Voices
spats on the Monopoly box.
It wasn’t an approach worthy of
who Obama is, or who we thought
he was. But he and his crew decided it was the only way to win.
The central, enduring image of
the 2012 campaign took place on a
“town hall” stage on Long Island,
where the two men circled each
other, stood toe-to-toe and talked
over each other: two Harvard Law
School graduates acting like WWF
warm up acts.
To give some sense of nobility to what was essentially a dirty
ground war, the two men painted
their clash as a matter of grand
philosophy: between Jefferson
(Romney) and Hamilton (Obama);
between the free market and the
idea of federal government.
The truth is that both of them—
and most voters—knew that the
dispute was really more a matter
of math: how to cut the federal
pie. It has been a good ol’ American war over Who Gets What.
And both sides know where this
ultimately will end: on some kind
of compromise over taxes, spending and entitlements to show the
world that we’re plausibly committed to managing our finances.
The president expressed willingness to do a $4 trillion, ten-
HOWARD
FINEMAN
HUFFINGTON
11.04.12
year debt-reduction deal (with
a ratio of $2.50 in spending
cuts, including Medicare, to $1
in new tax revenue). Republicans couldn’t deliver, so Obama
backed off. On the campaign
trail, Romney joined the “severe
conservatives” and
refused to endorse
The truth
even a $10-$1 deal. It
was hardly a Profiles
is that both
in Courage moment.
of them—and
Democrats doubt
most voters—
that a President
knew that the
Romney would try
dispute was
to change course,
really more a
let alone take on the
matter of math:
GOP Tea Party. But
how to cut the
the man is devoted
federal pie.”
to spreadsheets,
and knows the deal
called America won’t
“pencil,” as they say in his world,
without new revenues.
Meanwhile, he and the president spent the last, storm-tossed
days of the 2012 campaign calling
each other names in and around
Ohio: something about Jeeps and
who was telling the truth and
where they are and will be made.
(Answer: Not Romney.) It seemed
a fitting finale for a presidential
contest that never got off
the ground.