Earlier this week it was Romney's tax plan creates jobs, but they're overseas and not here. Today, it's Romney will end Medicare as we know it.
Bain is the jab to the stomach that softens up Romney for the haymakers on policy (to use boxing metaphors). Both are essential, and in multiple ways. The Obama campaign has a plan and they are executing it well.
For several weeks, pundits like Greg Sargent, Jonathan Chait and others have discussed the Obama campaign strategy. The campaign found in focus groups that people simply did not believe Romney's actual policies were what they were. They thought it was all attacks and no one would really want to voucherize Medicare, give more tax breaks to the wealthy, etc.
The average American does not understand how radical this Republican Party is. So the only way to get folks to listen to the truth was to attack Romney on Bain, showing people that he was the sort of person who would do these things. Yes, he outsourced lots of folks, ran a corporate chop shop and got rich on the suffering of working people. A guy like that would screw the middle class by destroying Medicare and running the country for the rich only.
Burton and his colleagues spent the early months of 2012 trying out the pitch that Romney was the most far-right presidential candidate since Barry Goldwater. It fell flat. The public did not view Romney as an extremist. For example, when Priorities informed a focus group that Romney supported the Ryan budget plan — and thus championed “ending Medicare as we know it” — while also advocating tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the respondents simply refused to believe any politician would do such a thing. What became clear was that voters had almost no sense of Obama’s opponent.
While conducting a different focus group — this one with non-college-educated Milwaukee voters on the eve of Wisconsin’s April 3 primary — Burton and Sweeney were surprised to learn that even after Romney had spent months campaigning, many in the group could not recognize his face, much less characterize his positions. Compounding the Republican nominee’s strangely persistent obscurity is that, as Garin told me, “Romney is not a natural politician in the sense of embracing opportunities to talk about himself.”
NY Times, July 5, 20112
Earlier this week, President Obama hit Romney on creating jobs overseas with his tax break for outsourcing/offshoring companies:
"There is a new study out by a non-partisan economist that Gov. Romney's economic plan would in fact create 800,000 jobs. There's only one problem. The jobs wouldn't be in America."
President Obama: Romney's Proposed Tax Cuts Will Create 800,000 Jobs ... In Other Countries!
Today President Obama goes after Romney on Medicare.
And today when Obama begins a two-day swing through the crucial state of Florida -- with all of its seniors -- he’ll introduce another attack: hitting Romney on Medicare and the Ryan budget. Per the campaign, the president “will discuss his commitment to strengthening Medicare, and a new report tomorrow that highlights the devastating impact Mitt Romney's Medicare plan could have on the 3.4 million Floridians that rely on Medicare.” Bottom line, per the campaign’s guidance: Obama will argue that Romney -- through his support for the Ryan budget plan -- advocates ending Medicare “as we know it.”
nbcnews.com, First Read
Jonathan Chait sees this as the next and most important step.
The Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s business record and personal finances will probably continue for a long time. But I think that, when the campaign is remembered in history, they will not be seen as the central element but rather as a prelude. The main event is going to be a fight over the priorities of the Paul Ryan budget.
Jonathan Chait
So Bain, lack of transparency, tax returns, Swiss Bank accounts, Cayman Islands, etc., all are necessary. Ed Rendell and Cory Booker have their heads up their asses. (Rendell's comment attacking Obama is starring in a Crossroads GPS (Karl Rove special) 9 million dollar ad buy.) I think Ed needs to make a donation to Priorities to make up for his stupidity. Fork over some of that msnbc money, Ed.
Good thing the Obama campaign ignored them.