Yvette Carnell: Mitt, This is Why Nobody Likes You… or Obama…

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by Yvette Carnell

If you’ve spent any time online lately, you may’ve noticed that Mitt Romney has a Google ad campaign with a picture of him and the caption, I’ll Deliver Recovery, Not Dependency. 

It’s a catchy phrase – the swapping of empowering words, like recovery, with dis- empowering words, like dependency. It certainly works linguistically. Problem is, it doesn’t mean anything. Sort of like how conservatives replacing every third word with either  freedom or liberty doesn’t mean anything. Sort of like how President Obama’s campaign slogan - FORWARD – doesn’t mean anything.

When we’re discussing complex issues like Iran or the attacks on our embassies, What does FORWARD really mean? (And unless you have a personal relationship with Obama, don’t answer. Don’t lie to yourself. Don’t pretend to be Negrodamus.)

But being ambiguous is worse for Romney than Obama because most of us have some idea, albeit fuzzy, of what Obama will do in his second term. Obama has a record. Romney has hidden tax returns, Cayman accounts, and vulture capital firms.

President Obama is being a lazy campaigner because he has a record and he has a fan base that isn’t paying much attention to how he’s phoning it in these days. But as the guy who wants to take Obama’s job, Romney owes everyone a plan.

Obama has laid himself bare, ready for the unseating, and Romney and his buffoonish running mate believe Americans too stupid to understand the arithmetic of any tax plan they’d offer, so instead they’re offering .. nothing. Zilth. Zero.  It’s the zenith of pomposity and hubris, and should insult every American voter, regardless of political party.

If Romney wanted this election, he could’ve taken it by now, but he, much like Obama, isn’t much interested in fighting for your vote. Much easier to throw you a few empty slogans and hope you’ll take the bait. Why feed voters a hearty diet, chopped full of dueling plans, when voters seem quite content with their low information diets?  Why should Romney put forth a plan for prosperity if he can just say he will, as American Overlord, offer you recovery in exchange for dependency? He is white Mormon Jesus here to save us! And white Jesus always saves, right?

And why should President Obama give any explanations for how he plans to reduce black male unemployment (the only demographic that didn’t drop in the most recent BLS unemployment numbers) when we’ll all just be happy to see him on the cover of Ebony or Essence for the zillionth time. He is Black Jesus here to save us! And Black Jesus always saves, right?

Both these men seem out of their league, refusing to answer even the most basic questions on the direction they’d take the country if elected, and still, leagues of voters do battle on their behalf, both in the virtual blogosphere and in the trenches of actual campaigns. In that sense, we’re all getting the vacuous invertebrate leaders we deserve. I won’t belabor the point though, I’m sure you’ve all got Obama family pics to repost on your  Facebook walls. Carry on.

Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill and campaign staffer turned writer. She is currently an editor and contributor to Yourblackworld. You can reach Yvette via Twitter @YvetteDC or on Facebook.