Over the summer and through the convention the Obama campaign strategy was two-fold: Demonize Mitt Romney as an unacceptable alternative and tout their foreign policy success in the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the Arab Spring. Both strategies have failed as reality has inserted itself.
First, the foreign policy. For over a year the Obama Administration had been hailing the great revolution in the Middle East (the so-called ‘Arab Spring’) as a major foreign policy achievement. And then at their convention in September the killing of Osama Bin Laden was heralded over and over again. So much so that you would have thought that Obama personally pulled the trigger instead of our Navy Seals. “Bin Laden is dead, GM is alive” was the catch phrase (you know its getting bad when liberals can’t even do good rhyme with their pet phrases anymore!). John Kerry asked the critical question “Is Osama Bin Laden better of than he was four years ago”? That’s debatable. At least he doesn’t have to listen to Obama talk about healing the planet anymore. And while this WAS a major achievement, it was totally over done. In fact it was mentioned 21 times at the DNC. Talk about spiking the football! Even the replacement refs would have thrown a penalty flag for excessive celebration on that one. Just imagine if George W. Bush had done something similar. He got criticized for mentioning 911 too many times. But the Democrats are so desperate to have either a war hero (see John Kerry) or a victorious war time President. Once again, they have neither. Less than a week after their self proclaimed successful convention, Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in an attack on our embassy in Benghazi. For a week we were told that the attack was a result of a spontaneous protest that was sparked by a anti-Muslim you tube video (which no one seems to know much about). It is obvious now that this story was totally false. And as the lies and coverups of this administration have been exposed, they have watched whatever advantage they might have had on foreign policy evaporate into thin air. They are now resorting to blaming the Romney/Ryan campaign for ‘politicizing’ the issue.
Let’s also not forget the debacle on the floor of the Democratic convention over whether to recognize Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel, something no American political party has wavered on before. First it was taken out and then only put back in after a groundswell of criticism. And it was done after a clear majority of Democrats on the floor voted AGAINST it! Democrats have a habit of ramming things through that nobody wants. This prompted an amusing sound bite from Debbie Wasserman Schultz that
we had in fact not witnessed what we had witnessed. You can’t lie any more brazenly than that! Bill Clinton would be proud.
The second part of the strategy was to paint Mitt Romney as some kind of evil, rich white man who did not know how to relate to (or even care about) the average worker. This effort appeared to pay dividends as Obama started pulling ahead in several polls during the late summer after a blitz of negative advertising and virtually no response from the Romney campaign. And it may have worked successfully – but then came the debate on October 3rd. In a mere 90 minutes, Mitt Romney destroyed the “myth” that had been created about him and rendered all the money Obama had spent on this strategy wasted. The REAL Mitt Romney people saw was a successful businessman who had saved many companies on the brink of going under and then went on to save the Olympics. They also saw a man who is hurt by what he is seeing happening in our country and wants to restore the principles that made it great. We also saw a striking contrast between a man who has ideas about how to fix the problem based on his private sector experience and a man offering the same solutions for the next four years that haven’t worked the last four. Romney appeared Presidential (and “fresh”) while Obama appeared old and worn out.
There was also the phony Republican “war on women” orchestrated about by the Obama campaign and echoed dutifully by their cheerleaders in the media. Romney wants to end access to contraception for women they tell us. How? Is he going to go into Walmart and remove them from the shelves? I haven’t quite figured that one out. Then in the second debate the question was asked about equal pay. Romney detailed how he had included women in his decision making process. What he failed to mention was that women in the Obama Administration make less than men. Not surprising but I am wondering if we will ever see the day when liberals actually practice what they preach? So now the left is trying to make some kind of issue out of “binders”. There was also a brief ad a few weeks ago asking women to “vote like your lady parts depend on it”. These attacks are pathetic and indicative that the real war on women (especially their intelligence) is coming from the Obama campaign.
So where are we as we approach the finish line?
Mitt Romney has all the momentum at the moment. The second debate did not change the direction of the race. And the Obama campaign is looking at a quickly shrinking map. It looks likely that Florida, Virginia and North Carolina have gone red. And Obama is slipping badly in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. He is having to spend time rallying his base – especially females. A month ago it
would have seemed impossible that Romney could be within single digits among women but that is what is happening in several polls. Hence the juvenile catch phrase that Obama is now using on the stump – ‘Romnesia”. This after two weeks of “Big Bird” ads. Obama has quickly devolved into a unserious campaign that even watchers of Sesame Street would find silly.
In the meantime, Mitt Romney has had his base solidly behind him since the convention (and especially the first debate). He can now reach out to independents and undecideds. And with North Carolin safely in his fold, he has moved resources into Pennsylvania, a state once thought unreachable. He has crossed the 50% threshold in Gallup and is very close in Rasmussen while Obama hovers around 45-47%, a very bad number for an incumbent less than a month from election day.
My how things have changed in 6 weeks. Then it was Romney who was on the ropes and on the verge of losing the election – at least that’s what the pundits told us. Now, with just a little over 2 weeks to go, the Obama campaign is in free fall with the ground coming up quick. .
