I agree in part. He's this year's version of Perot; perhaps some good ideas but politics is a profession and it is a hard profession; you doubt it? Look at the incumbency rates.
I agree that he probably didn't stand much of a chance but he did himself no favors aligning with the birthers.
I wonder. The American public can have a really short memory and is pretty forgiving if given a reason to be so. Trump knows from watching other politicians that running on serious issues doesn't win elections. You have to have something that is hot button, that resonates with the people, that generates lots of message board and talk show interest, that gets you invited before the microphone and cameras again and again and again over a long period of time.
Perot's hot button was the economy that tanked big time after Bush41 imprudently agreed to a tax increase on the 'rich'. A 90+% approval rating in the wake of a highly successful Desert Storm plummeted to below 50%. So Perot was going to 'get under the hood' and fix it. He didn't give us any specifics on how to do it. He just gave us a lot of colorful imagery that a lot of folks bought into.
Trumps media magnet has been the birther issue and as many of you who hold him in contempt for that, there are likely many more who admire him for being the one person capable of forcing Obama to produce the birth certificate and for putting the matter to rest. But it has given him exposure enjoyed by no others in the past months. He'll no doubt be coming up with another hot button in the near future.
Personally speaking, Obama is normally like stage magician. Makes you watch one hand and patters along so that you don't watch what the other hand is doing.
I think from a political standpoint he screwed the pooch on this one, be delivering the goods way to early. This early delivery will (hopefully) now work to our (Republican) advantage. If he'd been smart, he would have strung the birthers out much longer, deep into Republican primary season. During the primaries candidates play to their fringe elements. Once the primaries are over the nomination is done, candidates start swinging to the middle since they are smart enough to recognize political reality. 40% of the voters are going to vote for the Deomocrat - no matter who the candidate is. 40% of the voters are going to vote for the Republican - no matter who the candidate is. The real decision makers are the 20% in the middle who actually think about for whom they will vote. Very likely some or most of the Republican contenders would then have come out in support of the birther issue. Once a large field of Republicans was committed and on record, THEN release the long form and allow the media to paint them as extremists, having the greatest impact on that 20% swing vote. As it stands now the only one really tainted with the issue is The Donald, someone unlikely to win the primaries. The issue will be over and done with and won't get much media play in the near future.
So personally I'm quite glad he messed up on this one, it will pass into history and maybe we can focus on really issues like Obamacare, government expansion, Job, and reducing the deficit.
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