Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wall Street Abandons Obama; the GOP Will Shift Accordingly

If this is true:

JP Morgan honcho Jamie Dimon, once a “fat cat” ally of President Obama, seems to have strayed to Republican contender Mitt Romney.
Dimon, a lifelong Democrat who was rumored to be on Obama’s short list for treasury secretary before he settled on Tim Geithner, met privately with Romney on Tuesday morning before a fund-raiser at Brasserie 8¹/2 hosted by Highbridge Capital, a JPMorgan-owned hedge fund.
 ...then the tide of independents and centrists are going to benefit Romney. People tend to view him as the most moderate of the real contenders for the Republican nomination. Which is a problem, as most of us deep-red radical-right-wing teabagging bitterclinging RAAAAACISTS view Romney as an economic heretic at best or a RINO at worst.

So who does that benefit? Herman Cain, fresh of his upset in the Florida straw poll. If centrists and bankers flood to Romney, then the GOP establishment has its Candidate of Gravitas and Experience. Which means the winguts and libertarians are going to need someone of minted outsider status who's demonstrated the capacity to win something. We thought Rick Perry was going to be that guy; so far he's shot himself in the foot and then shoved that foot in his mouth. Bachmann blew herself up going after Perry. Gingrich seems to be running for a Cabinet job (which he'd be good at).

That leaves Hermann Cain. For a guy whose candidacy has been declared dead to jump ahead in the polls as he has means a significant shift. It also means that the Tea Party vote is not bound up and sold to Sarah Palin. It also means that this race has just begun.

BTW, Chris Christie isn't going to run for President unless Obama wins. He's nowhere near dumb enough to think that he's conservative enough to satisfy the nationwide GOP base. He might be amenable to be someone's running mate, but that's it.

Sarah Palin's not running either. How do I know? Because she's not running. Her hesitancy speaks volumes about her own assessment of her own chances. Deep down, I don't think she really wants to run.  The dust storm kicked up by 2008 has cast her family into chaos and her out of a job. And that was as a Vice-Presidential candidate. She knows the real thing would be worse.

No comments: