Fred Barnes: Romney's Dangerous Game of Playing It Safe

WSJ ^ | 10/3/12 | Fred Barnes

[LS]

First, the back seat driving is funny. It is largely based on the wrong notion that the polls are right. If they are not and in fact Romney is ahead, then on Nov. 7 all these brainiacs will be telling us what a brilliant campaign he ran.

Second, early on my wife kept sayings he wanted Romney cause he was ruthless but sneaky and that when he dished dirt it was never traced directly to him. That was what a lot of us wanted---the "un-McCain.

So what comes out today? The new Obama tape. I think both this and the previous tape were released into the proper hands by Romney and that his people waited until later for max impact---and I believe much more is coming.

[gaijin]

When hair-helmet hired Ryan that was it —he blew his wad.

The man is dole, ford, mccain: boring, elitist and mealy-mouthed.

Maybe a loser, too.

[erlayman]

He doesn’t have to be ruthless or sneaky, just harder hitting on the facts that slam Obama where he is the most vulnerable. A bigger problem for Mitt is that he has failed to define in strong enough terms that a president Romney will make things actually better, not just better than Obama.

[des]

Mitt was ruthless in the primaries. I think he is waiting to go in for the kill to prevent the media from being able to spin the message. They won’t have time.

[LS]

I agree that he needs to shorten the message to three points, return to the big picture “save Medicare”. And in two lines show how good tax and deficit policy affect real, average WORKING people, and finally how the vision of America is to get the 47% into the 100% of productive citizens.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

“Mitt was ruthless in the primaries. I think he is waiting to go in for the kill to prevent the media from being able to spin the message. They won’t have time.”

That plan might have worked in the past. However, in an election with a polarized electorate, few undecideds and early voting opportunities, waiting for the last minute to define your opponent, while all the while he and his allies in the media are defining you, is a dangerous game.