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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

No, Bad Economy is not Helping Mitt Romney

        Maybe the American people deserve more credit than we sometimes give them.

      "A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll makes it clear: Voters give Mitt Romney an edge over President Barack Obama on ideas for lifting the struggling American economy.  But how important is that edge? If you look at economic conditions in electoral battleground states, perhaps not as important as the national picture would suggest."

      "The NBC/WSJ survey shows the Democratic incumbent with some familiar advantages. By 16 points, voters rate Obama more highly for "looking out for the middle class." By 10 points, they give him the edge on "being a good commander-in-chief" — an unusually strong showing for a Democrat that Romney aims to cut into with a trip to Israel, Poland and Britain this week. "

   
     Mind you, I don't know what that line about Romney having ideas for lfiting the struggling economy! I mean, name me one? Give me one idea of his that has anything to do with lifiting the economy?

     A lot of polls just come down to how your frame the question. If Americans think he is better for looking out for the middle class how can they also think Romney has more ideas for lifting the economy?

    Isn't it a fact that Romney has been strkingly short on specifics on what he will do on any issue, whether it's what he will replace Romneycare with, to whether he agrees with the Lilly Ledbetter Act, whether he supports the President's recent executive order immigration reform to how he will pay for the huge tax cuts he plans for teh rich?

    I don't see any ideas at all, much less ideas that will lift the struggling economy. Overall, Romney is running on empty. His whole strategy is things are tough, it's all the President's fault. Even the Wall Street Journal editorial page wrote a tough piece arguing that's not enough. Where's the beef in the Romney campaign? Let's ask the Republicans-is Romney connecting with voters?

    “Romney is not doing that,” said Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley, who added that most candidates at the presidential level seek to connect personally, and then pivot from that to explaining a governing philosophy. Absent the policy details Romney has been reluctant to spell out, bonding on some level with voters could be a way forward.

    “It looks like they’re banking on simply the angst about President Obama,” Shirley said. “You don’t cross home plate just being against Barack Obama. What you’ve got to do is come up with a pitch, a formula, a message that is going to tell the American people, ‘We’ve tried the last four years. I have a better plan and here’s what it is.’”

   As Pete Morici puts it:

   "On the economy, Governor Romney sounds like a broken record, repeating an annoying theme and undermining his appeal. Constantly harping President Obama’s economic policies have failed, he asserts his business experience qualifies him to create millions of new American jobs."
    "Voters recognize President Obama inherited a bigger mess than any president since FDR, managed to stabilize the economy and created more than 3.6 million jobs since the recovery began in October 2009.
     "At Bain Capital, Governor Romney earned his fortune reorganizing troubled companies—often shutting facilities, outsourcing jobs and firing employees."
    "Little in that history indicates he knows much about shaping public policies to encourage new industries, attract private investment, instigate innovation, and generally help U.S. companies compete in global markets and bring jobs to America."
     Simply making attacks on an imaginary "Obama recession" without context or without any suggestion about what you'd do better is a losing strategy. The Romney campaign should figure something out. While they're at it, they should also release some tax returns. Polls show that's the thing voters most want Romney to do.

     Voters are not as stupid as rhe Republicans want to believe.


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