By Philip Maddocks
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In a stunning public appearance in Kenya, a naked John Kasich confronted President Obama as Mr. Obama was dining with his African relatives at a Nairobi hotel, and then, in an extraordinary display of intraparty division a day later, Mr. Kasich accused John Boehner of duplicity and said the House speaker could not be trusted.
Mr. Kasich, the governor of Ohio and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination who ranks low in early polling, delivered his broadside and backside during a remarkable 24-hour stretch. And though an astonishing departure from the norms of candidate behavior – even for 2016 – Mr. Kasich is refusing to apologize for his actions, saying he is only exhibiting the frustrations a lot of Americans have with the political system.
With a hint of irritation, Mr. Obama said he had told his family how sorry he was he couldn’t spend more quality time with them on his visit to Kenya, but that logistical and security considerations brought on by the unwelcome presence of the naked Mr. Kasich prevented the president from visiting Kogelo, where his father lived and is buried.
Mr. Obama said once he leaves office he’ll have a better opportunity to reconnect without having to contend with the distracting specter of a naked Republican presidential candidate.
“The next time I’m back, I may not be wearing a suit, but you can be sure that I will be clothed,” the president promised.
Back in Washington, Senior House Republicans lined up this week to rebuke Mr. Kasich, a former Republican congressman for criticizing Mr. Boehner and for lighting the speaker’s gavel on fire and throwing it at House Majority Whip Steve Scalise during a stunning floor speech.
But even as Mr. Kasich is facing the ire of his party, and a lawsuit from Mr. Scalise, his naked appearance in Nairobi and his incendiary appearance at the House of Representatives have made him into a sudden YouTube sensation.
“I did not know that much about him before today,” said Todd Bradley, 53, a plumber from Portsmouth who had just viewed the videos of the Ohio governor in action. “I’m still open to other candidates but today, after watching him take it to the president and Congress, it seems like he’s got a good record.”
With qualification for the Aug. 6 debate dependent on the candidates’ positions in the polls, this type of name recognition and visceral appeal is music to the ears of Mr. Kasich, who before his star turn this week, had struggled to break through in the crowded and noisy Republican field.
The two-term Ohio governor who only announced his candidacy last week, was late to the race and slow to ramp up his attacks and use creative antics to grab attention and keep pace with the guerrilla-style campaign of billionaire candidate Donald Trump.
Mr. Kasich’s campaign frittered away valuable time and resources at the start, focusing its efforts on portraying the candidate as a centrist Midwesterner with a can-do appeal and the wherewithal to attack Washington’s partisan gridlock even as his opponents were drowning out his message with more theatrical and video-ready stunts.
Compared to Sen. Rand Paul’s attack on a copy of the tax code with fire, a wood chipper and a chain saw, and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s chopping, dropping, toasting and smashing attack on his own cellphone, and Mike Huckabee’s invoking of Holocaust imagery to assail President Obama and the nuclear deal with Iran, Mr. Kasich’s message of pragmatism and unsensational straightforward appeal was doomed from the outset.
But Mr. Kasich seems to have been a quick learner in the ways of guerrilla marketing strategies. As House members denounced his personal attacks, his blatant disregard for House rules, and even his nakedness, Mr. Kasich stood firm, saying Republican lawmakers had lied to him, to the American people, and to themselves.
The Ohio governor said he agreed with some of his colleagues’ calls for a return to good manners but defended his actions in Nairobi and Washington as entirely consistent with civility and the Bible.
“I’d urge my colleagues to take a moment and take a look in the mirror – preferably while unclothed,” Mr. Kasich said.
Even as they applauded the Ohio governor’s play for the middle of YouTube as savvy and pragmatic, some campaign veterans expressed concerns about where this political playbook may lead.
“It is so naïve that we would trust Donald Trump to show us the way forward,” Mr. Huckabee said. “But it would be equally naïve for us not to heed his message.”
Philip Maddocks writes a weekly satirical column. He can be reached at pmaddocks@wickedlocal.com.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Nude Kasich confronts Obama, accuses his own party of lying