The conventional wisdom was that beating Obama in this election would be child's play. A bad economy is always seen as the biggest threat to an incumbent, and as a wealthy Republican, Mitt Romney was arguably the Republican's best weapon against Barack Obama. But one week after clinching his right to be called the nominee, Romney is knocked back on his heels. Out of the gate, the worst fears that Republicans had of Mitt Romney are being realized. Romney is finding himself being controlled, not only by the Obama campaign, but by his own words. He has been welcomed to the general election on the anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. As it is, there is no way to attack Obama on that, so having the upper hand, the Obama campaign has been using it to smash Romney in his face.
Obama has not had resort to using hyperbole or extrapolation to contrast himself with Romney on Bin Laden policy. He has used Romney's own words from 2007 when Mitt asserted that it was not worth "moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."Unable to backpedal on that one, Mitt has been charging that it is unfair for Obama the Osama killer to run on his record. This tact won't find any traction. After spending the primary season insisting the economy is worse than it was in 2008 and that Obama has been a weak leader, Romney finds himself on the ropes. He has got to be wondering how that happened so fast.
This week is being used by the Obama campaign, not only to commemorate its greatest success, but to profile their opponent. They love this Mitt. This Mitt has very little to say and what he does say is plaintive. Instead of proposing bold new ideas, Romney is complaining how Obama is running his campaign. That is not the definition of getting off to a good start.
That begs the question: what is stopping Romney from proposing bold new ideas? That question, in turn begs the following explanation: as the leader of the party that is trying to legitimize the punitive pre-abortion ultrasound and discriminatory voter ID laws, Romney is afraid he's not crazy enough for his own party. Sure, we are expecting Romney to make his well-anticipated pivot to the political center for November, but even that has become troublesome for Romney. While it's something every Republican must do, Romney is making his pivot with some trepidation. He is worried that as soon as he does it, he will be pounded from both sides as a predictable flip-flopper, which will once again put him on the ropes. So Romney can't say anything Santorum-crazy because it puts him on the fringe. He can't say anything normal because everyone will call it a flip-flop. The Republican nominee is stuck in a self-imposed paralysis. The inventor of Obamacare is no longer in the business of "European Socialism." Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will spend the rest of the campaign trying to be as generic as possible. If he hands out free ice cream while stumping it will be unflavored. It's as if he is positioning himself to lose.
Most establishment Republicans are on the verge of giving up if they haven't given up already. In spite of their rhetoric about Obama, they know that he is an astute political choreographer. He is keenly aware. He is an ace political campaigner. He is well-liked even if the public's approval of his performance is tepid. And on that last point, just because Obama is not hitting a homer on the public approval front does not at all mean that people approve of Romney more. While we don't know how things are going to fluctuate, the good money should be on Obama who has demonstrated an even-keeled style since he emerged on the national scene. Romney, on the other hand can seem desperate at times, perhaps capable of something reminiscent of John McCain's curious declaration that he was suspending his campaign at the outset of the financial collapse of 2008.
As of this writing, a floundering Mitt Romney is stumping in Virginia criticizing the Obama Administration's handling of Chinese dissident Chen Guangchen. He has declared today "a day of shame for the Obama Administration." The problem with making such a statement is that there will be nothing else outside of FOX News to back up that narrative. In the end, it just conveys that Romney is filled with hot air, a quality people already suspect in him.
Mitt Romney is running on his success as a businessman. He achieved his wealth being the guy he is which has ingrained in himself a sense of self-satisfaction. To his detriment, he can't change. He can put on a pair of jeans, but it's still Mitt Romney in a pair of jeans. Mitt will not become more in touch between now and November. He may give us an attempt at some kind of "Checkers Speech" where he insists that we shouldn't hate him for being rich, but it won't do any good. First of all, no one hates Romney because he is rich. They just don't feel any connection to him. The question for Romney is, how bad does the economy have to be for that not to matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment