Mitt Romney runs for president of Imaginary America

Mitt Romney's path to victory, defeating Imaginary Obama. In many ways, nothing symbolizes the foundational and ethereal rationale for a Mitt Romney presidency better than the empty chair that Clint Eastwood debated at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.

Jon Stewart at The Daily Show, among many others, has visited the recurring theme of the obvious disconnect between what the Republicans say President Obama is doing and saying, and what he is actually doing and saying. It makes Republicans' job so much easier if they can just put words in Obama's mouth and ignore what he has actually said and done during his time in office. The GOP lacks a compelling and convincing argument about why Mitt Romney must be the next president of the United States, and also an overwhelming desire in the electorate to throw the incumbent out. The Republicans realize their best strategy is not to fight on the battlefield that exists, but rather to take the fight to Imaginary America.

And to that theme, is there any better symbol of the 2012 election than Imaginary Obama making an imaginary appearance at the Republican National Convention to have an imaginary debate with Clint Eastwood, a man who creates imaginative fiction for a living? On display for all of the country to see was the (non)-embodiment of the Imaginary President that presides over the Republican Party's Imaginary America.

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