Your 2012 presidential ballot: Sometimes a screen grab is worth a thousand words

From this morning's NYT "Today's Headlines" newsletter. Since it's a screen grab, the links don't work, but if you want to read these stories (really?), they should be easy to find on nytimes.com. Did you think I was going to waste precious NYT clicks on "news" like this?

by Ken

Take just a moment to absorb the hardly-accidental juxtaposition above. These are, after all, the names we're all but certainly going to be seeing on the presidential ballot in November.

(1) On the one hand, is it really only "swing voters" who "disapprove of how President Obama has dealt with the economy and are not clear on his aims for a second term"? How about a quick show of hands. All those who approve of how President Obama has dealt with the economy, raise your hands. Okay, and all those who are clear on his aims for a second term, raise your hands. Um, no, you don't have to raise your hand if you want to leave the room -- oops, I think that takes care of our only raised hands.

(2) On the other hand, well . . . here's Willard. There's plenty to be scared about in the thought of a Willard Inc. presidency, starting with the very idea of an incorporated president, which suggests that while most of us are debating whether corporations should have the rights of individuals, the post-constitutional Willard is more concerned whether individuals should have the rights of corporations. (It's not always easy, or even possible, to figure out what he thinks, but I don't think he thinks so. Except of course for the 1%, whose rights come from God -- or maybe Nino Scalia and "Smirkin' John" Roberts. I always get them confused.) Still, in Willard's case, the size, nature, and origin of his fortune are all deeply important things to be worried about.

(3) But then there's the question that may or may not be addressed in these two stories. (As I suggested in the caption, I have no intention of wasting precious NYT clicks on this kind of "news.") Let's address it in the form of two last shows of hands.

* First, how many people think Willard inc. -- or any of the humanoids clawing at the GOP presidential nomination -- has a better idea about how to deal with the economy?

* Now, how many people, based on what you can glean about Willard's -- or, again, any of his GOP rivals' -- "aims" for his first term as president, feel in any way better about . . . well, anything?

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