Mister Obama and these Women

Monday, the President traveled to give his own commencement address to the Barnard College for women in New York City.  You can see the full address here (the President begins at 15:45).  Just as Mr. Romney used his own address to shed light on his more personal side, so, too, did the President use this opportunity to speak from a personal place.  Indeed, the President was a little more forceful in his rhetoric in support of homosexual marriage and the rights of women, but this is to be expected in such a setting.  Both men this week chose, obviously, "safe" political places to give these addresses:  Romney to a group of evangelicals, and Mr. Obama to a group of women (who, as the most recent Battleground poll suggests, he seeks to pursue heavily).  Ironically, both of these groups are also those, or a part of, groups each candidate knows he must conquer in order to be victorious in November.

Obama spoke well to this younger generation of women, calling to the forefront the political troubles of the country in their era and the lack of faith in our political institutions.  He spoke, however, about hope for the future, touching in the importance of a college level education for all, the investment in new technologies, the development of clean energy, the future control of "bad banks" and "insurance companies...charging women differently than men". In short, women need to be treated equally in all aspects of life, including "the health choices you choose to make".  Obviously, the roll of women and the empowerment of women was spoken about, and rightly so.  I do agree with the President in his statement that,

 "This is the century in which women shape not only their own destiny, but the destiny of the nation and  of this world".   

These few points, however, were the only policy issues he brought to the forefront, urging, instead, for women to "take a seat at the head of the table".  The speech, in short, played the same role of Romney's on Sunday: to strengthen an electorate base by hitting on key issues and the importance of that group and their views in this modern world.  A shrewd move by both politicians and their campaigns, whether or not you agree with them, is up to you.    

Mister Romney Gets Back to the Stump: 

Gov. Romney spoke in Iowa on Tuesday, the first time he spent time in the state (and its crucial electoral college votes) since the Republican caucus in January.  His topic: the national debt and spending.  Again, thanks to C-SPAN for broadcasting the address.   

"A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation, and every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve. This is not a Democratic or Republican problem. That fire could care less if you have a donkey or an elephant in your front lawn, it’s still coming for your house".  

Gov. Romney told his constituents gathered that he would help them put out the fire of this "American nightmare".  He referenced Bill Clinton's statement to his Democratic party back at the end of his campaign in which he advised the party to no longer seek the answer to the country's problems in another program.  He offered, here, a few good jabs at both the Clintons and the Obamas, their administrations, and their policies.  Romney (on the heels of Obama's Barnard address) credited the President's policies with the nation's low number of college graduates able to find a job, and challenged the people of Iowa to vote such a way in November to "can and do better than that".  

Following those points, Romney hit again on the faithful points of the stimulus, its effectiveness, and the unreliability of Obamacare.  

'When you add up all of his policies, he has increased the national debt by 5 trillion dollars.  each household share of government debt has now reached $520,000".   

Romney called such a hike in the debt "morally wrong".  This harkens back to the 2004 quote of the President's in which he called the actions of the Bush administration's hiking of the debt "unpatriotic" and "morally irresponsible".  This was a deliberate quote by Romney and one, obviously, meant to show the hypocrisy of the current administration.  Easily, the Obama camp will counter stressing the enormity of the crisis they inherited in 2008 and the unprecedented nature of such a recession.  Who will you believe?  That us your decision.  

No doubt we will her these arguments from both camps well into the summer and fall, and Romney used his stop in Iowa as a warm up session for his biggest sound bite hits against the President.   

Extra Shots of Espresso:

The battle between the Republican House and the President on the defense budget continues, and may include an eventual veto 

Watch the Nebraska Senatorial race tonight, the trend of Tea Party Express candidates winning republican nominations may continue if AG Bruning can edge out Senator Fischer.   

Ron Paul... concedes?  

At the bar...: 

Coming this week:  

Feature: A look at Ron Paul and his impact on the Republican primary, Presidential race, and Independent movement.  

Your Sunday Constitutional: The Right of the Federal Government to Take Over the Creation of Business Corporations