Never forget the media template for this election. Barack Obama is the Rock Star who connects with voters on a level never before seen and there can be no other Rock Star. They pulled it off in 2008, they will try it again.
Uh oh, here comes Paul Ryan and the Activist Old Media doesn’t know how to deal with this. Republicans like him because of his brilliant knowledge of policy, but he is also a candidate who brings a strong emotional appeal. He’s attractive, he’s insatiable in the way he works out, he listens to Led Zeppelin on his head set, and like Ted Nugent he hunts, cleans, cooks, and eats his own elk. The media knows this and they have less than 3 months to destroy him.
A few weeks ago, the political purveyor of pop culture, Chris Matthews, wondered if Mitt Romney could ever be on the cover of Rolling Stone, as if that is some sort of requirement to be elected President in 2012. Of course, his answer was that Romney is way to “square” to ever be considered a Rock Star, so we must all vote for Obama because he is the King of Cool. Of course, Obama is more Cold Hearted Social Engineer, than he is cool, but for the sake of this discussion, let’s let Chris continue his delusion.
Enter Paul Ryan and their political world has been shattered. Look at me, I’m in tatters. Shattered, shattered. How do they destroy somebody who is Jagger and JFK? Jimmy Page and Garry Kasparov (okay, ignore the politics here, you get the idea.) If it hasn’t been done yet, let me be the first to call Ryan the Conservative Camelot. Oh boy, now I’ve done it, I’ve used the “Camelot” word on a Republican. Blasphemy. Somebody resuscitate Matthews.
Obama’s SuperPAC, the Activist Old Media is not in panic mode yet, but they will be soon. They know Ryan connects with young people and old people and he gives them real answers and he does it with a smile. They know the debates are coming up soon and Bumbling Biden will look like Bozo the Clown in re-runs and they are out of ways to cover for him. Oh, that won’t stop them from trying—but they are almost out of cards. They still have one left that says, “the VP pick is irrelevant.” They will play that one soon. But remember, it wasn’t that long ago (2008, Palin) when they played the card “the VP pick is everything.”
The stage is not big enough for two Rock Stars and Obama’s failures have made him more like Liam Gallagher than Robert Plant (look Gallagher up, he once made fun of The Beatles, but he’s closer to Lenin than Lennon.)
Ryan has them Shattered. Pile it up, pile it high on the platter.
Follow Ron Futrell on Twitter @RonFutrell