Many conservatives are confidently dismissing the impact of the Washington Post’s assault on Mitt Romney’s character in the form of its story on his high school pranks. They believe most Americans can see through the bias of the piece as well as the timing of its publication online yesterday so as to coincide with President Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage. They hope that along with the nasty attacks on Romney’s religion and the effort to portray him as an aloof rich guy who doesn’t understand Americans, this latest outrageous illustration of the liberal media’s tilt against Republicans will backfire.
They may be right, as it is doubtful that too many voters worried about the country’s sinking economy will regard an investigative piece about what Romney did at school nearly 50 years ago as a reason to re-elect President Obama. Yet Republicans should not underestimate the impact of what is probably only one of the opening salvos in a campaign to delegitimize the GOP standard bearer by Obama’s cheerleaders in the press. The plain fact is that although Mitt Romney has been in the public eye for many years, including a presidential run in 2008, most Americans have probably yet to really understand who he is and what kind of man he is. With the liberal media starting to pile on Romney in the wake of the Post attack, it’s becoming clear that one of the critical aspects of the 2012 election will be whether it will be Romney or his detractors who will have the last word on his image.
That’s why Romney’s camp should take seriously critiques such as those of Howard Fineman, who wrote today in the Huffington Post to pile on Romney in the wake of the Post attack. Fineman’s attempt to make an issue of Romney’s hazy memory of schoolboy antics is both nasty and weak stuff. But he’s right when he warns that this is exactly the sort of smear that can stick to the candidate because the narrative of his life is not already set in the minds of most Americans.
Along with many others, in my reaction to the Post article, I pointed out the hypocrisy of a newspaper that didn’t put much effort into vetting Barack Obama four years ago subjecting Romney to this kind of scrutiny. In 2008, Republicans spent much of the year being frustrated by the media’s lack of interest in Obama’s unsavory connections in both his political and personal life. But the problem was more than just media bias. Much of the public didn’t seem to care either. That was because Obama’s image as the overachieving, eloquent African-American who was bound to make history had been set in stone early on in the campaign. Once established as a seminal and even historic figure — albeit one who had not done anything of note yet — Obama became virtually untouchable. Nor has his status as being above the normal adversarial scrutiny of the press changed during his years in the White House.
But Romney has no such advantage. The situation is quite to the contrary. If the fact that the next few months will be a virtual open season on the Republican candidate on the part of the national media hasn’t been made clear to the GOP yet, it should be now.
Romney’s personal story is actually quite impressive in that he brings to the table success in the real life world of business rather than being a political lifer. His personal life is also exemplary, something that has forced the left to talk endlessly about his dog Seamus’s ride on the roof of a car and high school pranks.
For much of the primary campaign, Romney’s team concentrated on trying to define his opponents negatively. That worked, but it devoted relatively little time to talking about their man’s strong case for the presidency. That has got to change and change quick if the GOP is to avoid having its standard bearer carpet bombed even before nominating conventions.
I understand Tobin's worries but this election will turn on the independents- the bases of each candidate will support it- and if Tobin thinks that the independents will swallow all this codswallop about high scholl pranks of the press, then we cannot win anyway- because they will present a rosy, opitimistic view of the economy. The supine press will indeed do anything to tar Romney- just wait till they dig up stories on Bain capital- this article on high school pranks will be nothing compared to what may be coming. Thankfully, Romney seesm to survive many of the nasty smears and is actually much more adept at gauging the voter's mood that many of us expected.
MSM does a great disservice to the American people and to me it's a betrayal. The MSM are for most part liberal Democrats who live in a bubble and look down on majority of Americans who are center right. The Republicans in general and Romney the candidate need to become more aggressively vocal but act presidential, not like BHO. The MSM, as shown by the lies in the Washington Post, need to be called out and the truth told. Breitbart site does a great job.
Dregstudios manages to combine progressive rage against a successful businessman with nativist bigotry against Mormons. Quite an accomplishment. Your mothers must be proud of you.
So true, totally agree.
What Mr. Tobin writes is true, of course. n nWe need to have Romney's back ourselves, and I think so far we are doing an OK job of it. n nFine, let him get his bio out there and let us all be ready to withstand the slings and arrows that will come from Obama, the WAPO and all their ilk. n nObama must not be re-elected. He's a meglomaniac who has really done nothing to benefit this country or the people in it. n nI wasn't a Romney supporter during the primaries, but gosh darn it he's going to be a much better president than Obama. n nAnd what should scare the daylights out of everyone, even many on the left, is how the press covers for Obama. n nIs that what we want, a President who's got the press in his hip pocket? n nNo, I didn't think so.
The problem will be the late night comedians/political commentators/philosophers. The all important “Independent” vote that gets its news and commentary from these “Wise Men” will have another negative label for Romney.
Jonathan S. Tobin's fears are grossly exaggerated. Obama has come out unambiguously for gay marriage—and is now the underdog. The odds are Romney will easily beat him on Election Day. The slime jobbing by the Washington Post and other Democratic Party surrogates will only impress the already committed blue state voters.
> For much of the primary campaign, Romney’s team concentrated on trying to define n> his opponents negatively. That worked, but it devoted relatively little time to talking n> about their man’s strong case for the presidency. n n"Strong case for the presidency?" It seems there might be less there than meets the eye … Romney does not really want to talk about his track record as Massachusetts Governor (where he didn't have much impact on jobs creation). And his task while working for Bain Capital wasn't exactly about creating jobs either — it was about protecting the interests of rich shareholders. Stereotyping / demagoguing Mitt should not prove too difficult. n nIn 2004, the Democrats were convinced John Kerry's favorability ratings mattered far less than the Bush Administration's various problems (an anemic economy, rising deficits, worrying signs in Iraq). We'll see if the GOP is making the same mistake this year. n