Hi Jim! How bout starting the campaign? (White House/ Pete Souza)
I hate to admit it, but Romney campaign operative Andrea Saul
has a point:
“The Obama campaign first said President Obama was going to run on his record and the election would be a referendum on his handling of the economy. When it was clear that wouldn’t work, his team said they were going to adopt a “Kill Mitt” strategy. Then came their plan to run against President Bush (again) and, then, against Congress. Next they tried to claim Gov. Romney had no core. Now they’re trying to claim his core is not mainstream. Each new day brings a different made-up attack from the Obama campaign — what doesn’t change is the fact that President Obama has failed and so is going to try to tear down Mitt Romney instead of talking about his record.”
So far, the Obama Campaign operation has 1. failed to clearly and succinctly articulate President Obama's vision for the next four years and 2. failed to make the clearest most obvious case against Mitt Romney. On the first point, now probably isn't the best time for it. We can wait until the convention to spell that out and then close with it. But on the second point, now is the time to make the negative argument. That
case is simple:
The real problem with Mitt Romney is that he wont fix the economy because he's spent his life destroying it.
The Politico piece points out that Bill Clinton is quietly urging a strategy that paints Romney as an ideological right wing culture warrior only because of the extremism of the GOP. Axelrod and Co. have been pushing the "no core/flip flopper" message. Both are accurate portrayals but fail to attack Romney's basic message.
The key to defeating Mitt Romney is Bain Capital. I can't repeat this enough. It is nothing but Bain. Attack Bain, win. It worked for Ted Kennedy. Hell, it even worked for frickin Newt!
Look at this:
That's when Newt began his steady climb upward after New Hampshire and went on to a crushing victory in South Carolina. Newt dropped this line of attack because of disapproval from the GOP establishment and then went on to disappear from the race. As I said shortly after South Carolina:
Romney was gaining points every single day right up to the top of that graph which is the date of his New Hampshire victory. Then...he suddenly just stopped growing. Even after winning a primary, albeit in his home state. Still...despite that victory, he just stopped growing. Why? Bain. Newt's Bain ad rolled out the day before the New Hampshire primary and stopped Romney in his tracks shortly thereafter. He just hit a brick wall, and then he started falling and Newt rose.
Don't let the media fool you. That ad worked and THEY KNOW IT. Newt definitely knows. I saw his SuperPac guy tonight and he hinted that they're going to return to it. Know why? It fucking worked. The GOP establishment is so afraid of the Bain attack being legitimized by bipartisan agreement that they'll do anything to shut it down. Like Maddow said, it is almost like him saying "here's my glass jaw...don't hit me there!"
There's nothing more to discuss here. There is
so much material with Bain, you could run on it from now to November. He's closed factories. He's gotten federal bailouts. There was a huge Medicare fraud investigation. The profits are hidden offshore. He's not a real businessman in the entrepreneurial sense of the word. He's never created anything. Most of the jobs he did create are low end retail. He's created pizza delivery guys and sneaker salesmen. There's so many ways to do this, so many angles, but they all amplify the core message: Mitt Romney is bad for the economy.
It goes right at Mitt Romney's basic message that he's a business guy who can fix the economy. Run against that, and what has he got left? Nothing except typical Republican crazy talk. We shouldn't be defending gains among Women and Hispanics granted by virtue of the crazy GOP primary. If this election is fought over white working class males, Mitt Romney loses. It really is that simple. He can't win without a super high number among whites. Want to get a sizeable chunk of that vote and put this thing away? BAIN.
There's no need to wait. Drill it into the public psyche over and over and over again: Mitt Romney is bad for the economy and he will fire you. I mean Christ, he's even gone out and said he likes firing people. This is too easy!