NEWS AND OPINION:
Time for transparency, perhaps? Veteran pollster John Zogby advises President Obama to “get out in front of critics” and explain why the U.S. has, as many critics put it, “caved” on the Iran negotiations, backing off on close scrutiny of the nation’s developing nuclear infrastructure. Then there are the complexities of Bowe Bergdahl, and his transition from a released prisoner to a soldier charged with desertion. There are some positive aspects to Mr. Obama’s current status, though. Mr. Zogby, who grades the president every week, says that Medicare expansion in some states plus stable favorability rating are good news for the White House.
“The bad news is troubling indeed for the president: While Secretary of State John Kerry puts finishing touches on a nuclear deal with Iran and Iran is acting as a U.S. proxy fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, our most powerful regional allies are bombing Iranian Shia proxies in Yemen,” says Mr. Zogby. “The enemy of our enemy is the enemy of our enemy, whoever our enemy and their enemy may be. I can see the pieces fit somehow, but somebody better explain this to the American people. Fast. And then there is the whole issue of Bowe Bergdahl, which looks like a hard sell.”
And the presidential grade: “D-plus, down from last week’s B.”
THE TIE FACTOR
Sartorial demeanor has always influenced politics. Yes, analysts and voters alike take cryptic notice of a candidate’s suits, shoes and occasional T-shirt slogans. Ties in particular get notice — like House Speaker John Boehner’s penchant for green ties, or the persistence of the classic red power tie.
At the moment, Jeb Bush may have cornered the tie factor, at least in New Hampshire. Mr. Bush got the highest offer in the “First in the Nation Tie Auction” staged by the Grafton County Republican Committee, his personal neckware fetching $355. “Pre-owned. This item has been used or worn previously,” the group advised in the item description.
Mr. Bush autographed the striped blue silk Isaia tie, which was displayed on a clothes line with 15 other GOP rivals who had recently been in the Granite State. The local Republicans admired the array at the group’s annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner, then bid for them on eBay.
In second place: Sen. Marco Rubio ($255 for his maroon and gold striped silk tie from Jos. A. Bank), followed by Gov. Bobby Jindal ($251; a purple Perlis tie with gold fleur de lis pattern) and Sen. Rand Paul ($225; unspecified brand, red silk) to round out the top four. The rest of the bids ranged from $207.50 for Sen. Ted Cruz’s gold silk tie by Pronto-Uomo, to $57 for Rick Santorum’s elephant print Paul Frederick tie in red, white and blue. Donald Trump, who has his own line of ties, came in 12th, incidentally, garnering $142.50 for his pink silk entry.
REPUBLICAN DEAL BREAKERS
From the big picture desk comes revelations from a CBS News poll released Sunday that finds many Republican voters dug in on two specific issues.
“The deal-breakers: What rules Republican candidates in or out? The poll tested a number of policy positions in general terms, asking Republicans if they would consider voting for a hypothetical candidate for the party’s nomination who holds a different view on an issue than they did,” report the network’s four-person polling team.
“Among the issues asked about in the poll, the biggest litmus tests for Republicans are candidate positions on ISIS — which Republicans overwhelmingly see as a major threat to the U.S. — and abortion. Sixty-one percent of Republicans would not consider voting for a candidate who disagrees with them on dealing with ISIS, and half (51 percent) would not vote for someone with a different position on abortion,” the team says. More numbers in the Poll du Jour at column’s end.
SEE ALSO: Rand Paul: Ted Cruz and I might differ on ‘winnability’
NEVER A DULL MOMENT
Congress may be out of session for the time being, but the daily campaign duties of the GOP presidential hopefuls continues. Monday evening finds Jeb Bush in a picturesque seaside city in California for a reception and discussion at the members-only Pacific Club, organized under the auspices of Right to Rise, Mr. Bush’s political action committee. Tickets are $25,000 each.
Sen. Rand Paul also heads to a beachfront town, this one in Florida, bound for a Fat Clemenza’s, where checked tablecloths and 20 varieties of wood fired pizzas are the hallmarks of the house. And its specialty: Gorgonzola pizza with caramelized onions. Tickets in this case are priced from $250 to $2,700.
THE MEDIA’S NUANCE
“Why is it that the media regularly adorns the term ’religious freedom’ with superfluous quotation marks but not terms like ’environmentalist’ or ’civil rights’ or ’marriage equality’ — or any other of the many debatable issues of American political discourse?” writes David Harsanyi, senior editor of The Federalist and a syndicated columnist.
“Well, maybe unbiased journalists feel a responsibility to intimate to readers that religious freedom is considered a dubious assertion by one side of the debate. And this would be a reasonable editorial decision if it were employed consistently. It’s not. What’s more likely is that editors and journalists consider the term ’religious freedom’ dubious because anything that strikes them as ’discriminatory’ or stands in way of ’progressive’ moral aims is by default illegitimate,” Mr. Harsanyi continues.
“The quotations marks themselves are not a big deal, of course, but they are a reflection how the topic is viewed by secular America and too-often covered by the media, which is to say very badly,” he adds.
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
“Unlike Barack Obama, I was not a community organizer before I was elected to the Senate. I spent 51/2 years as the solicitor general of Texas, chief lawyer for the state of Texas before the Supreme Court. I supervised and led every appeal for the state of Texas in a 4,000-person agency with over 700 lawyers. Over the course of 51/2 years, over and over again Texas led the nation defending conservative principles and winning,” Sen. Ted Cruz told CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday, who had asked him to clarify his qualifications to run for the White House.
This is a convenient, emerging narrative about Mr. Cruz, and one which his strategists must neutralize. Critics either claim he won’t compromise, or has no practical experience.
“My problem with Cruz is that he’s very, very smart — he’s going to Wall Street these days and impressing people with his intelligence,” New York Times columnist David Brooks told National Public Radio, “But he’s in the new era of performance politics. He actually hasn’t done much governing in his life but he’s done a lot of performing.”
Mr. Cruz, however, wisely vows to remain in the realm of civility. “There may be other candidates who choose to throw rocks in my direction. I’m not going to engage in the personal mudslinging, in the negative attacks on people’s character,” he told CNN.
POLL DU JOUR
• 57 percent of Americans are paying attention to the 2016 presidential campaign; 69 percent of Republicans, 53 percent of independents and 55 percent of Democrats agree.
• 56 percent overall say illegal immigrants in the U.S. should “stay and apply for citizenship”; 41 percent of Republicans, 53 percent of independents and 73 percent of Democrats agree.
• 45 percent overall say it is “important” that a candidate share their religious views; 65 percent of Republicans, 42 percent of independents and 35 percent of Democrats agree.
• 38 percent overall say abortion should “generally be available”; 22 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of independents and 54 percent of Democrats agree.
• 19 percent overall say Common Core education standards are a “good idea”; 10 percent of Republicans, 18 percent of independents and 27 percent of Democrats agree.
Source: A CBS News poll of 1,023 U.S. adults conducted March 21-24.
• Proclamations, assorted annoyances to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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