Dissatisfaction with Obama Isn't Enough

"Throw the bums out," the vernacular for incumbent fatigue, is the emotional response to the analytical dissatisfaction with the status quo.  Yet a bum can survive if a challenger can't promise a compelling vision of the new order.

Obama understands how this calculus of organization change applies to his re-election.  He knows that this election is a referendum on his record, his stewardship of the resources under his command, and how well he mitigated inherited messes.  Obama has been a failure on all three counts.  No, he has been spectacularly dreadful -- his record, stewardship, and mitigation -- leaving a legacy of despair and divisiveness. 

Thus, Obama loses the referendum.  And he knows it.

It is no surprise, then, that Obama's campaign has been devoted to framing Mitt Romney -- and Paul Ryan -- as unfit to lead the nation.  Nullification of Romney/Ryan legitimacy denies the challengers' standing to present a compelling vision of their new order.  Students of organizational behavior know that resistance against or invitation to change is a function of how well a compelling vision of the new order can be asserted and be convincing enough to outweigh the risks of dumping the status quo.

This simple mathematical formula -- (f) R = D+V (rough symbolism) -- is far from novel or profound.  Barack Obama beat John McCain because of Bush fatigue and Obama's compelling vision as the messiah.  Likewise, the 2010 Tea Party sweeps in the U.S. House and in state capitols reflected the deep unhappiness with the tax-and-spend, recklessly irresponsible fiscal policies of the Democrats.  And compelling new faces such as Marco Rubio and Scott Walker provided the vision for the safe bet in rejecting the status quo.

Of course, a few 2010 candidates failed miserably in presenting a compelling -- indeed, competent -- vision of the new order.  To wit: Christine O'Donnell in Maryland and Sharron Angle in Nevada.  Thus, resistance to change triumphed in some cases.

Via: American Thinker

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[UPDATED] Latest Newsweek Cover: “Hit The Road, Barack: Why We Need A New President”…

Niall Ferguson: Obama’s Gotta Go

Why does Paul Ryan scare the president so much? Because Obama has broken his promises, and it’s clear that the GOP ticket’s path to prosperity is our only hope.

I was a good loser four years ago. “In the grand scheme of history,” I wrote the day after Barack Obama’s election as president, “four decades is not an especially long time. Yet in that brief period America has gone from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to the apotheosis of Barack Obama. You would not be human if you failed to acknowledge this as a cause for great rejoicing.”

Despite having been—full disclosure—an adviser to John McCain, I acknowledged his opponent’s remarkable qualities: his soaring oratory, his cool, hard-to-ruffle temperament, and his near faultless campaign organization.

Yet the question confronting the country nearly four years later is not who was the better candidate four years ago. It is whether the winner has delivered on his promises. And the sad truth is that he has not.

In his inaugural address, Obama promised “not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.” He promised to “build the roads and bridges, the electric grids, and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.” He promised to “restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” And he promised to “transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Unfortunately the president’s scorecard on every single one of those bold pledges is pitiful.

Via: The Daily Beast

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PALIN CONGRATULATES ROMNEY ON RYAN SELECTION, SAYS OBAMA TURNING US INTO CA

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who galvanized conservatives when she was selected as John McCain’s running mate in 2008, congratulated Mitt Romney on selecting a running mate in Paul Ryan who has similarly energized conservatives. 

“Congratulations to Mitt Romney on his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate,” Palin wrote in a Facebook note. “President Obama has declared that this election is about 'two fundamentally different visions' for America. Goodness, he’s got that right. Our country cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama’s fundamentally flawed vision."

Palin made an important point about how the fiscal path the country is on will turn the country into California, which has seen some of its biggest municipalities declare bankruptcy. What happens in California, it is often said, is a harbinger of things to come across the nation. In many respects, California has often been out in front of the nation by a decade on many non-economic issues as well, such as on immigration and affirmative action. 

Palin said when she thinks “about the direction our country is rapidly drifting in,” she cannot “help but look at California as a cautionary tale”

Via Breitbart

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