Two questions- identical except for 1 additional word- are driving both the Romney and Obama campaigns.
Romney is betting his success on the following-
Question: Does the economy stink?
Answer: Obviously. Since Barack Obama has been sworn in thousands of jobs have vanished, homes have been foreclosed, bankruptcies ballooned, deficits have swelled, blah blah blah, you know the rest of the GOP storyline. That has been the touchstone of their campaign.
Obama and the Democrats are asking that question with an important twist
WHY does the economy stink? The short answer is because of the Republicans in general and people like Romney in specific. The electorate remembers (and if they don’t will be reminded over and over again in the next 3 months) about the disastrous Bush policies that led to economic collapse in 2008 and still lingers 4 years later. They remember or will be reminded of the 3 ½ years of Republican intransigence in Congress. And they know that the brand of vulture capitalism practiced by Romney has led to real pain in thousands of communities. That’s why the latest ad featuring a laid off steel worker who lost his wife to cancer will resonate deeply in blue and white-collar precincts in swing states.
Whoever frames the question more successfully between now and November will win.
Romney had banked on the premise that Obama would be put on the defensive over defending his economic record over the last 3 years, when it is he who is on the defensive. That’s why he will sputter that only socialists hate success, that he doesn’t have to release his income taxes, that Obama isn’t Anglo-Saxon enough or that he wants to mail out more welfare checks to undeserving (i.e. minority) people.
Obama will point out that he doesn’t want America and Americans to fail- but under GOP policies they have and that there is something deeply wrong with profiting over the destruction of the middle class. The fact that Romney has to move beyond his simple declaration that the economy stinks to Harry Reid being a dirty liar and dog whistle issues like welfare to work shows that he realizes his campaign is in trouble.