Various and Sundry – February 1, 2012
* Writing about last week’s State of the Union Address from President Obama, Slate’s John Dickerson noted, “In the 2011 State of the Union, the president used the phrase ‘win the future’ or a variant over and over and over again. A year later, the future is not won, but the slogan has lost. ‘Built to last‘ was the message for the 2012 State of the Union speech. Despite continued unsteadiness in the economy, the slogan-manufacturing sector is healthy.”
* Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney has added the term “self deport” to the growing list of Mitticisms. This morning, he also said, “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” Out of context? A bit, but not too much. According to Romney, the “social safety net” for the poor is so strong that they, like the rich, are all set.
It seems that the better things go politically for Romney, the more he feels comfortable with the notion that his support is the result of Republicans actually liking him, as opposed to coming from their almost certainly accurate decision that he presents their best chance among the poo-poo platter of GOP candidates to defeat President Obama. With this comfort comes a tendency to show his true, dickish self.
* Some good humor from Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland was on display during the team’s press conference introducing slugging first baseman Prince Fielder last week. Asked how he’ll construct lineups with Fielder and superstar Miguel Cabrera, who also plays first base, the grizzled and often taciturn skipper noted with a smile, “It’s amazing…every lineup I’ve written down so far, Cabrera and Fielder are in that lineup.”
