like Romney pandering to donors as he's done many times before. He spoke with a confidence and comfort that seem to betray these damning words as his own. The feeling was that he was unmasked and it was devastating. Ironically 47 is the percentage of votes Romney garnered in the 2012 presidential election.
As we move into 2013 and a year of more numbers I can only hope that they are just as entertaining but less damaging to our country. On Jan 1, of 2013 I can only hope that our divided government can come together on a resolution for the fiscal cliff and let it be the first of many for this year.
Happy New Year.
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