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A Romney ad's complaint against the Obama Super Pac spot is right: it was mean and unfair. Welcome to US politics 2012, Mitt
Who
Republican challenger Mitt Romney has not had a good summer. His campaign has been swamped by negative ads and tripped over its own feet on a disastrous foreign trip that even the Economist labelled "a horn-honking, floppy-shoed clown show". The result has been a slew of poor polls and the choice of radical Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as a "game-changing" running-mate (reminding everyone of the dynamic that prompted John McCain to take a risk on Sarah Palin in 2008).
Well, Romney does not seem to be able to do much to stop his gaffes, including introducing Ryan as the "next president of the United States". But he apparently does think he can do something about President Barack Obama's highly effective attack ads. Hence the launch today of this defensive ad complaining about how mean the president is being.
What
The 30-second television spot is called "America Deserves Better". It aims at blunting a controversial spot from a pro-Obama Super Pac called Priorities USA Action. That ad, which claimed a man's wife had died of cancer after losing healthcare when Romney's old firm Bain shut down a factory, has caused a firestorm of criticism– including from some Democrat strategists and media allies. This ad is aiming to build on that backlash.
When
It came out originally at the end of last week, but has been re-released to coincide with Obama's trip to Iowa Tuesday.
Where
It is running in Iowa, trying to persuade the Hawkeye State that gave Obama his big break in 2008 that the president no longer shares their "be nice" midwestern attitudes. Of course, this is also the state where Romney's campaign destroyed Newt Gingrich so effectively that it might seem odd His Mittness is suddenly doing a Jimmy Stewart impression. The Romney campaign poured so much vitriol on Newt in Iowa that it not only popped his campaign bubble, but also sent Gingrich into such a tailspin of anti-Romney rage that the former House speaker himself ran anti-Bain documentaries.
How
Mitt Romney is now shocked (shocked!) that people negatively campaign, distort the truth and smear opponents. Hence this ad. It is simple stuff, affecting a tone of po-faced disappointment.
"What does it say about a president's character when his campaign tries to use the tragedy of a woman's death for political gain," the ad begins. Of course, it then gets in to some distorting of its own, by implying the offending ad is an Obama campaign spot, when it is actually a Super Pac ad that has no official link to Obama (a defence Romney himself used in Iowa to distance himself from the anti-Gingrich attack machine).
"What does it say about a president's character when he had his campaign raise money for the ad and then stood by as his top campaign aides were caught lying about it," the ad informs us. In the meantime, it mixes a montage of media quotes like "disgusting" with picture of Obama looking smug and smiley. At one stage, the words "scraping bottom" appear, which to this naughty postcard-minded correspondent conjures up all sorts of strange images. But I digress. The repeating of the word "character" is key.
"Doesn't America deserve better than a president who will say or do anything to stay in power," the ad concludes. There are several things to say here. First, the notion that Mitt Romney can criticise a politician for being willing to "say or do anything" is staggering. This is a man who flip-flops so adroitly that if he wasn't campaigning for president, he would have been at the London Olympics winning gymnastics gold.
Second, the ad has a point. The offending Obama spot was a horribly underhand piece of work, and in truth, the Obama campaign has always been dirty and ruthless (just ask Hillary and Bill Clinton, successfully tarred as racists in 2008). But Romney and the Republicans long ago lost their right to complain about it. Romney represents a movement that all too often tags Obama as a socialist. Or might-be Muslim. Or Kenyan. Or that believes his administration has been penetrated by sinister agents of the Muslim Brotherhood (courtesy Michele Bachmann!).
In short, in modern American politics and the era of unlimited campaign money, neither side has the right to play the wounded party anymore. As is often said, politics ain't beanbag. Everyone knows this. Obama and Romney both play dirty. It just makes whining (from either side) look pathetic and hypocritical.
But the really sad thing? In this brave new, cash-rich and morality-free world sponsored by Citizens United, no matter who wins the election in November, American politics has on some level already lost.