Both Sides Now

Another early morning.  Another short night.  Another post begins.

One of the advantages of sleeping fewer than six hours per night is that you have several 'extra hours' to spend doing stuff you will not normally have time for. 

One of the disadvantages of sleeping fewer than six hours a night (according to the news report I watched yesterday morning) is that your chance of having a stroke is much higher than if, you, you know, sleep for eight hours, or longer each night.

Both sides of my body working 'relatively harmoniously' with each other, I'm thinking it's okay to proceed for the time being.  If I begin to slur my typing, or appear to be randomly pounding on inappropriate keyboard symbols, could one of you please call 911?

Great.  Thanks. 

I discovered a couple of interesting articles while waiting for the sun to come up (still waiting as I type this).  They weren't interesting for their content individually, but rather, they were interesting for the contrast between their conflicted messages.  

How conflicted?

I dunno, you tell me...



COIN SIDE 1:

The Weekly Standard, June 12, 2012:   Obama on Republicans: 'You Can Pretty Much Put Their Campaign On, On a Tweet'

At a fundraiser in Maryland this afternoon, President Obama criticized Republicans, saying that "you can pretty much put their campaign on, on a tweet and have some characters to spare.”

"The good news is, the American people generally agree with our vision," President Obama said at the fundraiser, according to the pool report. "If you just put in front of them, issue after issue and you present the Democratic approach and the Republican approach, we win..."


Okay, so the "American people generally agree with our (Democrats) vision", and if "you present the Democratic approach and the Republican approach, we (i.e.:  I) win"?

How, then, do you explain the following 'other' stories I ran across in my pre-stroke delirium this morning?



COIN SIDE(s) 2a, 2b, and 2c:

Image:  AP

Politico, June 12, 2012:  Spike Lee: Obama win not a sure thing

Spike Lee is predicting a tough road to reelection for President Obama.
 
“This thing is not a lock,” the filmmaker told GQ in a recent interview. “It is not a lock that President Obama is getting a second term and people have to really rekindle the enthusiasm that we had the first time.”
 
Lee, who hosted a fundraiser for the president in January, said that he “just had a meeting with somebody high up in the Obama campaign” to discuss the race.

“I can't say to all the people that are unhappy with him that they're racist people,” Lee said of Obama’s critics. “People ain't got jobs, people are hurting. So I don't care what color you are, if people are out of work, it's tough. And then when you're the first African American president, that's not helping either.” 

[Moos Note:  Ah, there it is, the oft-tossed 'Race Card' for all you 'haters' out there...  Spike Lee knows who you are, and what YOU think of the President's race, um, since you elected him President ALREADY - um, you must be Racist?  But, didn't he JUST say that not everyone unhappy with the President is a Racist?  I don't understand - I must be tired...]

The Weekly Standard, June 12, 2012:  Obama's Jewish Support Drops 22 Points in New York

President Obama's support among Jewish voters in the state of New York has dropped 22 percentage points in only a month, according to the results of a just released poll.

The poll, conducted by Siena College, finds that currently President Obama has the support of 51 percent of Jewish voters, while 43 percent are opposed to him. Five percent are undecided. That means, Obama's lead among Jewish voters is at 8 percentage points.
 
Previously, in Siena's May poll, Obama had the support 62 percent of Jewish New Yorkers, while 32 percent opposed him. That means, last month, Obama's lead among this group of voters was at a strong 30 percentage points.  

Those polled were responding to this straight forward question: "If the election for President were held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were [Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, or Don't know]?

Additionally, Jewish voters in New York overwhelmingly believe that America is "headed in the wrong direction" as opposed to "the right track," by a margin of 62 percent to 31 percent

Gallup, June 13, 2012:  Obama's White Base Shows Cracks Compared With 2008

Support down five points since 2008 among all voters, but more among key 2008 white supporters   [Moos Note:  Oh, oh, don't tell Spike Lee...]

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Daily tracking indicates Barack Obama is receiving less support in the 2012 presidential election from some of the white subgroups that gave him the strongest support in 2008. These include non-Hispanic white registered voters who are 18 to 29 years old, female postgrads, and the nonreligious, among others.
 
Obama won the 2008 election comfortably over John McCain, but the 2012 election contest with Mitt Romney is shaping up to be more competitive, with the two statistically tied since Gallup started Daily tracking on the race in April.

...

Currently, 43% of white 18- to 29-year-olds say they plan to vote for Obama in the election, down nine points from the 52% backing him in 2008. By contrast, Obama has lost five points among whites aged 30 to 49 and six points each among the two older age groups.


So, if I look at one side of the Obama coin, I see a President who believes he 'will win' if he can simply get his message out, and, on the opposing side of the coin, I find three articles from different news sources which say he's lost significant support of each of the following groups:

• Blacks
• Whites
• Young
• Old
• Jewish
• Unemployed
• Employed
• 'Hurting' Americans

To sum up, President Obama has lost the support from 'Americans', in general. 

I hate lumping people into hyphenated groups for purposes of discussion because we're too often 'divided into groups' by our political wizards of smart.  If one word applies to the above 'mix' of those losing fait in President Obama, yeah, that word would be "Americans". 

In November, 2012, when the ultimate electoral coin is 'flipped', I'll be delighted to write the post I've been waiting to author for the past three-plus years:


"Tails We Win...  President Obama - You Lose"

I'll leave it here, as I'm feeling a little bit 'whoopsie'. 

Perhaps from lack of sleep?

Or, something more 'medically-uncomfortable'?  Hmmmm?

If this is my last post, well, I guess you'll know the answer soon enough.