Posted on 04/13/2012 9:45:20 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
With the general election now underway, it’s tempting to assume that President Obama has a built-in advantage by having at his disposal a campaign operation that earned universal plaudits in 2008. But as Team Obama itself already knows—or, if not, will soon come to realize—the 2012 contest will be very different from the president’s triumphant march to the White House four years ago. The key question will be how the old campaign staff responds to the new electoral landscape. Here are seven realities that Team Obama will have to adjust to.
2012 will be a referendum, not a choice. One of the best established findings of contemporary political science is that in presidential contests involving an incumbent, the incumbent’s record is central to the public’s judgment. A race for an open Oval Office is about promises and personalities; a campaign for reelection is about the record and performance of the person currently occupying the White House. To be sure, Obama can offer his vision for the future and new proposals to flesh it out. But if the people don’t approve of his record, that won’t matter much.
No more promises of bipartisanship. Obama will have to abandon—or at least radically modify—the promise to heal a polarized political system that was at the heart of his rise to national prominence, starting with his dramatic address at the 2004 Democratic convention. And because his inability to foster this reconciliation has disappointed many people who voted for him in 2008, he’ll have to explain why he couldn’t do it in a way that redirects that disappointment toward the Republican Party and its nominee.
No more “Yes, we can.”
(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...
H/T to Hot Air.
Anybody on the fence who can’t decide between the two is brain dead...pull the plug!
Mitt Romney = John McCain, so in a large sense, it IS 2008 all over again. Romney is going to get creamed. There will just be no motivation to get out and vote and make a choice between Obongo and Obongo Lite.
I find little difference between Obama and Romney.
Ones muslim and ones mormon?
Except that there will be a very strong "anyboby but Zero" sentiment for all but the hoodies and fellow travelers.
I'm still not convinced that Stevie is going to be there in November. November is a long way off and this guy is formenting race war - actively - from the White House. Let us all just ponder that for a moment.
Obama wouldn’t have won last time around, if McCain hadn’t put a muzzle on Sarah and handed Obama the election on a silver platter.
And the fact is, Mitt Romney is a hundred times WORSE than Juan McCain.
Once again, the GOP wants to give the White House away. It doesn’t matter how much Obama screws up, he can’t lose against Romney.
Race riots, lynch mobs and rampaging hippies in the streets.
Those are your motivations to go and pull the lever for Romney.
It will actually play to his benefit to be the Whitest Man who ever ran for POTUS at that point.
Do you really think Romney will do worse than McLame?
With $4 gas, 16% real unemployment, recurring $1.5 trillion deficits, and serious inflation in everyday items?
btw, amazingly frank and honest assessment for a lefty rag like TNR
Come on. Does anybody really think that if Romney had been in the white house that last three years that we would be in the same mess we are now? There is no difference between Obama and Romney, NONE AT ALL? Some people are just getting way too carried away with the “I’m not voting for Romney, WAAA” stuff.
God help us, there really are Conservatives that believe that.
One huge difference, AIT. Obozo actually has a record to run on this time.
As poor as a contrast which Romney might offer, I can't see him nominating a racist extremist like Sotomayer to the supreme court, throwing Israel or any of our other allies under the bus, kissing a** with our sworn enemies, setting up gulags for conservatives or p*ssing away billions of dollars in Solyndra like green energy schemes to enrich his donors.
Like Ahrnold in California, he may be a RINO, but at least one with the sense to realize that a healthy private sector is necessary to generate the taxes to grown the nanny state efficiently.
Although 4 more years of The WOn is evidently palatable to some, it is not to me.
You can try to convince me that I am wrong, but I do not for a second believe that Mitt Romney hates America.
Really?...I feel sorry for you
Really?...I feel sorry for you
Really?...I feel sorry for you
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