President Obama’s reelection team has already concluded that Romney will most likely be the man whom Obama faces in the 2012 general election. Aides and advisors to Obama are already centering the president’s reelection campaign on an all out assault of Mitt Romney’s complete and utter lack of conviction and dubious business background. According to Politico, Obama’s campaign plans to portray Romney as “inauthentic, unprincipled and ‘weird.” This strategy certainly worked for George W. Bush in 2004 when his campaign tiredly painted Senator Kerry, another member of the Massachusetts political establishment, as a flip-flopper. More and more, people have become accustomed to politicians changing their minds to coincide with the poll or talking point du jour. So time will certainly tell if this part of Obama’s campaign strategy works as well for him as it did for George Bush. But as a Republican competing with Herman Cain and Rick Perry for the Republican party’s nomination, Romney certainly isn’t building any lasting bonds with the conservative faithful.
The flip-flopping Macy’s store mannequin recently enraged many conservatives when he arrived at a phone bank full of teabagger Republicans to cheer on their efforts in stopping the repeal of SB 5, yet stated it’s a bill he has no strong position on. SB 5 is a Ohio piece of legislation that, like the earlier bill in Wisconsin, strips government workers of their collective bargaining rights. Much like the same lame excuses we heard during the debate in Wisconsin, proponents of the bill say it will help contain the state budget. The bill was passed by the Republican Legislature, signed by Republican Governor John Kasich, and has garnered the support of conservative groups who are on the ground in Ohio desperately trying to prevent a repeal vote.
So for Romney to show up at this crucial conservative vote and offer lukewarm support on an issue that has inflamed many parts of the country while sending droves of public sector workers to prolonged protests, demonstrates his lack of political convictions.
According to CNN:
“I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues,” Romney said, only after repeated questions from reporters. “Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to reign in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party’s efforts here.”
Not exactly the type of rhetoric that inspires or causes one to pass out in awe of, but that is the Romney effect.
“Certainly if one of the Presidential candidates were to go to the state, show up, and were asked about it, we’d expect them to be supportive of both efforts,” said Brendan Steinhauser, the Federal and State Campaigns Director at FreedomWorks in an interview with TPM. “This is a no brainer for any of the Presidential candidate to get behind. We’re disappointed but not surprised in Romney’s lack of support.”
Of course the rabid and foaming-at-the-mouth conservative founder website Redstate.com, Erick Erickson, wasn’t as measured in his response.
“This is a huge freaking deal,” wrote Red State founder Erick Erickson. “Playing it too safe is finally biting Romney in the rear end. He’s refused to call social security a Ponzi scheme. He’s refused to offer bold economic reform plans. He’s refused to address significant changes in entitlement reforms. His whole campaign has centered around tapioca.”
I’m not quite sure what dessert products have to do with Mitt Romney, but such hilariously irrational petulance is the domain of Erick Erickson. Perhaps we could get a response from a conservative faction that indicates they don’t wear tin-foil caps outdoors.
According to the Washington Post:
“The big problem many conservatives have with Mitt Romney is that he’s taken both sides of nearly every issue important to us. He’s against a flat tax, now he’s for it. He says he’s against ObamaCare, but was for the individual mandate and subsidies that are central to ObamaCare. He thinks that collective bargaining issues should be left for states to decide if he’s Ohio, but he took the opposite position when he was in New Hampshire. This is just another statement in a long line of statements that will raise more doubts about what kind of President Mitt Romney would be in the minds of many Republican primary voters,” said conservative Club For Growth spokesperson Barney Keller
In short, Romney’s vacillating certainly isn’t wining him many fans going into the hyper-partisan primaries.
Michael is a comedian/VO artist/Columnist extraordinaire, who co-wrote an award-nominated comedy, wrote for NY Times Laugh Lines, guest-blogged for Joe Biden, and writes a column for MSNBC.com affiliated Cagle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Seriously, follow him or he’ll send you photos of Rush Limbaugh bending over in a thong.
