Read the following article. What does the author mean by saying Romney has "as good a playing field as challenger could hope for"? What is the major concern for Romney according to the article? Why is this the situation? Should it matter for someone running for political office? Based on the article what campaign advice would you give Romney? President Obama?
17 Comments
Maro Rivera
8/29/2012 05:22:45 am
the campaign advice I would give to Romney is to be a bit more approachable. The citizens of the U.S. always vote for someone that they like as a person and will do the right job. Obama hasn't had much trouble with popularity and especially since people don't really want to change what is happening it seems most people would vote for Obama. Romney isn't very popular and he's infamous with his taxes he needs to appear more like able in order to win the election.
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Alex Radinger
8/29/2012 09:17:05 am
In his article, “Watching the Show: Mitt Romney, trying to connect”, Michael Oreskes points out that Romney has the full advantage in the upcoming presidential election, but is having one major problem, a people problem. As many Americans are not happy with the way Obama is handling the economy, Romney already has a head start in the presidential race. But something that might set him back is the fact that he has never once connected to the people. Although Obama has not revived the economy, he is relatable, likeable, and trusted by more voters. Compared with Romney, who isn’t relatable to most Americans, and doesn’t let the public see who he actually is. Romney has many excuses for not connecting with the people; one being that he wants to focus on the economy and daily issues. Does this leave him no room to relate to the public? No. Another excuse Romney has used is that Obama’s attack ads have decreased his popularity, even though his ratings were previously low. One thing Romney does acknowledge is the fact that Obama has more likability, but he argues that what this country needs is simply someone who can solve our problems. The public does know that Obama is trying to solve our problems and they definitely know that he is fighting for the people, not dumping more taxes on them and giving the rich tax cuts. I understand that the job of a president is to resolve our countries problems, but the public won’t vote for someone just because they say they can fix everything, especially if they have no idea who they even are. Based on this article, Romney must become friendlier and more open with the public. If Romney really wants to win the presidential election, there is no more time for excuses, just lost time to make up for with the American public.
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Max Parriott
8/29/2012 09:33:29 am
The author is saying that Romney, for the position he is in, has the best plan he can come up with. The major concern for Romney is that he doesn't seem like a people person. If you saw him on the street you wouldn't walk up and have a casual conversation. Being that he is running for office, to get elected by the people he would have to be more relatable to, as a person instead of a politician. The advice I would give him is that he needs to speak and act like a person instead of a political machine. President Obama can just keep doing his thing.
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8/29/2012 12:59:36 pm
When the author, Michael Oreske, said that Romney has "as good a playing field as challenger could hope for" he meant that when the econmy is weak, people are far less likely to vote for the incumbent president because they believe that its their fault for the economy being the way it is. Obama promised to improve the economy, whereas, so far it hasn't panned out. Romney already has a proven track record of being a successful CEO of a company. Although according to the article, a major concern of Romney's is that people think he's mysterious and isn't intouch with the average American. He has also been criticized for supporting tax cuts for the rich and giving more taxes to the middle class. One reason I believe that Romney is less popular than Obama is because he has hardly used any of his campain funds to try and deliver himself to the American public as a person who has their best interest at hand. As a result, Obama has used a good portion of his funds to build the worst image of Romney that he possibly could. I believe that it shouldn't matter if a presidential candidate isn't publically marketable, but, should be based on whether they could manage our country in a way to bolster our economy. If I had the opportunity to give Romney any advice, I would tell him to start reassuring the American public that he can do more for the economy than Obama could. The reason for this is, Obama has dirtied the image of Romney to a point where the only way for him to have a chance to win is to attack Obama the same way Obama has attacked him. If I was able to give Obama campaign advice I would tell him to keep viciously attacking Romney and hope that is enough to ride it out to the end and be victorious once again.
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Cheyenne Adele Rose
8/29/2012 01:21:28 pm
In Michael Oreskes' article, "WATCHING THE SHOW: Mitt Romney, trying to connect," he states that when the people of the United States of America are given a choice on who they trust more out of our current presidential candidates, there is a significant amount of people leaning towards current President Obama. Why is this you may ask? Well, Oreskes writes that while Romney may have a better political plan, Obama has managed to connect with the people on a more personal level. In his article, Oreskes says that he believes Romney has as good a playing field as a challenger could hope for." I believe he wrote that because, though it can be done, when a candidate like Romney comes along, someone who's more into the political reasons as to why he should be president, not the emotionally appealing ones, it's hard to compete with a current President who has gained the peoples trust. With that said, I believe that Romney's biggest challenge is himself. Whats blocking him from being the more favored president is that people don't know enough about him to trust them with essentially their lives. He spends all of his time talking about the numbers and the details that he isn't gaining the "popular" vote. The emotional factor of a campaign, in my eyes, is one of the most important parts. It's part of human nature to not trust who we don't know. Have you ever heard of the term, "Stranger Danger?" Romney, while he may be a great person, has not shown the population of the United States that we can trust him with our lives, and with our futures. It's almost like handing a stranger your infant child. You don't do it, because you don't know if they'll hold them safely in their arms, or go running off and hurt you and your child. Based on the article written by Oreskes, the advice I would give to Romney is to open up. Make the general population want to keep you around for four to eight years. Obama? Maybe try to convince the people feel safer with your political ideas. Now, if these two men were combined, then we'd have a plan.
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Steffanie Lopez
8/29/2012 01:53:31 pm
In his article, "WATCHING THE SHOW: Mitt Romney, trying to connect," Michael Oreskes states that Romney has "as good a playing field as challenger could hope for." By this, he means that Romney has all that one could hope for in a president, as far as his plans to build-up the economy and put our nation back on track. Even so, Romney lacks a major quality: likability. The likability that Romney lacks, Obama is rich in. Since Romney lacks this likability, fewer Americans feel that they can trust him. Likability should matter for a presidential candidate, but it shouldn't be all. A presidential candidate needs to have a good plan for the country AND be an approachable person. Romney is the candidate with the good plan, and Obama is the approachable candidate. Romney must make himself more approachable to the public, because they are the ones who are going to vote whether or not he is president. He must not focus so much on his campaign, because the voters already know his ideas; he must now focus on connecting with the voters and trying to understand what they feel the country needs. On the other hand, Obama needs to find flaws in his past presidency term, and learn how to tell the public how he will improve on those flaws. Obama must continue to connect with the issues people feel are important in order to stay ahead in the race.
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Alexander Pierce
8/29/2012 03:07:40 pm
In Michael Oreskes’ article “WATCHING THE SHOW,” Oreskes contemplates the strengths and limitations of both Obama and Romney. Oreskes constantly repeats that Romney has the advantage of having a “better” control of the economy and understanding what needs to be done in order to save America’s faltering system. The basis for this claim is that Romney has had a successful career as a CEO of a company, therefore implying he must know the economy. However, Romney does not have a perfect track record in the world of financial gain. In 1990, Romney led Bain Capital into the ground, causing the company to lay off thousands of people and declare bankruptcy. Although, Bain Capital was able to turn itself around in the next few years, this risky nature reveals that Romney may not be as fitted for running the number one economy in the world as previously thought. Most people view Romney’s unfamiliarity as his most lacking trait, but many are starting to see that this trust of the economy is better left with Obama, a man who has ran the country decently. Only ten presidents in the history of the United States have not been re-elected, showing a pattern that the American people are not liable to switch horses halfway through the race. Obviously Romney is facing many problems with the American people both with liability and responsibility. Usually a president’s viewpoints are taken more into consideration than likeability when considering whom to vote for, but it still has weight on the campaign nevertheless. Likeability should not be that important in a political system, but the American people usually partner likeability with trust-ability, something Romney is lacking. The best advice I could give to Romney is to spend more time showing the actual Mitt Romney instead of what he thinks the American people want to see. His too perfect family and life make the majority of Americans view him as above us-not one of us. I would advise Obama to focus on Romney’s faults in order to overshadow his own shortcomings in his previous presidential term.
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Paige Preston
8/29/2012 03:20:25 pm
In his article, "Watching the Show: Mitt Romney, trying to connect," Michael Oreskes brings up the argument that who the American public votes into the oval office relies more heavily on their personality, rather than personal merits. When the author states that Romney has "as good a playing field as challenger could hope for," he is implying that based on qualifications alone, it would be no stretch to think that Romney could be the next U.S. president. However, history has shown that other factors can contribute to the success of a candidate--mainly their "likability." Because of this fact, Romney would be wise to try to win the hearts (so to speak) of the American public. He already has won enough of their minds to put up a good fight. He even has approximately 44% of the U.S. populus showing approval of him, yet there is still one piece of the picture that is holding him back. In a logical world, the fate of an election should not be held on the back of who you would rather have a drink with. However, today the likability factor represents much more. Outward appearance and personality have become an indication of the morals, values, and trustworthiness of a candidate. Regardless of the validity of these assertions on the character of a candidate, it is important to note that Romney is still no more than a candidate. This is where Obama's advantage lies. The American people, whether they like him or not, know the person Obama is in office. Romney on the other hand is still a risk, as he has not had the chance to prove the kind of president he will be. In the coming months before the election, Romney must begin to show the public the president he would be. If he doesn't, U.S. citizens will vote Obama another term because after all-- "better the devil you know than the devil you don't."
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8/30/2012 04:17:51 am
In this article "WATCHING THE SHOW: Mitt Romney, trying to connect," tells us that with the 2012 presidential voting we see ups and downs with our candidates. Obama seems to be trusted more by people due to the fact that he's a likeable person. In the other hand Romney who is a very straight forward person.People know what he is going to do for our country, but many people don't trust him because they feel like he isn't as likeable as Obama. With that been said, Obama needs to be more straight forward with the changes and improvements he will do that he didn't do in his last presidential reign. Romney needs to become a more likeable person that way people can see the genuine side to him and not only the straight forward serious Mitt Romney.
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Madi Oliver
8/30/2012 04:31:35 am
While the author of the article, "Watching the show: Mitt Romney, tring to connect" appears to have a slight bias towards romney as he somewhat hints that he is the better man for the job of presidency despite his inability to connect with the everyman, he does present a fairly clear picture of the issue of "likeability" beteween Obama and Mitt Romney. He believes that Romney is in a safe spot at this point in his campaign considering his situation as a competetor of a president who has served only one term. Historically, Obama shouldn't have too hard of a time getting reelected, however Mitt Romney has gained a significant amount of public support, and that, in of itself, is quite a feat for a man in his position. At this point, the major concern for the success of Romney's campaign is whether or not he can gain the hearts of the American people. While his plans and strategies are trusted for the most part, America is still emotionally connected to Obama because of his relatability. To combat this, I would suggest that Romney include some personal struggles in his speeches to pull at the heartstrings of the public as Obama has often done.
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Haley Raymond
8/30/2012 09:27:19 am
In this article, by Michael Oreskes, he gives information on who is the current favorite Presidential nominee. By polls it seems that Obama is the type of President you would want to hang out with for a drink or perhaps dinner with. 53% of Adults in a poll, have a favorable view of the current President Obama, while 44% view Romney favorably. Whether or not Romney will be able to bridge the gap between him and Obama is yet to be known. But this is an obstacle for Romney despite having a good chance with his plans. It has yet to be seen if he'll fulfill these promises he has made. I think it matters because the people need to like the Candidate in order to cast their votes. If Romney can't get more people who like him, to vote for him then he is out of luck.
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Alex Perez
8/30/2012 09:52:44 am
In his article, "WATCHING THE SHOW: Mitt Romney, trying to connect," Michael Oreskes suggests that Romney might be more qualified for the job of U.S. president, but is somewhat overshadowed by Obama because he isn't as much of a people person. Basically, Romney's main concern is simply just that people don't like him as a person as much as they do Obama. Likability does play a factor in presidential elections, but it seems as if people blow it out of proportion a bit. It's important, but it shouldn't be the sole reason for not voting for a candidate. My advice to Romney would be to not worry so much about his actual ideas in the upcoming events - everyone already knows what he stands for. He needs to show people that he can be friendly and that they can actually have a beer with him (not like that really matters in terms of voting for a president). As for Obama, my advice would be to stop attacking Romney and focus more on himself. He doesn't need to be on the offensive side anymore, why beat a dead horse? People are already questioning Romney. Obama needs to look back on his past term and learn from the mistakes that he made. He should take this time to apply corrections to the flaws in his plan.
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Randall McKay
8/30/2012 01:20:59 pm
In the article, “Watching the Show: Mitt Romney, trying to connect”, Michael Oreskes displays how Mitt Romney's biggest concern for this presidential election isn't his opponent, rather his"like ability" with the american public When the article says that Romney has "as good a playing field as challenger could hope for", it means that he has the best possible odds at facing a returning president. Candidates that run against a returning president are often at a disadvantage due to the people knowing how the returning candidate performed as president, and the other are seen as an unknown competitor. So even with this disadvantage, Romney still has a shot at becoming president. One of the major concerns for Romney stated by the article is that can he persuade people to trust him over Obama to run this country. In Romney's earlier attempts to connect with the public, he has failed to do so and is now well known as the "wealthy CEO" and hasn't been able to recover from this ever since. this posses a threat for Romney and make him more distanced from the general population, and if the general population cant connect with their president, they wont vote for him. The only advice i could think of for Romney is that he should have chosen Marco Rubio as his running mate instead of Ryan, with Rubio Romney could have create headlines as the first Hispanic-American on a major party ticket. He could help the ticket reach out to Hispanic voters and neutralize criticism of his immigration positions.
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Armando Ramirez
8/30/2012 01:42:47 pm
When they say that Romney has "as good a playing field as challenger could hope for", meaning he hasn't yet connected with the citizens. However, Obama has the entire advantage in that matter so far he has been able to motivate the people to reelect him. Romney's challenge is that his personal ratings are lower than Obamas. This is probably a situation that Romney needs to fix he has to start motivating the people more open up. This matters because it wil favor him if people are more motivated towards him it will help his percentage wise to overpower Obama in the election. My advice to Romney is probably to open up more to the people try to earn their trust, show that he will do something to improve the situation of the country. Obama probably to be careful on what he is doing to not make a mistake to favor Romney in the election and to keep on motivating the citizens.
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Parnell Rheuport
8/30/2012 01:50:12 pm
Well with Hurricane Isaac rearing his head its big trouble for Romney; he wants to be approachable he needs to grab a shovel and start digging with the others to help with flood control. That’s someone to vote for. Taxes suck and when you have to break your back to make 50k a year so Aprx 25% is taken out by taxes you would be a bit angered too. He can really feel empathy towards people then and really try harder. according to the article him having "as good a playing field as a challenger could hope for" he’s got the cards he just needs to play them right so far he’s losing to a guy that is Apathetic towards people and their needs. As for Obama I don’t have advice. I guess just keep it up. Because at least he’s not letting feelings get in the way of moving forward. you don’t have to like your president to see what they can accomplish.
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8/30/2012 02:07:42 pm
In Michael Oreskes' article, "WATCHING THE SHOW: Mitt Romney, trying to connect," he explains how the impact of "likeability" from a candidate can impact the vote of the people extremely. Oreskes adds that Romney has "as good a playing field as a challenger could hope for," which means Obama is in the position he wants to be in. The author contemplates the likeability between Obama and Romney, which is at different slopes for both candidates. He asks," which would you rather have a beer with?" Even though the economy has not changed, Obama has a higher likeability rate than Romney. Romney explains that his likeability may not be high, he will lead the country better than Obama. Eventhough Romney admits to being less liked than Obama but if Romney was to be concerned, he would do something to change his likeability and the opinions of the American people.
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Sergio Nava
8/30/2012 03:08:15 pm
In the article “Watching the Show: Mitt Romney, trying to connect”, Michael Oreskes' explains how mitt Romney's biggest challenge is getting the likeability Americans have towards Barack Obama. What the author means when he says that Romney has as good a playing field challenger he could hope for, he is pointing out how Obama promised to get us out of the recession we were in and help improve the economy, yet our current economy isn't near what we expected, therefore Romney could have the advantage on the next presidential elections. The biggest problem with Romney is that he has failed to introduce himself to the public so Americans dont really know him as a person, even though he promises to help our economy, people don't know if they should trust him or not since we don't know as much as we would want to know about him. My advice to Romney would be that he has to portray his personality a little better and tell more about him self to the people. He knows he doesn't have the likeability that Obama has but he claims that unlike Obama he will actually improve the economy. In order for people to believe this he has to show more about himself. He can say all he wants but it wont be credible since he is a mysterious man and could be lieing, that's why he needs to introduce himself a little better and his probability of winning will be much greater. My only advice to Obama is to learn from his past mistakes so that if he was to get re-elected he can have a better game plan and actually do what he promised.
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