Clipperblog usually abides by a separation of basketball and politics, but this bit of whimsy was amusing. From Jason Zengerle in The New Republic [Hat Tip: Ted via Deadspin]:
In a way, Romney reminds me a lot of Michael Olowokandi. (I know that likening Romney to a 7-foot Nigerian man might seem strange at first, but stay with me.) The “Kandi Man” was a great basketball player on paper–great enough to be the number one overall pick in the NBA draft–but he was never able to actually put it together on the court once he got to the NBA. I feel like Romney’s having the same problems as he tries to take his political act to the highest level. On paper, he looks great, but there’s just something about him that doesn’t seem to add up in the minds of voters. I’m not sure if even a perfect pre-campaign or campaign strategy can compensate for that.
11 Responses
It’s because Romney is a mormon and the evangelicals in the Republican party think hes part of a cult. Thats the only reason Romney didnt “put it all together” on the national political stage.
However, if Romney were a Democrat….he’d probably be in a much better position. Its the bigots in his party that held him back.
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eastie Rich Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
O.K. I’m only speaking for myself (and maybe a few others) but the main reason I didn’t like Romney is his persona as a self made man. He made his money by buying and downsizing companies, literally laying off thousands in order for him to make his millions.
Maybe that’s alright with alot of people, but it’s not o.k. with me. I have my own (small) business and I employ someone I don’t need in order to keep them from starving and trying to get gov’t aid.
Sometimes it’s just better to be good to your fellow man. Romney can’t count himself in that group.
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bongstradamus Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
The religion issue was such a huge thing in the primaries that Romney had to make a special speech about how his religion would inform his presidency, much like Obama did regarding his race. Romneys mormonism is what freaked out Republicans but im sure there are others like you that disagreed with how he managed his businesses, but that was his major strength to many other Republicans.
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Posted on June 28th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I’m sure Romney can count on Mike Smith’s vote.
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Posted on June 28th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
If John the POW McCain chose ROMNEY as his running mate instead of that Alaskan wunderkid PALIN, today Senator Obama would be visiting his Chicago church every sunday morning.
McCain-Romney could have saved America from becoming a STATE-RUN institution.
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Mike Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Romney may have helped, but McCain’s problem was McCain. Obama should have been very easy to defeat. He was an unknown, novice left-winger, with unreasonable and radical associations from thugland Chicago. (But boy can he give a speech!)
Alexis de Tocqueville predicted that the American system of democracy was untenable becuase eventually the politicians would promise to take from the wealthy and redistribute it to the “unlucky” in exhange for their vote.
This was the first election where Americans seemingly said “screw it, everyone else is getting something, I want some free stuff, too.”
Nobody should be surprised that the Obama government is trying to takeover everything.
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bongstradamus Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Obama stole the GOP’s base. Thats how he won. He reflected more of moderate Christian values than McCain did. Palin was the thing that tipped the scale all the way to the left. Nominating Palin without vetting her was a phenomenal failure by the McCain camp. I dont think people voted for Obama because they wanted “free stuff”, his ideas were more nuanced and made more sense than McCains and people are sick of being treated like retards. they can actually think for themselves and dont parse every argument into black and white the way republicans want. Obama spoke of unity, of being all-inclusive which resonated with the people while republicans wanted to legislate their morality on the masses while being intolerant and discriminatory towards minorities, gays, and others.
Basically the GOP let the right-wing whackjobs run the party instead of the fiscal, moderate conservatives. They thought they could counter Obama by moving further and further to the right, and they lost because of it. McCain needed a Powell to run with, not some young ditzy governor with no experience from alaska being a heartbeat away from the presidency with the oldest candidate to ever seek the office. Their strength was experience and they pissed it down the toilet by nominating Palin.
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Posted on June 28th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Boy, these are the lazy, hazy days of summer when we’re talking about Mit Romney. Can’t we get back to how much we hate Dunleavy, how big a stiff Kaman is and how cool it is to have an unbridled beast like Blake Griffin?
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eastie Rich Reply:
June 28th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Griffin and Gordon, two great drafts in a row – I also like MT and DeAndre. If the Clippers Would Just Fire Dunleavy!!!!! then all would be well.
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Posted on June 28th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
kinda surprised clipper fans are so conservative… America a “STATE-RUN Institution”? “Obama government take over everything”? Kinda hyperbolic, don’tcha think?
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
I don’t think Clippers fans are conservative. I just think Conservatives are whining because they haven’t been out of power since 1980.
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
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