It's the Campaign, Stupid!
Romney's campaign is shaping up to be the worst in memory. It's that and not Obama's job performance, record or leadership skills that driving Mitt's drop in polls.
It's the Campaign, Stupid!
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
I really don't want to pile on Mitt while his run continues a downward spiral, but his campaign is shaping up as among the worst in memory.
He is, after all, running against an incumbent who failed a pledge to cut the deficit in half, who faces foreign policy fires abroad, including a growing crisis over a nuclear Iran, and who famously, though somewhat awkwardly, said in 2009 with regard to fixing the economy, "If I dont have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition."
And yet, where are we?
Daily tracking by Gallup now shows the president with six-point lead (50-44) nationally in a race that for so long was a virtual tie. And this comes as poll after poll shows widening leads for Obama in states such as Florida and Ohio that are critical to the Electoral College vote total needed to win the presidency.
It's not that the economy got better or that governance improved or that the unemployed got jobs or that Obama, as pledged, change the ways Washington.
It's that Romney's campaign is horrible. It consistently allows the Obama camp and the media to direct the narrative -- Mitt's money, Mitt's tax returns, Mitt's wife's horse, Mitt's corporate past, Mitt's personal awkwardness, Mitt's GOP pals talking about "legitmate rape," Mitt's Clint Eastwood, etc. -- instead of staying on and riding hard the message of fixing the economy.
From the start, right after sewing up the GOP nomination, Romney allowed Obama to define him as an uncaring corporate raider who hides his wealth in foreign investments. It wasn't until the mostly-botched Republican convention that Romney even tried to humanize himself with stories of his family and faith.
Then, in what might well be the moment most remembered from campaign 2012, he reinforces the Obama campaign's portrayal with that 47-percent remark. And while I assume when he said, "My job is not to worry about those people," he was talking politically, meaning his campaign needs to attract the other 53-percent, there's no escaping the damage done by the next sentence: "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
Worse, just as there was no good Romney campaign answer to the early Obama efforts to define Mitt, there was no good response to the 47-percent comments. Mitt saying it "was not elegantly stated" didn't stop a week-long torrent of criticism and campaign free-fall.
Then, nine days later, Romney's campaign released a new ad, "Too Many Americans," with Mitt speaking directly into the camera. It's good. It talks about poverty growth, the increase in folks on food stamps, the promise to enact policies to create jobs. And it says "compassion" shouldn't be measured by the number of people on welfare but by getting people off welfare and into jobs. It ends with Mitt saying, "We can't afford another four years like the last four years.
You can see the ad here.
Problem is, just like earlier in the campaign season, it comes after the damage is done. It's another example of the Romney camp apparently being tone-deaf to what plays well politically and what hurts its candidate directly.
Obama's not winning. Romney's losing. And it's because of his stupid campaign.
Spoken like a typical member of the Democratic insider group and media ho......THERE IS NO UNBIASED media type, be it plastic headed tv guy or old boy writter type......if they could lose their personal or paid for agenda's one might respect their words...BUT there are NONE OF US who do not beleive that those that speak on TV or write for the rags ARE ANYTHING MORE THAN SHILLS FOR THIER RESPECTIVE PARTIES.......and the SAD TRUTH IS, we sheep actually beleive these media ho's— nuggett- You can only wish baer.— Imbaldy
- voting obama to a second term doesn't say much for the collective iq of this country, specifically democrat kool aid drinkers in love with this idiot.— tim17600
- again the pattern of attacks and no ideas. just calling americans names is not a winning strategy.
- surely you must be joking.....ALL obama can do is attack romney - now that he actually has a record that he's being called out on. well, except for people that are blindly in love with him - including the pathetic media. — tim17600
Comment removed.- GOP has nobody to blame but itself. Obama has no business being elected; but the best the primary's could yield was Romney. I hope there is some introspection - and we see people like JEB, Daniels, Rubio, Rice get off the bench on to the field for '16 instead of the second stringers.......— Northcountry
- anything original, Bauer? I'sn't this the stuff that got Fareedh Zakira in trouble at CNN?— CD75
- Baer-You forgot to mention George W. Bush. You must not have gotten the memo that it's still ok to bring up Bush even though he hasn't run a campaign in 8 years and he's not running this year.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- I look forward to the stunned looks on Dems' faces on Nov 7. Of course, between then and Jan 20, there will be golf and fantastic luxury vacations for FLOTUS and POTUS. And a few years of immense speaking fees until even his fans tire of that annoying voice.— RichB
- Make sure ya come back to this site on Nov 7th, ya hear?
— wokmaster - could it also be that people are smart enough to see through the Republican smoke screen? That the deficit was created by the Bush tax cut and two Bush wars? That the Republicans made every effort to stall Democrat jobs bills?
The polls don't just show that Romney is losing, rather than Obama winning - they show that voters have more confidence in Obama's plan than Romney's. And yes, Mitt has yet to tell us how he plans to cut taxes, increase military spending, and reduce the deficit.— tomsnyder - Another pro Obama puff piece from an Obamatron journalist in Philly but disguised as a balanced piece. What a shocker!
So now per the Obamatronic author its not Obamas absolute failure on so many levels, it is Romneys campaign, ahaha ha aha aha aha aha.
Let me clue you in, the media is creating the perceived reality of the Romney campaign and of the state of the nation of whioh you buy wholesale and then resell here as one of the journalistic illuminati.
The narrative is controlled by your comrades in the media propaganda complex who happened to land a better gig on the national level. They are the yellow journalism standard of our times with their softpedaling of questions to Obama, lack of effective coverage on domestic and foreign policy disasters and or economic issues while misdirecting the public with the Romneys tax return meme or Ann's horse.
You, the media are a pathetic lot, an embarrassment to the profession. The Fourth Estate is dead, has been for some time but in these last 4 years, the stench has grown exponentially.
My dear Obamatrons, prepare for defeat because it is coming naturally at the hands of your Fuhrer's incompetence and your own stupidity and gullability.
— Paul Revered - is Fox News guilty of the same?
I don't understand you people, if the narrative is not to your liking, it's communist/socialist/nazi/ whatever fear you can bring up?
It's called pint of view.
If you hate it, surf Fox and WSJ and the Washingtron post and Rush and Beck and a million other "news" sites.
GET A LIFE.
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
