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Watching the strange lassitude that
engulfed the Republican presidential campaign, one couldn’t help
wondering where was the Mitt Romney of the primaries, Mitt the Terrible?
That Mitt Romney, vigorous and ruthless, who had attacked his rivals
with gusto, displaying the proverbial fire in the belly that should
power any presidential aspirant. At times he was even a bit too nasty,
paying the price in public perception. But all political pros watching
from the sidelines nodded approval: he did what he had to do. All’s fair
in love and war, and while love is a scarce commodity in the public
square, politics is war by other means, inverting Carl Clausewitz’s sage
observation. In short, we saw a fighting Mitt and conservatives thought
they had reason to believe that, having destroyed his Republican foes,
he would tear into Barack Obama like a junkyard dog
Alas, until recently there was no sign of that intrepid fighter. Where
was all that fire? What happened to the combative Mitt Romney of a few
months back? Has he shot his wad and now has nothing left? Why the
sudden timidity and mildness? By all indications Romney settled on a
rope-a-dope strategy, ceding the battlefield to Obama and allowing him
to dictate the terms of the election campaign. The challenger was
seemingly content to absorb the punishment seeing no need to respond to
attacks.
Apparently the theory behind that strategy is that “it’s the economy
stupid” and there is no point expending energy on beating back the
attacks from the left since the election will be a referendum on the
President anyway and will have nothing to do with his opponent. That
indeed might be the case -- unless the President and all his men succeed
in smearing Mitt Romney so thoroughly, planting such deep suspicions
about the Republican candidate in the minds of the electorate that faced
with the choice between two evils, the American people will prefer to
choose the lesser, known, one. Politics is a contact sport, and
studiously avoiding contact is a recipe for disaster.
Like a military pilot over enemy territory who releases clouds of chaff
to deflect antiaircraft missiles, Obama is bombarding Romney with
calumnies and lies, desperately trying to divert attention from his own
disastrous policies and keeping his opponent permanently on the
defensive. Obama and his henchmen are unconcerned about the veracity of
their attacks. Operating on the Big Lie theory at which the progressives
are as adept as their communist progenitors, they seek to demonize
Romney and sow doubts about him in the minds of the target audience. And
it’s working. Romney’s ratings have taken a hit in the all-important
battleground state of Ohio
Clearly, Mitt Romney is not a natural politician and appears
uncomfortable in his skin as a rich man. Innate modesty prevents him
from unabashedly tooting his own horn. Well, not every man is a Bill
Clinton, who is madly in love with himself and feels no inhibitions
sharing his infatuation with the public. But if your business record is
chosen as your Achilles’ heel, you have to be prepared to fight back no
matter how distasteful it might be, particularly since the Obama
campaign loudly proclaimed that it would be their main line of attack
(“We’ll kill Romney”). Given the extraordinary record of Bain Capital,
it was hard to understand Romney’s reluctance to defend himself. Why
hasn’t his staff prepared a simple list of companies Bain Capital
salvaged and the many thousands of jobs saved or created in the process?
What could be a more effective shield against Obama’s attacks,
particularly if contrasted with Obama’s appalling record on the economy
and jobs (to give credit where credit is due, however, Obama did make a
dent in the unemployment problem: Politico reports that over the last
year the White House has increased its payroll by $700,000 to $37.8
million, creating 14 new jobs).
Romney is no doubt counseled by his advisors that attacks on the
President would be counterproductive, that there would be a backlash
from the public aghast at the negativity? Strange, it’s always
Republicans who are stridently warned against criticizing their
Democratic opponents for fear of being punished by the prim “moderates
and independents”. Somehow Democrats are never deterred by fears of this
sort from the most vicious attacks, the most blatant lies -- and the
moderates and independents don’t seem to mind. Romney’s unfavorable
ratings are unacceptably high, but I’d venture to suggest that it is
primarily because his campaign has permitted Obama to define its
candidate and paint him as evil incarnate. Absent countervailing
information, the public has no way of knowing that the Democrats are
besmirching a good man.
It’s not enough to meekly bewail the opponent’s bad manners; fire must
be fought with fire. The press is running interference for their idol
Obama, but Romney and his allies will have to do the heavy lifting
themselves, forcefully responding to any accusation and exposing every
lie so as not to allow the smears to take root in the public mind. And
above all, they should hit Obama where he is the most vulnerable – his
abysmal record. The weakest recovery on record; the awful unemployment
numbers; the slush fund to prop up the unions in the guise of a
stimulus; the Keystone Pipeline debacle; the “green” boondoggles; the
Fast and Furious scandal; the abysmal foreign policy… the list could go
on and on. Obama is highly vulnerable on every item – if he is exposed,
that is.
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Justice Roberts handed Romney a potent weapon against Obama by ruling
that the individual mandate is a tax and exposing Obama as a liar.
Instead of running with it, the Republican candidate proceeded to do a
credible imitation of Hamlet. It’s about time he developed a firm
position on the health care reform he passed as the Massachusetts
governor. Romneycare is unquestionably an albatross around his neck, but
what the heck? Does he really believe that the blue-collar voters in
Ohio or Pennsylvania care more about the Massachusetts mandate that has
nothing to do with them than about the avalanche of new Obamacare taxes
threatening to engulf them? Romney should again and again promise to
repeal that abomination once he becomes President and relentlessly pound
Obama as a mendacious tax-raiser.
In spite of the total domination of the public discourse by the left; in
spite of its largely successful war on traditional values, I believe
that Americans still admire self-made men and women who have achieved
success by dint of talent, effort and perseverance. The public will
surely be receptive if Romney unabashedly declares that he is proud of
his fortune amassed the old-fashioned way – by earning it; - and
indicates that in the process of pursuing his dream he created thousands
of new jobs; that he would gladly match his life-style against Obama’s
sybaritic excesses; that his life is an open book compared to that of
Barack Obama, whose life story is wrapped in mystery and all the public
is allowed to know is what the President himself elected to tell in his
books – and even that turned out to be political fiction as Obama’s
sycophantic biographers have been forced to admit.
It may be that Romney’s campaign is saving its ammunition for the home
stretch. There is much to say for such a position, but its inherent risk
is that the opposition will use its near monopoly to define the
Republican candidate, and by the time Romney will hit his stride, it may
be too late; the election would have been irretrievably lost. There is
also the question of division of labor: who should do the dirty job, the
Candidate himself or his surrogates and Superpacks. Actually, it makes
little difference, because whatever the case Romney will be excoriated
by the President’s “Journolistic” praetorians anyway. But on the other
side of the ledger, he would be amply rewarded for his feistiness by
conservatives many of whom are deeply suspicious of Romney’s ideological
squishiness and would respond to his newly found aggressiveness with an
enormous upsurge of enthusiasm. And as a matter of fact, firing up one’s
base is at least as important as courting the moderate center.
But at long last, Mitt Romney, it seems, has seen the light and started
pushing back at least on the “outsourcing” accusation. It’s about time!
Vince Lombardi, who knew something about winning, famously said, “Show
me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” Romney should fight for his
dream like he really means it, overcoming his reluctance and matching
Obama’s attacks blow for blow. George Bush didn’t deign to respond to
the underhanded attacks from the left, believing it beneath his dignity
to defend himself. It proved to be his most grievous blunder. As a
civilian, he had every right to follow the dictates of his conscience
and behave any way he pleased. As President, he had no right to turn the
other cheek and let his enemies control the national discourse. Bush
sacrificed his presidency on the altar of his lofty principles - and did
irreparable harm to the country in the process.
Don’t emulate him, Mitt. I’m sure glad to see you finally manning up –
and so are the legions of conservative voters who want nothing better
than to see the old, combative Mitt take on Obama for all the marbles.
©V.Volsky |