If there are limits to inspiration, politics cannot afford to know them. Yes, they flood the airwaves with negative ads -- but I'd venture to say that we're never going to see a Mitt Romney ad about President Obama's use of drones in the Middle East. That's an issue that seems to upset folks on the Left more than anyone -- some of whom Romney outright frightens -- so that's not a demographic Romney can pursue, per se. It's one that the President has to pursue. Again.
And this time, I'm not sure that will.i.am can help.
Pure, concentrated inspiration is harder for an incumbent to find, and to employ. But President Obama cannot just win over those on the fence by blasting his opponent. A candidate for President must inspire his voting base. Romney seems to be doing that by attacking the President at every turn, protecting the One Percent and hanging out with a loud-and-proud birther. How is the President making his own argument?
Melissa will start Sunday morning by setting up the case for the President's re-election, and opening up a conversation about how that case is being made by Democrats. She'll also stage a pop quiz about vice-presidential picks past and present, preview the upcoming Wisconsin recall election, and dig deep about the problem of urban violence.
Our guests will include:
- Marty Beil, Executive Director of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24.
- Karen Finney, former Democratic National Committee communications director, columnist for The Hill, and current msnbc political analyst.
- Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy, the publisher of PR Watch, SourceWatch, BanksterUSA, and ALECexposed.org.
- Ari Melber, attorney, correspondent for The Nation magazine and a writer for their blog, an opinion contributor to Politico and an msnbc contributor.
- Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans.
- Jay Smooth (a/k/a John Randolph), videoblogger at ill doctrine and Animal New York, and DJ of New York's longest running hip-hop radio show, WBAI's Underground Railroad.
- Robert Traynham, former aide to Rick Santorum and host and moderator of The Comcast Network's "Roll Call with Robert Traynham."
- Douglas Wilder, former Virginia governor. Wilder was the first African American to be elected governor of a state.
As always, folks -- be sure to interact with us during the show here in the comments of this post, on Facebook, and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland. We look forward to having you join us at 10am ET on msnbc!