"Poor Mitt, he took BO's bait by talking a lot about Medicare, a touchy subject for seniors & near seniors. He should instead talk a lot about the deficit, and give figures how much each person will owe to the government each year for the next 20 years or so AND say this includes children. Somebody has to pay for it - and it is you, the public. Keep harping on that ONE issue, and pretty soon it will make an impression on the people" is further advice Mitt has received from our readership since last night's message.
To me the deficit by itself has been a losing political issue for decades starting with Walter Mondale losing 49 states. I have also found that people do not care as much about their children & grandchildren as you might think when put in terms of the deficit. Far too many people have worked their way into the choice of 1) eating today or 2) letting their 10 year old granddaughter address the deficit decades from now.
"I am curious. Why would you be stunned that Barack is looking to pull an FDR?" was asked re my statement from the original posting "BO stunned me when he talked about his second term being a 'bold, persistent, experimentation that FDR pursued in the 1930s.'" I was stunned because BO said it so clearly. The question went right to one of the themes of the subject posting. After writing the sentence quoting BO about following FDR I added "What more does anyone, including Mitt Romney, need to know?" The idea being that Mitt should make ads showing this clip time & again so that everyone hears BO say in his own words just what his plan is. The hapless McCain did not do this sort of thing after BO told Joe the Plumber that he "wanted to spread the wealth around." Two golden opportunities – will Mitt use the current one? If he doe he @ least is properly defining his opponent.
The last comment I present offers a different strategy for Mitt. The writer is depending on Mitt closing big – real big.
"Doug - Your responders seem to have listened to the liberal media rather than the Democrat convention itself. It was not a very good show. Granted Mitt's bump was mitigated by A) the hurricane and B) the closeness to the DNC. Eva Longoria sounded like a Republican on stage. Clinton fired them up, but not for Obama or his policies. Remember, we are not reelecting Clinton. Obamas' speech was muted and a bit strange, kind of like Eastwood's. No rah, rah, lets jump through fire like '08.
"I've said from the get-go that it is Romney's to lose. He has not done anything yet to sway my position. Some of the concerns raised by the political junkie class does not really need to get addressed now. Most not at all. We have a 60+ day marathon going on. You want to save your strength and your big guns for the final sprint, when the general public starts to tune in. If we spend all of our time countering their claims, people will think this is a big spitting contest.
"You have got to keep running, but save that big kick for the end."