The Complainer can't get enough of Clint Eastwood snarling his way through our 21st century dystopian version of "Morning in America." WOW! Kudos to Clint and his entire team! Unfortunately, it was so good, it's got TEAM ROMNEY running for cover, with words as ill-fitting as Michael Dukakis's 1988 Army helmet. This week we offer Mr. Rove our "What Were They Huffing (smoking) Award" for giving the Obama campaign about $50 million in free media by making Chrysler's Super Bowl ad more viral than Obama Girl! WHAT WHERE THEY HUFFING?
In his Monday morning quarterbacking for Fox News, Rove made a HUGE tactical error by igniting a large-scale right-wing furor over a Super Bowl ad that simply celebrates the indomitable, can-do side of the American spirit.
Clearly, Rove was off his game, as he turned what might have been a nonchalant water cooler conversation into viral, internet sensation, providing Chrysler (and, in his eyes, President Obama) with millions in free advertising, which, in turn:
• Drew attention to the fact that, three years ago, Willard "Mitt" Romney—and many other Republicans—would "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," in one of America's darker hours
• Gave the Democrats—and the Obama campaign—an opportunity to let a conservative icon make the Democrats' case that "Together, we saved not only Detroit, but also America from an economic apocalypse"
• Framed the GOP as the "Nattering Nabobs of Negativism," at a time when America really is clamoring for a way out of its economic (and societal) doldrums
• Stirred the Republican chattering classes (both the professionals and the folks who post to the comments sections of high profile articles and blogs) into a virulently renewed (and extraordinarily misinformed) anti-auto bailout frenzy at a time when such comments as "Let Detroit DIE!!!" will most assuredly frame the GOP "brand" as "heartless" and "out-of-touch" in the exact states which will (most likely) decide not only the presidential election, but also control of both houses of Congress: Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and
• Created a powerful, positive, association between Clint Eastwood, a conservative icon for almost five decades, and President Barack Obama—even though Eastwood was against the bailout and had no intention of being perceived as an Obama supporter
Come on, Karl! Your former boss, President George W. Bush, not only approved the auto industry bailout, he continues to support it, declaring: "The immediate bankruptcy of (Chrysler and GM) could cost more than a million jobs, decrease tax revenues by $150 billion and set back America’s Gross Domestic Product by hundreds of billions of dollars."
Indeed, President Bush remarked at the National Association of Automobile Dealers convention: "Sometimes circumstances get in the way of philosophy... and that I didn’t want there to be 21 percent unemployment..... I didn't want my successor to be saddled with an additional economic crisis."