In politics a smart candidate uses a two-pronged strategy. He/she states forthrightly what he/she stands FOR and what he/she stands AGAINST.
This creates a well-rounded candidacy. Because if the candidate is only AGAINST issues or the opposing candidate, then we do not know what he/she proposes for a solution. If he/she is only FOR issues, then we see him/her as timid and afraid to confront his/her opponent and their issues.
Now we have Mitt Romney starting his campaign. Already we have seen Romney making blunt criticisms of Obama. Because Romney clearly is taking a page from the Ronald Reagan campaign of 1980 in which Reagan savaged Jimmy Carter and won in a landslide.
For instance Romney has said directly that Obama should “suck it up” and stop playing golf and get focused on the nation’s problems.
Good. This is bold language that a creampuff like McCain never would have used. And expect Romney to continue in this vein. When commenting on Obama’s campaign slogan ‘Forward’, Romney retorted: “Forward, what, over the cliff!?”
Excellent. He is even mocking the sanctimonious Obama. This terrifies the Democrats. They want a timid McCain-type candidate who is afraid to criticize Obama because Obama is (half) black.
Now Romney has rolled out his first national campaign ad, a TV ad in several crucial battleground states, and the ad is called ‘Day One’. The ad says what Romney will do on the first day of his presidency:
“President Romney immediately approves the Keystone pipeline, creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked… President Romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that reward job creators, not punish them… President Romney issues order to begin replacing Obamacare with commonsense health care reform. That’s what a Romney presidency will be like."
Wow. Kaboom. So Romney is doing several smart things. First the ad is calling him “President Romney”. This is a good psychological tactic. We have not heard that phrase before. And this is happening as Americans are focusing on him and as his polls are rising.
Second he is telling us directly and without hesitation what he plans to do in just a few short sentences.
Third, the ad speaks in the present tense – “President Romney immediately approves the Keystone pipeline” – as if to suggest that he already is president. Smart thinking.
Fourth, the ad’s boldness and directness has attracted national attention and so has produced much more political ‘buzz’ than a bland, boilerplate ad.
(Another brilliant Romney campaign stroke is the National Debt Clock that he is going to bring to every campaign event. The sight of that debt figure increasing every second is a great prop for Romney to clobber Obama with.)
Notice that each sentence in the Romney TV ad has in it both a positive element (what Romney will do) and a negative (how Obama has hurt us). Here are the three sentences (positive in italics, negative in bold):
*President Romney immediately approves the Keystone pipeline, creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked…
*President Romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that reward job creators, not punish them…
*President Romney issues order to begin replacing Obamacare with commonsense health care reform.
Awesome. Romney obviously has a very good campaign consultant doing his ads. This ad is a very strong initial punch at Obama, even calling it ‘Obamacare’, which angers Democrats. And rest assured that this is just the beginning.
Even the Media Left are admitting the strength of the Romney ad. Said washingtonpost.com:
In his first television advertisement of the general election, Romney is reinforcing his focus on the economy while attacking two of Obama’s more polarizing policies in a nod to skeptical conservatives …The positive tone is a stark contrast to the latest ad from Obama’s re-election campaign, which attacks Romney’s business career.
So even the libs are noting Obama’s negative tone. But then expectedly washingtonpost.com starts doubting Romney:
But Romney’s ad oversimplifies complicated issues and exaggerates his potential influence as president. He’s outlining plans he can’t accomplish on his first day in office without significant cooperation from parties beyond his control. The narrator promises Romney would issue an order “to begin replacing Obamacare” on his first day in office. While he sometimes gets big cheers on the campaign trail by promising to repeal the law, Romney knows he cannot do away with Obama’s landmark health care bill on his own.
Yes, we know that. But you have to start somewhere and the libs are terrified that Romney even plans to start. Because for the first time in history we are actually going to seek to roll back and then eliminate a government program with many more to come under Romney. This horrifies liberals who are used to those programs growing and growing every year.
Yet in contrast, when Obama said outright during his campaign in 2008 that electricity prices will “necessarily skyrocket” under his ‘green’ policies, those same skeptical media said virtually nothing. Because they actually support higher energy costs.
Meanwhile the ‘experts’ at washingtonpost.com warn sternly:
Finally, Romney’s promise to introduce tax cuts that “reward job creators” oversimplifies a plan that could have huge ramifications for the nation’s taxpayers. Tax cuts would add to the federal deficit, which Romney has vowed to shrink. He says any tax cuts would be paid for by closing certain deductions and loopholes but has refused to provide any details on plans that may ultimately affect popular deductions like those on mortgage interest.
This, of course, ignores history that shows that in every single instance, without exception, that high taxes thwart economic growth and that low taxes help growth.
In fact there are only three things keeping the American economy afloat in 2012:
*The lower Bush-era tax rates are still in effect, surprisingly voted by the Democrat Congress and signed by Obama in December 2010. These will expire at the end of 2012.
*A Social Security tax ‘holiday’ is allowing Americans to keep more than $100 billion instead of paying it into SS. This also is helping the economy somewhat but it is draining Social Security.
*The election of a tidal wave of Republicans to state and federal offices in November 2010 offered a boost to business confidence.