The Obama campaign did everything they could to exploit Mitt Romney’s reputation as an unprincipled flip-flopper during the GOP primary, but now the campaign seems to be conceding that this won’t be an effective attack during the general election. According to Politico, the new strategy is to portray Romney as an extreme conservative, taking advantage of the stances he took to bolster his conservative bona fides during the primary:
Last week, senior administration officials surprised reporters in a White House background briefing by correcting a questioner who suggested that Obama thought Romney had his “finger in the wind.”
The rebuke: Romney’s core is now filled in. With craven right-wing craziness.
The backgrounder, in turn, spawned a New York Times story, which allowed Plouffe to trial-balloon a new line of attack, comparing Romney to the archetypal GOP extremist loser: “Whether it’s tax policy, whether it’s his approach to abortion, gay rights, immigration, he’s the most conservative nominee that they’ve had going back to [1964 Republican candidate Barry] Goldwater.”
The problem is that Obama needs to bring out similar numbers of enthusiastic progressive voters as he did in 2008. Portraying Romney as a squishy flip-flopper is far less likely to scare liberal voters to the polls than portraying Romney as an extreme right-winger. The campaign also hopes that the message will help peel away independent voters, women and Hispanic voters.
Of course, that’s only going to happen if swing voters actually believe it. The conservative movement’s reluctance to embrace Romney as the nominee for the past year isn’t going to be forgotten quickly. He may have called himself a “severely conservative” governor, but his actual record in Massachusetts is far from it. And his temperament and style just don’t fit with the conventional image of a raving right-winger.
Which brings up another obstacle the Obama campaign will face with this strategy. Democrats rely heavily on liberal-leaning media and pop culture to get out their messages. Saturday Night Live and late night talk shows are the big reason why Sarah Palin was seen as a right-wing wacko in 2008, while Joe Biden was seen as a lovable dunce. They play a huge role in defining candidates. And Romney-the-Tea-Party-Extremist just doesn’t ring true on TV the way Romney-the-Robot-Phony does.
I wonder, how did Romney escape the clutches of the extreme right-wing long enough to appoint a woman to head his V.P. search and a gay man to his foreign policy team? Please explain, David Axelrod.
> “Whether it’s tax policy, whether it’s his approach to abortion, gay rights, n> immigration, he’s the most conservative nominee that they’ve had going n> back to [1964 Republican candidate Barry] Goldwater.” n nAssuming Romney decides to embrace the Ryan budget, is this really such a misleading claim…? n nDeciding whether Mitt is a moderate or a "fierce conservative" based on this past record is virtually impossible since he has switched positions on so many issues. So the only plausible yardstick for both conservatives and liberals is the Romney campaign's promises … you have to take what Mitt says at face value. If he essentially promises to rubber-stamp anything that the GOP-controlled Congress brings to his desk, I think both sides (the Norquist/Ryan crowd *and* Obama campaign operatives!) will be very pleased indeed! n nMARCU$ n
The only people who are going to believe that Mitt Romney is an "extreme right winger" are the extreme left-wing fruit loops who were never going to vote for him anyway. n nIf there's one thing that Mitt Romney is NOT, it's "extreme".
"Saturday Night Live and late night talk shows are the big reason why Sarah Palin was seen as a right-wing wacko in 2008." n nWrong. Sarah Palin did herself in primarily with her interview with Katie Couric, who asked "softball" questions that any Minor League politician would have hit out of the park!
Boy, that didn't take long! Mr. Etch-a-Sketch is at it already! n n"He may have called himself a 'severely conservative' governor, but his actual record in Massachusetts is far from it. And his temperament and style just don’t fit with the conventional image of a raving right-winger." – Alana Goodman n nIn other words, Romney advertised himself "severely conservative" when he needed the "raving right-winger" vote to avoid being blown out of the primary races by Rick Santorum. But now, Goodman assures us that Romney is really a "moderate" – a man for any season. n nHowever, there aren't enough "moderate" voters to win the November election for Mitt Romney. If he intends to prevail, Romney will have to win the hearts and minds of a large number of conservative voters, just as he had to do to win primary elections. n nWho's the real Mitt Romney? A walking, talking Etch-a-Sketch.
You want Mr. etch a sketch or MR. SOCIALIST? I don't see that we really have a choice here. n nMitt 2012
You're right. We don't have a choice. Poor and worse.
Will voters believe Obama again? That should be your next commentary. n nYES, everyone I know that is a republican has said they will support MITT big time, and with our donations… n nYes, Mitt can beat Obama in Nov, and he must beat him.
The narrative that Mitt Romney is a flip flopper is already out there and well known. If the Obama campaign argues uses Romney's stances from the primaries to argue that he is a right winger, Romney will be making the argument that he is not that conservative, effectively reinforcing the "flip-flopper" narrative. If Romney is undermining his own conservative credentials, that is more likely to be believed by conservatives than anything from the Obama campaign.
In the dictionary under "You got NOTHING!" there's a picture of the Democrat party.
IF there's one thing Mitt Romney is not, it's trustworthy. n nEnd of story.
The Obama people would have been smarter to stick to continue accusing Romney of inconsistancy. Of course Obama "flip flops" a lot too, so maybe accusing Mitt of inconsistency would have left Obama open to a charge of hypocricy. But Mitt Romney as a wild eyed extremist? That's pretty preposterous. More and more, the Obama people look desperate. They're frantically jabbing their fingers into the dyke without even knowing where the leak is.