I have read much about the false claims that President Obama isn't using the right words to describe the threats facing our country. I respect the exhaustive (exhausting?) research that has gone into debunking the baseless Republican critique (including the work by Jed Lewison).
Yet, I worry we have allowed ourselves to be misdirected by this claim. For magicians, misdirection is a technique to get the audience to focus on one thing while "the trick" is happening someplace else. The Republicans learned from Rove: trying to get our attention on one thing while they are busy doing mischief elsewhere (or everywhere else). But, because the Republicans don't actually control any part of government now, and because they are the "party of no," nothing is happening anywhere else. That is precisely their current strategy--making sure that everyone is misdirected and nothing happens until they are in control again.
Like the audience watching a talented magician, we could be left at the end startled that what should have happened didn't despite all our rational logic. It doesn't have to end this way. This time, we can take a technique from Obama's playbook to counter Rove's tired misdirections.
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