Here in California, Meg Whitman really seems to be changing her tone in many ways. Were it not for the endless bank book behind the campaign, one might dismiss it. But, until the votes are counted, it’s key to do everything possible to help Jerry Brown. The Evita quote is not meant to be gender-oriented but rather to point to how Whitman, with her massive privilege and power, is trying to force things her way (to bend polls, voters, facts, etc.)
Whitman of course is now playing to the Right, to try to nail down the base, after poor polls day after day. That has led to a number of statements that seem to contradict or at least undermine the ideas and spirit of her general election campaign thus far. It speaks of someone lacking the calm to take on the massively difficult job of CA governor.
She has just dissed all the mainstream pollers. "Polls, shmolls," is her quote. Yes, don’t like the facts? Ignore ‘em. Instead of leveling with voters (and engaging the trusted institutions that have been polling the race), she is seemingly bringing this into a truthiness FOX zone. She spoke completely falsely about the LA Times poll, for example.
She has taken to campaigning the heck out of Asian areas, propelled by a chunk of change that has gone into translating all her materials into a bunch of languages. It seems a bit strange to see photos of her pin-pointed super-funded campaign popping up in every Asian-oriented store they can find. It’s great to see a large portion of the CA population that is often overlooked get attention, no doubt; but it’s hard not to question Team Whitman’s sincerity in so doing.
She also hit a Cuban restaurant –only to be met by a crowd of protesters in a wild scene, yesterday. The recap of the event makes it sound like nothing if not someone who is totally out of touch. Since the Maria Shriver Women’s Conference with Brown and Governor Schwarzenegger, her campaign has been moving in this direction. Perhaps it was the fact that everyone could see so clearly just how inexperienced she was when on the stage with Brown, Arnold, and Matt Lauer. She earned the massive booing from the thousands of women attending, due to her unwillingness to cut off the negative ads.
These things can definitely be viewed in a macro lens. Forget the theatrical side of it –unforgettable though it may be. It is part of a pattern of privilege and inexperience in politics from the GOP side. It must be taken seriously, due not only to Whitman's money but to the electorate being angry enough this year (as we all know) to not shy away from voting for some seriously non-typical candidates. But it’s clearly a pattern. Her campaign heads are Mike Murphy and former Governor Pete Wilson, major GOP insiders. And her message grows less and less distinct from those of other ever-more-extreme Republican candidates.
The last thing we should do is sit on our laurels. Please pop over to a campaign office or set yourself up to do home phoning if you can’t get out!