{"id":15070,"date":"2012-11-28T23:22:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T04:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/?p=15070"},"modified":"2016-10-18T21:04:07","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T01:04:07","slug":"election-2012-image-world-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/2012\/11\/28\/election-2012-image-world-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2012: Image World (16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A.<\/a>Post-Season Wrap-Up (d)<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Jon Stewart wailed a few nights before the election, “I want this over!”<\/a> Like Stewart, and the weeping 4-year-old Abigael Evans of Fort Collins, Colorado, I’m “Tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney”<\/a> (though, like her, admittedly happy that Bronco Bamma won<\/a>). And I applaud the thoughtfulness of National Public Radio’s apology<\/a> to Abigael for bringing her to tears.<\/p>\n

\"Abigael<\/a>

Abigael Evans crying, 10-30-12, YouTube, screenshot.<\/p><\/div>\n

But the right just won’t let this election go, which \u2014 if her household keeps its radio tuned to NPR \u2014 may well make little Abby cry anew. The neocon OCD requires renewed, relentless illegitimation of Obama, the election<\/a>, and that majority of the electorate that doesn’t think Rush Limbaugh is the mouthpiece of God and Ann Coulter HisHerIt’s avenging angel.<\/p>\n

Having decided that the post-election image-making (on both sides) shapes and nuances what came before it, I’ve decided to continue my commentary thereon through Inauguration Day, Monday, January 21, 2013. But I’ll do so only intermittently, interspersing these ruminations with consideration of other subjects. I promise. I need a break from this claptrap too.<\/p>\n

He Meant Every Mean Word He Didn’t Mean
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitt Romney wants you to know that when he apologized-sort-of<\/a> for his secretly recorded May 17 remarks<\/a> about the shiftless moocher-class “47 percent,” he had his fingers crossed behind his back.<\/p>\n

Like a persistent vision that just won’t fade, Romney continues to function as an active afterimage of both Republicanism and Mormonism, insistently imbedding the negative perception he’s generated of both those faiths ever deeper into the public consciousness. A gift that keeps on giving.<\/p>\n

\"Romney<\/a>The damage he’s already caused to his co-religionists in those two persuasions already runs deep. Romney appears intent on ensuring that it leaves a permanent scar. I’ll hazard a prediction that neither major party will nominate another Mormon in a presidential race for 25 years \u2014 and then only a Mormon who has publicly separated him- or herself from the Church of LDS on social issues, as did Romney’s father George.<\/p>\n

Romney’s public persona oscillates unpredictably between belligerence, braggadocio, bullying, sanctimony, self-righteousness, smugness, sulking, and whining. Presently he’s in deep denial, which plunges him into sore-loser mode. His take on his failed bid for the White House: Obama beat him by buying the vote.<\/em>\u00a0Or, as he put it only a tad more circumspectly<\/a>, via “extraordinary financial gifts from the government” he gave to targeted interest groups \u2014 “especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people. . . . Give a bunch of money to a group, and, guess what, they\u2019ll vote for you,” he elaborated. (Click here<\/a> for Hillary Clinton’s smart video response.)<\/p>\n

\"Barack<\/a>

Barack Obama and McKayla Maroney are not impressed, 11-15-12. (Photo: Pete Souza, The White House)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Man Who Lost to Barack Obama in 2012 issued this analysis from Romneyshambles HQ<\/a> in San Diego. It came during the course of a 20-minute November 14 private conference call with fund-raisers and donors to his campaign. The self-described “numbers guy” who so believed himself entitled to the presidency that he completely misread the numbers acknowledged no missteps whatsoever on his own part, modestly assessing his campaign strategy as “highly effective” and describing the campaign itself as “superb.” (See Ashley Parker’s November 14 report<\/a> in the New York Times<\/em>.) Stuart Stevens, chief strategist for the Romney presidential campaign, humbly echoes that assessment<\/a>. The irony of the fact that Romney-Ryan ended up with only 47 percent of the vote<\/a> isn’t lost on many people.<\/p>\n

Between this petulant avoidance of accountability and Karl Rove’s nonsensical claim<\/a> that Obama practiced “voter suppression” (by painting a negative picture of Romney, a picture identical to the one the Republicans themselves limned during the primaries), you can see how the neocons have decided to visualize the outcome \u2014 as an election somehow stolen from them, not a legitimate victory the opposition rightfully earned. In short, they view themselves as victims.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/a>Loud voices, including that of Bill O’Reilly, started singing this song as soon as the results were in, and they’re not likely to stop. That’s the Republican national anthem, after all, a hymn to the rich with a chorus of disdain for them that’s not, a version of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child”<\/a> minus that lament’s irony. The irony now is that the Republic Party has persuaded so many of the country’s poor and uneducated citizens to sing along with Mitt, who despises them. (Click here for the National Review<\/em>‘s August 27, 2012, piece by Kevin D. Williamson, “Like a Boss: When it comes to being a rich guy, Mitt Romney should own it.”<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Yet the aggrieved Romney refuses adamantly to own the political consequences of his beliefs and his privileges \u2014 that the majority of voters think those very characteristics make him unfit for the presidency. You have to be as dumb as Mitt Romney to believe that you can consistently insult the people you aspire to lead. Listen to these recordings:<\/p>\n