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The shiny object election (Obama and Dems just can't catch a break...)
The Hill ^ | October 26, 2014 | Justin Sink

Posted on 10/26/2014 5:35:36 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

The short-attention span generation has birthed the shiny-object election.

The theme of the 2014 midterms — to whatever extent one is discernable — has been an explosion of one crisis after another, each of which demands an enormous amount of media attention before fading for the next one.

From the Secret Service to ISIS, Ebola to immigration, mistreated veterans to Ferguson and race relations, candidates and the president have been forced to react to the controversy du jour.

Strategists and experts say the result has been bad news for Democrats, who have had a tougher time underscoring their preferred campaign messages on their party’s support for women and the middle class.

Instead, each shiny object captivating a media that craves the hottest story has helped Republicans making the elections for the House and Senate all about President Obama.

“Every time there is a major issue — or as were now referring to everything, crisis — it seems to reverberate on Obama,” said Democratic strategist Peter Fenn. “It plays into what was already a sour political mood and compounds it.”

Crisis management has forced the White House to name new czars, fire political appointees and drop bombs, even as Republicans point to missteps as signs of Obama’s weak leadership and the government’s lack of competency.

Vulnerable Democrats are put in the unenviable position of either backing the president or lobbing criticism at their party’s leader.

“It totally threw the Democratic game plan off,” said Princeton University political historian Julian Zelizer. “They wanted to focus on the economic recovery, Republican extremism, and it's hard for candidates to speak about that with these issues coming up.”

Democratic strategists say that their candidates would have been better able to account for crises if they had done a better job organizing around a cohesive message earlier in the campaign.

Jamal Simmons, a veteran Democratic aide, said politicians never “get to choose what the public thinks is important so they must hit the balls that come their way.”

“What makes this cycle seem especially dominated by errant issues is the lack of policy proposals or substantive messages about agendas coming from either side,” he argued. “In campaigns about nothing, election debates tend to be dominated by anything."

There’s also been a shift in media, with even the 24-hour news cycle appearing dated in the era of the internet and social media.

“Part of what’s going on is the way the media works,” Zelizer said. “It’s not necessarily that there’s more issues, it’s the quick attention span media cycle where we move from one crisis to another.”

Still, Fenn says Democrats could have better capitalized on the issues by more proudly stressing their successes — and more aggressively looking to blame Republicans when things went wrong.

Attempts to highlight Republican efforts to cut research funding amid the Ebola scare gained little traction because it did not slide into a preexisting narrative that Democrats had been arguing for months. That’s unlike Republicans, who could point to the infection of two Dallas-area nurses as the latest example of bumbling by the Obama administration.

“Democrats have not at all been aggressive enough going after Republicans on a lot of this stuff,” Fenn said. “I felt the same way after Benghazi -—who wanted to cut the State Department's budget for embassy security? Nobody took them to task really for that.”

The panic induced by recent headlines has also tarnished one signature accomplishment Democrats had hoped to highlight in the election — the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled nearly 850 points over a single week in the midst of the Ebola scare. While stocks have largely recovered, the stretch deepened concerns about the strength of the economic recovery.

The White House, for its part, shrugs off the “shiny object” syndrome as part of “human nature.”

“We should be focused on the problems because we have a government and leadership in this country that’s focused on solving them,” press secretary Josh Earnest said.

But Earnest did note that previous crises — like the flood of unaccompanied minors across the southern border that dominated attention earlier this summer — were examples of where the administration had worked hard to solve a problem, only to see attention divert elsewhere.

“The president and his administration at the direction of the president comes in and, through a lot of hard work, puts in place a solution. But by the time that solution is put in place, everybody has sort of moved on to something else,” Earnest said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2014; 2014election; abortion; aliens; crisis; deathpanels; election2014; elections; failed; kurdistan; obama; obamacare; scandals; yazidi; yazidis; zerocare
“I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. . . . He knows how perceptive he is. He knows what a good reader of people he is. And he knows that he has the ability — the extraordinary, uncanny ability — to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them and make sense out of them, and I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually. . . . So what I sensed in him was not just a restless spirit but somebody with such extraordinary talents that had to be really taxed in order for him to be happy. . . . He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” Valerie Jarrett
1 posted on 10/26/2014 5:35:36 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
“I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. . . . He knows how perceptive he is. He knows what a good reader of people he is. And he knows that he has the ability — the extraordinary, uncanny ability — to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them and make sense out of them, and I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually. . . . So what I sensed in him was not just a restless spirit but somebody with such extraordinary talents that had to be really taxed in order for him to be happy. . . . He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” Valerie Jarrett

Either a really sick concubine-at-heart, ...or...she understands that it's a lot easier to control the puppet if you praise him highly and often.

2 posted on 10/26/2014 5:41:37 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Abraham Lincoln


3 posted on 10/26/2014 5:43:53 AM PDT by pke
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To: pke

There are so many intentional “scandals” that they often fade to black. Is the VA still murdering elderly Veterans through neglect? Has Benghazi been resolved? Has the IRS stopped harassing Conservatives? Are our borders closed/regulated? Are degenerate illegal alien invaders continuing to be brought in by this Clown Car administration? Are terrorists being minimized? Are moozlums being brought into the US? Is ballot/voting fraud continuing apace? Is nobolacare continuing to destroy our medical/insurance system? Is the admiunistration’s gun-running to mexico been resolved? Have any of this criminal administration been brought to justice? It is like endless waves hitting the shore. What next! What next?


4 posted on 10/26/2014 5:51:06 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: pke

But now, with an entitlement state largely made up of a selfish and [extremely] ignorant populace, you can fool most of the people, most of the time.

Game, set, match


5 posted on 10/26/2014 5:53:08 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ((If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"But Earnest did note that previous crises — like the flood of unaccompanied minors across the southern border that dominated attention earlier this summer — were examples of where the administration had worked hard to solve a problem, only to see attention divert elsewhere."

Solution? Does he mean hiding them and transporting them and their diseases all over the country, often not even notifying the states and towns until they show up? Does he mean putting them in public schools without health screenings and inoculations required of legal residents? What accomplishments. I am sure they would love to run on the kids sickened and killed by EV68.

6 posted on 10/26/2014 5:54:32 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Meanwhile, height challenged women continue to wear high heels in an attempt to be equal


7 posted on 10/26/2014 5:58:21 AM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Jamal Simmons, a veteran Democratic aide, said politicians never “get to choose what the public thinks is important so they must hit the balls that come their way.”
“What makes this cycle seem especially dominated by errant issues is the lack of policy proposals or substantive messages about agendas coming from either side,” he argued. “In campaigns about nothing, election debates tend to be dominated by anything."
There’s also been a shift in media, with even the 24-hour news cycle appearing dated in the era of the internet and social media.
“Part of what’s going on is the way the media works,” Zelizer said. “It’s not necessarily that there’s more issues, it’s the quick attention span media cycle where we move from one crisis to another.”

In other words Democrats (and Republicans) are lamenting the fact that REAL news can't be managed anymore. The birth of news sources outside of the lame stream press means that political parties can no longer use the media to "craft" a narrative. In other words, the parties are finding it increasingly difficult to manipulate the minds and hearts of Americans to get their votes and continue their empowerment and cash flow. And they don't like it.

8 posted on 10/26/2014 6:00:31 AM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

“The short-attention span generation has birthed the shiny-object election.”

Nonsense. The media narrative got so threadbare over time that even they couldn’t defend it anymore.

The reality of incompetence cannot be covered up. The media still fails to report on it in detail and with anything resembling enthusiasm for the truth, but people of all stripes know the truth about obama: He’s the exact opposite of “smart, perceptive, and capable”


9 posted on 10/26/2014 6:04:26 AM PDT by RFEngineer
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To: RFEngineer

The country knows these never ending “scandals” are due to the administration’s ineptness, terrible policy decisions and massive corruption.

By a large majority, the American people don’t trust this administration (and the more Obama and his handlers tell the country they have everything under control, the more everyone’s radar tells them, no they don’t).

Then to add insult to injury, reports of people’s growing concerns over the administration’s dangerously meandering, incompetent, make-it-up-as-you-go response to Ebola, are describe as unwarranted “panic” by the ignorant masses.


10 posted on 10/26/2014 6:23:56 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Geez...who knew that being POTUS meant you had to deal with pesky crises all the time? You mean, it’s not just playing golf and attending state dinners?


11 posted on 10/26/2014 6:41:33 AM PDT by randita ("Is a nation without borders a nation?"...Noonan)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
“The short-attention span generation has birthed the shiny-object election.”

Barak Obama was the ultimate "shiny object".

12 posted on 10/26/2014 6:45:56 AM PDT by Paradox (and now here we are....)
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To: Paradox

And that “shiny” object has dulled.

Oct 19, 2014 - Barack Obama: ...”You’ve got to grab your friends, you’ve got to grab your co-workers, you know, don’t just get the folks who you know are gonna vote, you’ve got to find Cousin Pookie. He’s sitting on the couch right now watching football, hasn’t voted in the last five elections, you’ve got to grab him, and tell him to go vote.”...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/20/cousin-pookie-is-back-and-yes-he-is-still-sitting-on-the-couch/


13 posted on 10/26/2014 6:52:18 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Watching CNN this morning (was forced to watch, actually because it was on at my gym) they assure me that the dens have the arsenate sewn up.


14 posted on 10/26/2014 6:58:39 AM PDT by FlipWilson
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

> The theme of the 2014 midterms — to whatever extent one is discernable — has been an explosion of one crisis after another, each of which demands an enormous amount of media attention before fading for the next one.

Obama has either created the crises (the illegal immigrant recruitment drive, airliners to bring them in, etc) or worsened them (Ferguson, Hamas’ war on Israel, ISIS). It’s like 1945, when Hitler was working like mad, seemingly to destroy the German forces by dreaming up counterattacks without adequate means to gain objectives.


15 posted on 10/26/2014 7:44:05 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

That post from valjar is a real hurl-o-rama..


16 posted on 10/26/2014 8:00:11 AM PDT by cardinal4 (Certified Islamophobe..)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Every time there is a major issue — or as were now referring to everything, crisis — it seems to reverberate on Obama,” said Democratic strategist Peter Fenn. “It plays into what was already a sour political mood and compounds it.” Crisis management has forced the White House to name new czars, fire political appointees and drop bombs, even as Republicans point to missteps as signs of Obama’s weak leadership and the government’s lack of competency

Surely, this isn't an example of the GOP conservatives actually learning to use the media and using the enemy's tactics (dumocrats arrogance and hubris in revealing war strategy, ie never let a crisis go to waste, no wonder they can't prosecute an effective real war) to mollify the opposition. I love how all these crises are exacerbated by their own directly and easily linked previous policies. And still the GOPe want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They haven't figured out what the American public has because the GOPe is still smarting from the 2012 election; that Obummer, his cohorts, and their policies are vulnerable, .

17 posted on 10/26/2014 8:52:36 AM PDT by cport (How can political capital be spent on a bunch of ingrates)
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To: RFEngineer
“The short-attention span generation has birthed the shiny-object election.”

Nonsense. The media narrative got so threadbare over time that even they couldn’t defend it anymore.

The reality of incompetence cannot be covered up. The media still fails to report on it in detail and with anything resembling enthusiasm for the truth, but people of all stripes know the truth about obama: He’s the exact opposite of “smart, perceptive, and capable”.

You have hit the jackpot with that answer. This article is trying to explain away this as some sort of misfortune, but in the end the never ending fails, gross incompetence, and ideological bankruptcy were too overwhelming to defend.

The news cycles were only because the administration is sooooo inept that it started to pile up and was just too noticeable.

18 posted on 10/27/2014 8:14:01 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: cport
The panic induced by recent headlines has also tarnished one signature accomplishment Democrats had hoped to highlight in the election — the economy.

And I love this little lie by the Hill. The economy? Are you freaking kidding me? Record unemployment, more Americans not working than ever before, and no increase in their paycheck in 6 years? No wonder his own supporters left his recent rally in MD when he started speaking of his faux economy recovery.

19 posted on 10/27/2014 8:36:51 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: KC_Conspirator

And the most delicious irony is that any uptick in jobs or the economy is based on fossil fuel production in the mid northern states and PA fraking.


20 posted on 10/27/2014 10:19:27 AM PDT by cport (How can political capital be spent on a bunch of ingrates)
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