Hope And Change? Now It’s Hope For Change!

(Stephen Allott) – On Sunday September 2, Stephanie Cutter, senior campaign aide to President Obama, appeared on “Face the Nation,” commenting on the Republican convention. “It was a week of personal attacks, empty platitudes, and the one thing you were left with is they really think lying is a virtue,” she declared.

A statement that was breathtaking in its audacity. This, from the very person who recently implied, (and never retracted) that Mitt Romney had committed a felony. The very same person, who denied any knowledge about the death of the wife of Joe Soptic in that now infamous Democratic PAC commercial, when clear evidence surfaced that she was a party on a conference call interviewing Mr. Soptic several months earlier.

But, maybe Ms. Cutter did not receive the memo making her aware of a prime time speech being delivered by Bill Clinton at this week’s Democratic Party convention. The former President was not only impeached for lying – but lying under oath. At that time, lying was not considered anything extraordinary by her party. In fact, the Democrats circled the wagon in their support of the President. It is comforting to know that senior members of President Obama’s campaign team now appear to appreciate the virtues of truth telling.

However, Ms. Cutter, in promising that the Democrat Convention would be different in tone and tenor from the Republican Convention, needs to pray – nay, hope, (since religious beliefs seemed to be a questionable subject at this week’s convention) – that no official from the agency overseeing truth in fair advertising ever matches her claims against reality.

Either in convention speeches or interviews, there were the usual attacks this week about Republicans ‘waging the war on women,’ being ‘anti-gay,’ ‘anti-immigrant’ and trying to suppress the vote, among other things.

Below is a sampling:-

• ·         From Los Angeles Mayor and convention chair, Antonio Villaraigosa: “Instead of supporting (immigrants’) dreams, Governor Romney wants to make their lives so miserable, so oppressive, so intolerable that they would leave behind the life they’ve built….”
• ·         From Congressman Barney Frank, referring to the Republican gay organization, the Log Cabin Republicans: “I think the Log Cabin club is so named because their role model is ‘Uncle Tom’.”
• ·         From Jim Messina, Campaign Manager, Obama for America, on voter registration: “We’re doing exactly what the Republicans don’t want – getting more people involved in our democracy.”
• ·         From Sandra Fluke, new darling of the Democratic Party: “If the Romney-Ryan team is elected, it would be an America in which you have a new vice president who co-sponsored a bill that would allow pregnant women to die preventable deaths…..”
• ·         From Congressman Chris Van Hollen on Paul Ryan: “If Paul Ryan was being honest, he would have pointed to that debt clock…”

Maybe Ms. Cutter forgot to forward her memo on refraining from personal attacks to the speakers at the convention, since the vitriolic tirades against Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Bain Capital, and Republicans in general, were endless.

Stephanie Cutter should also spare the nation her sanctimonious comments about Republicans thinking “lying is a virtue.”

Maybe she has forgotten some of the broken promises from 2008 and beyond:

• ·         The deficit would be cut in half.
• ·         Guantanamo Bay would be closed within a year.
• ·         Comprehensive immigration reform within a year.
• ·         The most transparent administration this country has ever known.
• ·         Employment would be below 8% if President Obama’s stimulus package was passed.
• ·         There would be no more lobbyists at the White House.

Most importantly, President Obama promised to unify the nation as he promised to “bring Democrats and Republicans together.” We are more divided than ever.

Either the President was being less than truthful four years ago, or had totally underestimated the enormity of the task of the position he was seeking, or a combination of both. None of the possibilities are attractive or reassuring.

Republicans, more so this election cycle, are being accused of being out of touch. Ms. Cutter’s comments on “Face the Nation” indicate that she and her party are out of touch.

In 2008 , the voters bought into “Hope AND change”. In 2012, surely the American electorate is entitled to “Hope FOR change”.