Since the 9-11 truther MSNBC contributor who calls himself Toure is in the spotlight, I’d just like to add his appearance on Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation on Tuesday night. He came to proclaim that Obama’s performance on “The View” was masterful: “He was just calm and cool with it. I mean, like I thought there was a really nice way of presenting himself.”
In fact, he predicted “If Mitt Romney cannot lay out a plan, a credible plan for America and convince that he can make that happen, then you know, the [Obama] likability is going to crush him.”
Sharpton began by playing a friendly clip from “The View,” and then asked Erin McPike of Real Clear Politics to explain how it would help him politically:
SHARPTON: Now, it is funny and certainly humanizes them. But Erin, what is the politics of this? I mean, "The View" is watched by a lot of ladies around the country. What is the politics of them seeing him so comfortably talking about his wife jokes on him with the girls say, what is the politics of this?
McPIKE: Well, look, he is reaching a huge demographic and reaching a lot of women by going on this show. And it shows that he is relatable, that he loves his family. And so he can reach out to a lot of people that way.
McPike underlined twice in the segment that Romney was never going to win a "smoothness" competition with Obama. Then he asked Toure how terrific Obama was:
TOURE: Well, I think he did very well. I like that there was a lot of self-effacement, like talking about Michelle making fun of him and Malia and Sasha and Michelle all jumping on top of him having a roast at his expense. Does it makes him seem like, you know -- I'm down to earth, I'm not imperial, I`m not over here above you guys. Because you know that I'm brilliant and all these things, and powerful and I'm alpha' -- but it is nice to see him pull it back. Say, 'hey, here`s how I am in my family. Mr. Regular Guy. You get made fun of by your wife and your kids, so do I.'
After showing another favorable clip, McPike made the point that Romney gave a speech on debt in Iowa to contrast that one’s acting like a celebrity and the other’s acting like a policy specialist. Sharpton twisted that into claiming bizarrely that Romney’s going to make the debt worse than Obama:
SHARPTON: Well, that's probably appropriate. The President talking to women about the women in his life. And Romney talking about debt. The debt he is going to cause in our lives if he is president. But Toure --
TOURE: But to your point, about talking to women on via "The View," get that humility, the way he interacts with women in his life, right? He was just calm and cool with it. I mean, like I thought there was a really nice way of presenting himself. And just sort of you know, smoothing over anything that might be out there.
SHARPTON: But I think, also to politics of it. I hear what Erin is saying that the Republicans are clearly going to say, but the politics of it is if people feel you have you a sense of love and bonding for your family, that you are naturally going to be concerned about the nation`s debt and economy. You have young children that will going to have to live and deal with there.
TOURE: Look, we're going to talk about jobs. We're going to talk about debt. We're going to talk about Iraq and Afghanistan through all this. But the beer test is always super important in every election. And this guy is likeable to men, relatable to women, liked by women as well. So right there, that is a difficult thing for Mitt Romney to deal with.
Sharpton also wanted Obama to sell all the “progress made” during his tenure:
SHARPTON: Now Toure, the real answer to this is, the beer test as you say is important. But you also have to have policies to go with the likability, and I think if he [Obama] has the policies, and can remind the American people of the progress made, and reaches out in a way that is real, I think that that`s the combination. But just passing the beer test alone is not going to win the election.
TOURE: No, just being a super nice loveable guy who exudes charisma is not enough. You got have these policies that you said. You got to have the vision thing as the first George Bush found out. You got to have the plan for America.
SHARPTON: Yes.
TOURE: If Mitt Romney cannot lay out a plan, a credible plan for America and convince that he can make that happen, then you know, the [Obama] likability is going to crush him. But one thing that's going to happen is the Republicans want to keep doing this sort of intellectual flopping that like, you see in the NBA, somebody gets touched and they go flying. ‘Oh, my God, he was on “The View.” This is horrible.’ It's not horrible. We have been doing this for years. Bill Clinton was on "The Arsenio Hall Show."
The obvious point is that you don't start your argument about presidential dignity by citing Bill Clinton, the guy who received oral sex from an intern while he talked to Members of Congress on the phone. But the other point is that Clinton in 1992 was merely a candidate, not the president. Obama has clearly demonstrated that the presidency bars him from no television appearance of any kind.
