We Gave Obama Way Too Much Credit For Campaign Skills in 2008

He had the wind at his back and as I wrote a few days ago, nothing was going to stop him.  He had won his previous races by chasing his strongest competitors out of the race (often by leaking damaging information about them) and running against incompetents.  Now his real campaign skills and abilities are being put to the test, and he and his campaign staff are failing (from Jennifer Rubin):

I confess that not in my wildest dreams did I imagine President Obama’s campaign would be so awful. Oh sure, I knew it would be “awful” in the sense of going negative, being disingenuous and blaming everyone for his failings. But I was taken by surprise by how “awful,” in the sense of incompetent and ham-handed, it has been.

Virtually every gambit and issue (“war on women,” gay marriage, and now Bain) has gone haywire, arguably inflicting more damage to Obama than to Mitt Romney.

Romney sounds like he’s the president when he responds more in sadness than in anger to Obama’s assertion he’s going to make the campaign about Bain. Romney’s statement was restrained, with only a hint of contempt: “President Obama confirmed today that he will continue his attacks on the free enterprise system, which Mayor Booker and other leading Democrats have spoken out against. What this election is about is the 23 million Americans who are still struggling to find work and the millions who have lost their homes and have fallen into poverty. President Obama refuses to accept moral responsibility for his failed policies. My campaign is offering a positive agenda to help America get back to work.”

As the Wall Street Journal editorial board put it: “If the campaign is going to successfully demonize Mitt Romney as a marauding capitalist, it can’t have fellow Democrats defending capitalism. . . . The Obama campaign’s attacks on Bain haven’t gone very well, in part because the claims are so transparently cynical. Everyone knows they’re cherry-picking facts, focusing on the rare Bain Capital failures while ignoring the successes — all in order to distract attention from the failed results of Mr. Obama’s economic policies.”

I must give credit to the Romney campaign for being very nimble and quick-on-their-feet when it comes to responding to Obama's attacks. They waste no time having a cogent response to everything Obama tries. The demagoguery isn't working, in fact, it's backfiring. Even prominent Democrats are criticizing Obama's attacks. The distractions simply aren't working.

Romney is trying to keep the focus on the economy and jobs, and those are the two things Obama doesn't want to talk about. He and his fan boys in the media want you to be distracted, want you to believe Romney is evil and only Obama is good. It's really that simple.

It's not going to work this time, but it's going to get a lot nastier as the Obama campaign's futility continues.