Decency, Caring, Love of Country, Honesty and Fairness Are Great American Traits

Collectively Americans care, they do give a damn.  More importantly they love their country and are proud to be Americans.  They also believe in honesty and fairness.  Americans, again collectively, understand when the proverbial  ”line” has been crossed.  During the past week that line was violated by a political ad (which has not run…but leaked…and has achieved its purpose without running) which implies that Mitt Romney is a murderer.  Initially media reaction was quite muted…maybe because shock ensued, yet more likely because of the significant bias manifested in the media in favor of Obama and all things liberal/progressive…you choose.

The charge, however, could not be ignored since many people on the right and a few on the left began to express outrage which soon turned into a tsunami.  Investigations began to surface some uncomfortable facts; e.g.  a clear connection between Stephanie Cutter and the super PAC responsible for the slur.  Americans also learned the super PAC responsible was established and is managed by Bill Burton.  The ad, which through omission and timeline compression made the murder accusation, was developed by Bill Burton who served as deputy press secretary to Obama from Jan. 2009 to Feb. 2011.  Burton,  like a deer caught in the headlights when confronted, responded, "What we're saying is that Joe Soptic was fired from his job, and as a result of that, he wasn't able to get - he wasn't able to hold onto health-care benefits that were promised to him. And as a result when his wife got sick, he didn't have health care"...the ad is accurate.  Stephanie Cutter weighed in with, "I don't know the facts" about the case of Joe Soptic.  It then surfaced she had hosted a taped conference call with Soptic who detailed his story.  Both Burton and Cutter are now in full retreat and have very recently gone silent.

As the week wore on the embarrassment generated by the ad grew and engulfed Obama advisers from David Plouffe, Sr. adviser to the president & campaign manager, to Robert Gibbs, former press secretary, to David Axelrod, Sr. aide and political strategist.  Each had helped Burton start and raise funding for Priorities USA.  Yet President Obama remained mute.  Now we are seeing an all-out retreat with only a few exceptions on the part of Obama’s minions and out spoken supporters (D. Axelrod & Debbie Wasserman Schultz are exceptions and continue to carefully use the ad, when queried, to pivot and continue disparagement of Romney).   An interesting list of the PAC’s financial supporters also surfaced and did not surprise many who closely follow the extreme liberal/progressive outer boundaries of the Democrat party.  However these “icons” (notables included Jeffrey Katzenberg, Bill Mahr and Morgan Freeman) of the left also began denying advance knowledge of the now criticized ad, its intent, and content.  Other Obama supporters/surrogates argued equivalence, but when confronted with a simple question, “who in the Romney camp has accused president Obama of murder, a felony, or even tax fraud?”,  the stuttering and mumbling was almost comedic.  Yet president Obama still remained mute and chose not to condemn the ad. 

This nefarious and vile charge was subsequent to other despicable assaults on Mitt Romney’s character ranging from felon to that of racist, tax cheat, outsourcer, and vulture capitalist during the prior two weeks.  The charges made crystal clear Obama’s multiple “D” strategy of deceive, distract, distort, demonize, denigrate, and dissemble.  Sadly the strategy has worked.  The media’s attention and that of Americans who have paid even meager attention has not been on the issues, i.e. an abysmal economy, high unemployment, suffocating deficits, incredible national debt, declining family net worth, increasing poverty and a real estate market which can best be described as disastrous. 

Obama violated the "line" and is clearly associated with the key actors in this drama.  Americans will respond as they learn of this incident…the president has put faith in his “likability” verses Mitt Romney; his “likability” has been damaged.  Many Americans are beginning to see evidence of Obama’s nature, a vindictiveness, shallowness, hubris and inability to control either his surrogates or his own tongue.  His failure to condemn the murder charge has not gone unnoticed.  Americans do care, they give a damn, they believe in fairness, honesty and character.  The mud and the slime associated with a lie of this magnitude means votes for Romney.  And a larger problem for Obama may be developing, i.e. a wariness of his credibility, the truthfulness of future statements which will emanate from his mouth as well as statements from the mouths of his associates.  Mr. President, Americans collectively believe in decency, caring, honesty and fairness, and they love their country.  Leaders that violate their rules abdicate their right to lead and are replaced.