GOP underestimating US electorate

On one side, a hapless incumbent president mired in economic doom, saddled with history’s largest debt and fomenting national division. On the other side, a smiling businessman with a sterling record of job creation and problem solving, welcoming and respectful to all.

The polls are still agonizingly close. Why the hesitation?

Enter the parallel universe of the Republican campaign for US president — but look fast before it’s gone, because it’s beginning to implode.

During this past week, highlighted by the second presidential debate, we have seen a pivotal turn in the campaign and it is one that may haunt American conservatives well beyond this election.

With a little more than two weeks before election day, this was a universe where hundreds of millions of dollars of TV advertising were supposed to “Etch-a-Sketch” Mitt Romney into a more politically appealing figure.

Instead of being sold as a “severe conservative” — as he described himself during the Republican primaries — Romney and his ideological running-mate Paul Ryan would appear as level-headed “moderates” appealing to independent and women voters in eight or nine crucial swing states in the final weeks of the campaign.

Out the window — at least for the time being — would be the Romney who wanted to enrich millionaires and billionaires at the expense of “47 percent” of the population; who wanted a federal ban on all abortions and would allow bosses to decide whether their female employees would have their contraception paid for; who would eliminate Planned Parenthood and oppose pay equity between men and women; who would devastate Medicare by turning it into “a voucher system”; and who would tirelessly have as his ultimate target the very existence of the modern American social state.

Amid all the blather of the near-comical Republican primaries, culminating in their national convention in August, that was (and still is) Republican Party policy for the next four years. But implicit in this policy was an important unspoken qualification: “For God’s sake, don’t tell the American people.”

That was Mitt Romney’s main goal during the first presidential debate earlier this month, and he succeeded. As a result, his polls went up. As Bill Clinton said after that debate: “Wow. Here’s old Moderate Mitt. Where you been, boy? I missed you all these last few years.”

Romney also benefited from an abysmal performance by Barack Obama. The president jokingly acknowledged this Thursday night: “You may have noticed I had a lot more energy in our second debate. I felt really well rested after the nice, long nap I had in the first debate.”

In the latest debate on Tuesday, an aggressive Obama dominated and a flustered Romney wilted, and the president was able to challenge the Republican candidate on several false statements.

However flawed Obama’s first term has been, his party so far has succeeded in keeping much of the spotlight off his record — and on his rival’s promises.

But no longer is the focus only on the inadequacies of Romney the Candidate. Increasingly, it is on his extreme conservative policies. In the parallel universe of the Republican campaign, that wasn’t supposed to be. But the public discrediting of these policies, if that is an outcome of this election, may have enduring significance for future campaigns.

On November 6, we will find out “how dumb” the American people really are. I can certainly feel their pain. They are now caught in the middle of a dysfunctional political process, overwhelmed by unlimited money coming from the super-rich with few rules of accountability or transparency. Like in the land of Russian oligarchs, or the Latin American “banana republics” the US used to be fond of overthrowing, this system is badly broken.

But, but, but…

When I was in Qatar as managing director of Al Jazeera English, my most illuminating experience was in 2008, in the lead-up to the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. There was fascination worldwide in this long and complicated political process, and astonishment that an African-American with the middle name of “Hussein” and an apparent commitment to progressive change could emerge victorious in the United States.

In the many corners of the world where “democracy” is only now taking root, this process did wonders for the international reputation of Americans.

No, the American people are not dumb.

Tony Burman, former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News, teaches journalism at Ryerson University. tony.burman@gmail.com   This article appeared in the Toronto Star.