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Team Obama Finds Romney Hard Target to Hit
Townhall.com ^ | June 1, 2012 | Scott Rasmussen

Posted on 06/01/2012 10:38:43 AM PDT by Kaslin

The Obama campaign's early attempts to attack Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital or present him as too extreme to be president have not worked out all that well so far. The early stumbles have created a flurry of commentaries wondering what's wrong with the team that performed so flawlessly in Election 2008.

The answer may have nothing to do with the Obama campaign and have everything to do with the fact that Romney appears to be a tougher target than anticipated.

On the Bain Capital front, 44 percent of voters say Romney's business experience there is primarily a reason to vote for him, and only 33 percent see it as a negative. More importantly, though, a solid majority of voters believes that venture capital firms are better at job creation than new government programs.

That creates a major challenge for the Obama team: How can they go after Romney as a venture capitalist without appearing to attack the free market system that Americans wholeheartedly embrace?

Adding to the challenge for the president is that attacking venture capital firms reinforces a perception that he is already too far to the left on economic issues.

Most voters think cutting government spending will be good for the economy but feel the president wants more spending instead. Seventy percent of voters believe the president is politically liberal. That figure includes 46 percent who say he is very liberal. That's not where you want to be perceived in a center-right nation.

Overall, 43 percent of voters consider themselves conservative and just 26 percent liberal. Mostly, though, voters are pragmatic rather than ideological, and there is a distrust of those who are seen as strongly ideological. Only a modest number of voters describe themselves as either very conservative or very liberal, leaving more than seven out of 10 voters closer to the center.

That's where they perceive Romney to be. Fifty-six percent of voters see Romney as either politically moderate or somewhat conservative.

This creates another major challenge for the Obama team: How can they paint Romney as ideologically extreme when voters see the president as the more ideological candidate?

Obviously, all of these perceptions could shift over the course of the campaign. The president will try to convince voters he is a pragmatist rather than an ideologue. His team will try to paint Romney as out-of-touch with the concerns of day-to-day voters and to portray his business career as insensitive and predatory. Political junkies will continue to obsess over tactical decisions made by the campaign.

But the underlying reality is that Team Obama has a difficult hand to play. The economy matters more than campaign tactics, and the indicators at the moment are mixed at best. Additionally, most Americans believe that the president's instincts lead in the wrong direction when it comes to finding solutions.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: government; spending; venturecapitalism; venturesocialism
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1 posted on 06/01/2012 10:38:56 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I believe that the Obama Administration is desperate, seeing its contributions declining and Romney just beginning to get up a full head of steam. The fact is and always will be that Marxism is a failed system that has never worked and never will, and America is finally waking up to who Obama really is.


2 posted on 06/01/2012 10:45:00 AM PDT by thethirddegree
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To: Kaslin

Obama and Romney have trouble defeating each other because evil cannot be defeated with evil. Reject Obama, Romney and all evil.

Trust God.


3 posted on 06/01/2012 10:46:18 AM PDT by Tau Food (Tom Hoefling for President - 2012)
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To: Kaslin
wondering what's wrong with the team that performed so flawlessly in Election 2008

Yeah, like it was so hard to convince a bunch of Democrat liberals to vote for the black guy in the primaries, or to beat a confused wimp like McCain, who "fought" with his hands tied behind his back in the general election.

4 posted on 06/01/2012 10:47:46 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: Kaslin

“That creates a major challenge for the Obama team: How can they go after Romney as a venture capitalist without appearing to attack the free market system that Americans wholeheartedly embrace? “

They can’t. Way more people now know the difference between Obama’s chickensh1t and Romney’s chicken salad!


5 posted on 06/01/2012 10:48:51 AM PDT by bopdowah ("Unlike King Midas, whatever the Gubmint touches sure don't turn to Gold!')
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To: Kaslin
Maybe Bam-Bam should try running on his own record, instead of attacking Willard.

Bam-Bam has such a sterling record, right? He brought us Hope and Change! He lowered unemployment! He paid off the Federal Debt! He got us all out of poverty! He saved the economy! He made friends all over the world! He closed Guantanamo Bay! He defeated terrorism! And all while playing golf and going on vacation in the family station wagon with Shelley and the girls!

With such a fantastic record, he shouldn't even need to mention Willard!

Cough! Cough!

What's this VW Microbus I'm in? Why is it full of smoke? What does "choom" mean?

6 posted on 06/01/2012 10:51:16 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: thethirddegree

The problem that Obama is having with Romney is that the two of them are twins in their thinking. Kinda hard to blast someone who thinks and believes in the same thing you do. THAT IS THE 100 PERCENT REASON THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS HAVING DIFFICULTY WITH THE GOOFBALL ROMNEY!!!!!


7 posted on 06/01/2012 10:54:02 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: Kaslin

Pretty comical when one considers that the individual attempting to dig up dirt got a blow job and did coke with a gay prostitute in a limo while on the public payroll, is wrecking the economy with disastrous soviet-like policies, has effectively expunged his past from the public, and has an attorney general currently attempting to spark race riots prior to an election ... amongst other things. Romney has it all on a silver platter, if he wants it.


8 posted on 06/01/2012 10:56:17 AM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: Kaslin

It’s always tough to screw with someone when you are an impotent prick.


9 posted on 06/01/2012 11:01:10 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys=Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best for you.)
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To: Kaslin
The president will try to convince voters he is a pragmatist rather than an ideologue.

And how does he do that and still generate enthusiasm in the moonbats?

10 posted on 06/01/2012 11:04:30 AM PDT by bkepley
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To: Kaslin

I agree with Rush, I think Obama is waiting for the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare in hopes of using that to gin up his base.


11 posted on 06/01/2012 11:07:22 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (When religions have to beg the gov't for a waiver, we are already under socialism.)
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To: Kaslin

The Illegal’s big problem here is that he’s in his first real contested election. He either knocked out all his prior serious opponents before the elections or had a worthless pushover, McCain, to run against. Before now everything was given to him and he never had really to work for anything. Now, for the first time in his worthless life, he actually has a hard, genuine election fight. There’s a good chance he won’t be psychologically able to handle it.


12 posted on 06/01/2012 11:11:12 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: Kaslin
The first paragraph of this article ends with a joke!

"The early stumbles have created a flurry of commentaries wondering what's wrong with the team that performed so flawlessly in Election 2008."

Answer: The flawless performance of 2008 was allowing McShame to self destruct, and he performed admirably. Everything else they did was damage control.

Another factor is that his 2008 team, those that haven't (yet) been thrown under the bus, are busy putting on life jackets and manning the lifeboats, knowing that their Captain is sinking the ship. The only ones staying aboard, it seems, are those too connected to him and his agenda, such as WaPo, NYT, MSNBC, etc.

13 posted on 06/01/2012 11:18:24 AM PDT by fantail 1952 (Common sense policy: Help your friends. Whip your enemies. Sort out the rest later.)
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To: Kaslin

Didn’t the Dumbasscrats rant and rave not long ago how evil the term “target” was?


14 posted on 06/01/2012 11:22:15 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: Kaslin
What is more emblematic of global Peace than the Olympic Games?

The Romney campaign is apparently holding back the St. Willard Story wherein he rescued the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. St. Willard deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his successful service in the chase for International Peace.

15 posted on 06/01/2012 12:58:38 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: ArrogantBustard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IDbJ0ltd_8M


16 posted on 06/01/2012 1:04:52 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

LOL! It doesn’t get old ... BamBam floating midair with bongs spinning around his head ... and a couple of Taiwanese cuties ...


17 posted on 06/01/2012 1:22:48 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: Paladin2
What is more emblematic of global Peace than the Olympic Games?
The Romney campaign is apparently holding back the St. Willard Story wherein he rescued the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. St. Willard deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his successful service in the chase for International Peace.
Not that it would happen, but if it did, Romney’s correct course of action would be to ask Congress for a resolution, at least, giving him permission to accept the award. Since the government of Norway selects the people who choose the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and the Constitution (theoretically, at least) forbids the acceptance of any award from a from a foreign government without congressional approval.

18 posted on 06/01/2012 1:34:11 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The idea around which “liberalism" coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.)
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To: Kaslin
what's wrong with the team that performed so flawlessly in Election 2008.

Well the Chicago mob had incriminating, blackmail-worthy evidence on Hillary, so she couldn't attack Baraq's dubious personal history. They were left to debate on which one was the bigger commie.

Then in the general election, McLame was an incredibly weak opponent.

Baraq is like a heavyweight champion who's never fought a guy with a winning record.

19 posted on 06/01/2012 1:40:55 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: ArrogantBustard
"and a couple of Taiwanese cuties"

LOL, they apparently know how to kick it up a few notches while having fun.

20 posted on 06/01/2012 2:09:50 PM PDT by Paladin2
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