Posted on 11/24/2012 6:37:37 PM PST by T-Bird45
In many aspects of the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney and the establishment Republicans who were running his campaign just plain got outgunned and outsmarted.
Yet, in the aftermath of Romney’s defeat, he said he lost because he couldn’t overcome the effect of Obama’s “gifts” to key demographics: student loan modifications for young voters and amnesty for young and predominantly Hispanic illegal aliens.
We think Romney missed the mark with that analysis because conservative ideas have successfully countered the Democrats’ attempts to bribe voters in the past. To avoid the kind of defeat Republicans suffered in 2012, conservatives must learn from the successes of the Obama campaign.
Let’s start that learning process by examining five of the top reasons Obama won.
Obama won because he defined Romney, destroyed his image, nationalized the election and drew a stark contrast with him. It is the law of the political jungle – define or be defined. Obama defined Romney in negative terms, but Romney never defined Obama or himself.
What’s more, the one candidate who took our advice and said over and over that the election was about two world views was Barack Obama. Obama framed his world view as one where only the power of government could create “fairness” in a world that otherwise would be unfair through the machinations of big business and other forces hostile to average citizens – even social issues, such as same-sex marriage, were cast as issues of “fairness.”
Obama then worked relentlessly to put Romney in the context of this argument for fairness. The Bain Capital attacks orchestrated by the unions and Democrat Super PACs all hammered home the point that Mitt Romney was not just unfair to working people, but heartless. The fictional, but unfair “war on women.” The unfairness of people not having health care. The unfairness of the tax rates paid by the “wealthy” – the contrast was clear. Obama stood for fairness, Romney stood for all of those forces in society that make life hard for the little guy.
The obvious lesson here is define or be defined – but there’s a deeper lesson for Republicans here as well. Republicans will never win if they accept or fail to rebut the idea that it is government’s job to impose “fairness” on society. If the Republican candidate for President won’t make a passionate argument for freedom, liberty and opportunity, and oppose the whole notion that it is government’s job to impose “fairness” on society, he’s bound to lose.
Obama won because he focused like a laser on the states he needed to win to block Romney’s path to 270 electoral votes. By rights, Obama should have lost the states of Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, all of which had Republican Governors and Republican legislatures going into the election – but he won them all. Some were closer than others, but Obama won credible victories in each state by putting in place strong voter ID and get-out-the-vote programs over the course of his first term, and working each state relentlessly.
Romney never seemed to commit himself to a similarly well-focused plan. The futile last minute spending in Pennsylvania by pro-Romney PACs, and visits from both Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan to a state where he had no ground game, had alienated the Tea Partiers who elected a Governor and new Republican members of Congress in 2010, and that he ultimately lost by some six points, is but one illustrative example.
The lesson here is one Republicans should have learned a long time ago: to win the Presidency, they have to be a national party and build world class political organizations all across the country. They will not win if all they do is come around every four years and run millions of dollars worth of TV in a relatively few “swing states.”
Just as the Democrats and unions do in their urban and coastal strongholds, Republicans need to build, and maintain between elections, world class political organizations in center-right states, particularly in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Michigan, Colorado and the rest of the Great Plains and Trans-Mountain West.
Obama won because he ran as himself. Despite Republican carping about how “phony” Obama is, he actually ran for President as himself. He campaigned on hitting the “wealthy” for more taxes, on implementing Obamacare and for advancing the radical secular liberal agenda on almost every issue, and, despite the overwhelming evidence that it is a complete failure, he defended his economic record.
Obama didn’t turn himself into a pretzel trying to mollify conservative independents or soft Republicans the way Romney tried to appeal to center-left voters who were not natural allies of his candidacy. Obama ran as an authentic liberal, and came away with more credibility, more likability and more votes than did the inauthentic Mitt Romney.
The lesson here is, again, one that establishment Republicans should have learned a long time ago: campaigning as a conservative in the primaries and then “shaking the Etch-A-Sketch” or “pivoting toward the center” -- which is what most Americans outside the Beltway call lying -- is a recipe for defeat.
Obama won because he understood this was a base election and he solidified, energized and turned out his leftwing base. For the better part of two years commentators were predicting 2012 would be a “base election.” Obama energized his leftwing base by throwing down the gauntlet to Romney and the Republicans on the entire range of values issues.
Same-sex marriage, government-paid abortion on demand at any point in a pregnancy, repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, continuing the war on religious freedom and the Catholic Church over Obamacare’s contraception and abortion mandates... Obama and his allies never backed down and made this radical secular liberal agenda a centerpiece of the campaign.
In response to Obama’s challenge on the social issues, Romney went AWOL and failed to even respond, let alone campaign on the conservative agenda and the social issues – even those the polls showed to cut substantially in his favor, such as the right-to-life and reining-in the size and scope of government.
Indeed, instead of solidifying his base, Romney and his establishment Republican allies did everything they could to distance themselves from the small government constitutional conservatives of the Tea Party and from social conservatives.
The lesson here is that without fully engaging all four legs of the 2010 wave election coalition – national defense conservatives, economic conservatives, social conservatives and the small government constitutional conservatives of the Tea Party -- Republicans will have a difficult time defeating a Democratic coalition of ethnic voters, big labor, young singles, traditional progressives and radical secular liberals.
Obama won because his team understood and effectively used the new and alternative media to get-out-the-vote and dominate communications with voters who only get their information through online media. No campaign is perfect, and no doubt someone will identify a laundry list of things Obama’s online team could have done better. But to win, you don’t have to be perfect, you only have to be better than the other guy -- and Obama’s online effort was light years ahead of Romney’s.
The Obama Team understood that among adults younger than age 30, according to a Pew study, as many saw news on a social networking site (33%) as saw any television news (34%), and just 13% read a newspaper in print or digital form.
In contrast, Romney and the Republicans were stuck in a 20th century air war campaign strategy that relied on TV and denigrated digital communications. Obama spent at least $52 million just for online ads during his 2012 campaign, compared to the $26 million spent by Governor Romney's campaign – and that does not include their social media, email and other online and digital platforms.
Obama’s online effort was a key piece of his landslide in the young voter demographic, and thus his victory. Digital and social media were also key to Obama's get-out-the-vote effort, which used social media and a weird, but effective form of online peer pressure to squeeze every last vote out for the President.
Technology is neutral and the digital world thrives on freedom. Ron Paul and the Tea Party have built huge networks and online communities of conservative voters. The Romney campaign and the establishment GOP forfeited access to those networks by alienating those voters and distancing themselves from Ron Paul and the Tea Party.
The communications lesson here is simple: Republicans need to get in the 21st century.
What’s more, the larger lesson is equally simple: the small government constitutional conservatives of the Tea Party Movement, economic conservatives and libertarians, social conservatives and national defense conservatives must redouble their efforts to reassemble the 2010 coalition and take over the GOP.
So it’s about the method over substance?
Or are we to believe that Romney is a rich asshole that has no clue?
That was the Obama campaign in a nutshell, while he sat around eating Waygu beef and driving Reg’lar Americans over the fiscal cliff.
Obama is such a BS artist it is amazing.
Could not agree with you more.
“Hypocrisy is an ill-fitting suit.”
If that weren’t such an elegant thought, I might have been rather miffed at your comment. But that IS an elegant thought and well put.
Envision the United States of America as a apple. Now picture a worm having gotten inside the apple. Now picture that apple being eaten from the inside. Eventually you won't be able to polish the apple enough to make it look good. It will wither and blow away.
The US has allowed the worm of moral decadence and perversion to creep in. For decades now that decadence, like the worm, has been eating away at our nation. There is no way to compromise with the decadence just as you cannot compromise with the worm in the apple. So long as the worm is alive the apple has no chance of surviving. So long as our nation continues to accept perverts and their perversions and allows them to eat away at the principles and building blocks that have made out nation the greatest nation in modern history this nation is doomed. Trying to polish the surface with a mitt romney or mccain or whatever other name is associated with "moderates/compromisers" will only delay the inevitable. Soon the freeloading worms in this country won't have anything else of yours to consume. That's when they will consume you.
Spineless cowardliness is killing us. No one in the RNC wants to fight to have obama brought up on charges of treason. No one in the RNC wants to vet him. Talking about his lack of personal history is a taboo. You cannot mention the fact that he has produced no valid form of ID. Not a birth certificate, legitimate social security number, college transcripts, etc. NOT ONE Republican will point out the FACT that obama cannot serve as president if for no other reason than the FACT that his father was NOT a US citizen (at least the man he claims is his father). No... It's easier to say that such matters are trivial. To hell with the FACT that our founding fathers had good reasons for insisting that our presidents be the "Natural born children" of two "American" parents.
We all know the list of crimes obama is guilty of and we all know the citizens do not care. Newt was a voice crying in the wilderness and Americans would not hear. We got mitt. A man that did not have the spine to call obama out on these crimes. He was afraid he would be???? What? What does obama have on him? Is he a co-conspirator with obama and the muslim brotherhood? Is mitt a co-conspirator with obama and the rest of the globalists to destroy the economies of the world in order to secure themselves cushy offices in the New World Government? If not why did he allow obama to win without a fight?
Just a few random but valid questions. Questions most are either afraid to ask or too arrogant and dimwitted to ponder themselves. Undoubtedly many of you have even more questions.
All of this is as it is for one reason and one reason only. The hearts of my fellow Americans are sick. Too many of you will not stand for what is right because you too are sick, diseased, mentally deranged deviants that are so afraid of being uncovered and exposed by the judgements of others that you will excuse the debased behaviors of those who are supposed to be the best among us. If obama is the best among us we're screwed.
God has turned moderates and liberals over to strong delusion. America is not repenting for her sick, corrupt heart and as such is no longer viable.
I think guys like Vigueray sat it out.
Romney should had never been the candidate. He never fully connected since he is a moderate republican aka democrat. The people who began the Anybody but Obama agenda caused this to happen. He did not fool or energize the rock solid conservatives and independents for different reasons. He is not all that good of a person in my book for deliberately trying to destroy all of his opponents while not going after the real problem, Obama and the Marxist agenda. Those crying over Romney, may get their wish, he may run again. The media has plenty of time to do a love fest, bring him back and there you go.
I told everyone that despite who our nominee was that it would come to the senate.
Romney was between a rock and a hard place on the social issues. He already had a (well deserved) flip flopper reputation. He didn’t have any credibility on social issues, so he tried to run exclusively on fiscal ones. Had he suddenly come out as stridently conservative on the social issues, gay marriage, abortion, etc., we conservatives would have known he was lying. Not only that, but it would have driven away the fiscally conservative social liberals. On top of all of that, Romney wasn’t even all that credible on fiscal issues. He came across as a rich elitist.
Look I agree with you on the Obama side, and politics has always been method over substance. To think Romney gave any substance would also be naive. Mr I will tell you plans after election. Yeah that will work.
The article may not be what we want to hear but flat out the Dems did it better and beat us.
Now what do we do? Time to go to work and modernize our efforts.
And fraud, wherever it could be perpetrated...
I just ran a search engine on that phrase to see if I lifted it from something I read without realizing it. It came up negative so I guess I’ll have to protect that saying. Thanks for the compliment — hope your Thanksgiving holiday time has been a blessing to you and yours.
I think Vigueray is an insider ahole that is sniping at other insiders.
I never cared for the mans divisiveness in the party.
Get over Romney, he was a disaster, and was never a conservative, or even a moderate republican, he has always been out for himself, and he despised the Reagan wing of the GOP.
Romney’s massive failure gets analyzed and looked at, not hidden so that you can run another such loser.
I have no idea what the Almighty is up to but some of your more mundane comments preceding this rhetorical flight is indicative of what could have been done by a candidate who didn't think the campaign was a procession to a coronation ball. Besides being relentlessly on the attack, which even the commie media would have picked up as they do like nice sharp conflicts to get the drones to tune in rather than watching Vanna White. Now while WMR couldn't get up and blast away at the Mahdi's birth certificate or BHO’s truly problematic nature (No President ever has as strange a history as this man and if you dig a bit he makes Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton look like normality itself compared to the Mahdi's strangeness) a good well financed shadow campaign could have been organized by some superpacs to blanket the nation with BHO’s very strange biography including strong hints at his sexual strangeness, the nature of the mentoring Uncle Frank gave him, the peculiarly foul nature of the crew of thugs, near communists and perverts from the Windy City that have made BHO’s career. His admitted drug use and some innuendos that it was by no means in the past. (A police officer acquaintance said to me that BHO looked like a host of hidden white collar addicts he had dealt with. He couldn't be the only one to note BHO’s shakiness indicated the man still has a monkey on his back.) This sort of two track campaign would have worked well and needed to be flexible to use opportunities that destiny placed in the Republicans hands such as Fast and furious and then right on the eve of the election the Benghazi fumble which if exploited long and loud and in detail by both the formal campaign and the ghost campaign would have sunk Obama for good
I’m over Romney.
When will y’all focus on Obama?
Romney is and was a looser. Your wore these threads out before the election, now it might be prudent to fold that tent and take it home.
Not one SoCon on this forum believed Romney was a winner. I wish he had been who he said he was but I guess people did not buy the new better version of the reformed socialist that he was in Massachusetts.
“Just as the Democrats and unions do in their urban and coastal strongholds, Republicans need to build, and maintain between elections, world class political organizations in center-right states, particularly in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Michigan, Colorado”
One problem, Mr. Vigurie — of the states mentioned above, only North Carolina can still be called “center-right”.
The others have become “purple” or are out-and-out left-leaning. Haven’t you learned anything from the last two elections?
“Obama didn’t turn himself into a pretzel trying to mollify conservative independents or soft Republicans the way Romney tried to appeal to center-left voters who were not natural allies of his candidacy.”
So how will it make sense if in the future Republican candidates twist themselves and their message into pretzels to appeal to Hispanic voters who are not and will never be natural allies to conservatism?
“In response to Obama’s challenge on the social issues, Romney went AWOL and failed to even respond, let alone campaign on the conservative agenda and the social issues – even those the polls showed to cut substantially in his favor, such as the right-to-life and reining-in the size and scope of government.”
Hmmm.. these social issues certainly did not cut in the favor of conservatives when it came to “the ladyparts voters”, young and single women who voted for Obama to the tune of 68%? How much more can conservatives do to refute their arguments and agenda, that hasn’t already been said or done?
ABO was the hue and cry from every contender including my beloved Palin. I said at the time this was a mistake, and would likely let Romney slip in.
We had more than a few ABO supportes here in freezer land as well.
Everyone was shouting it is all about the economy stupid, I kept saying it is not about the economy. Guess who was right?
Stop being disingenuous.
Romney was never my pick.
I did however point out that it was critical to win the Senate after (BEFORE) Romney won the primary.
Where are we now?
What did Vigeruray do to turn the tide?
One rich, family oriented, church going loser.
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