Presidential Campaign

If you ask most people, they will say they're turned off by negative political ads. A recent survey conducted by the marketing agency MGH showed that 88 percent of people are turned off by political advertising.

However, the vast majority of the political ads in a presidential campaign are extremely negative. This is more so the case during this campaign than ever before, primarily because the president has nothing else on which to campaign.

We honor the fallen but around the mid-’70s we were coming to honor not only those who fell, but those who failed as well. There is nothing wrong with failure. But I'd just read Tom Wolfe's classic, The Right Stuff, about war pilots in rocket planes and by circumstances beyond my own doing and will, I’d been guarding some of these men when they flew their last mission. I'd be the last American they'd see before they hit the ground by the northern banks of the Mekong River or were captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese. We honor them today, but their fellow pilots, in Wolfe's telling, did not. America's samurai fighters in the old F-105s or 4Cs endorsed only victory in Wolfe’s telling. Later, almost everyone would get the medal and maybe find a politician's career in it. But "Rulers and Rednecks," a chapter in Born Fighting, Jim Webb's great history of the Scots-Irish journey across Europe, across the ocean, across the Appalachians, across the universe, restores the warrior moment; the vital moment from which time and history begins every single time: "On top of this mountain [out by Moccasin Gap on the farthest western edge of Virginia] you can understand the Pioneer's Creed: The Cowards Never Started. The Weak Died Along the Way. Only the Strong Survived."

Since the publication of my newest column in The Hill, "Obama-Clinton wins big," Adm. William McRaven, Special Ops commander, has offered high praise to President Obama for his command decision to order the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to be an iconic leader who is the most popular, and one of the most presidentially qualified, leaders in the nation. I am amused that my Thursday Hillary column in The Hill was followed by a Friday Hillary story in Politico. And there is the gaffe-filled fiasco of Mitt Romney's attempt to exploit the London Olympics, which inspired one British paper to headline: "Mitt the Twit" (their words, not mine).

On Tuesday, Mitt Romney gave one of the most partisan and strident national-security speeches in recent memory. He was vehement attacking leaks of classified information. Did this mean Romney was attacking Dick Cheney for his role in the famous CIA leak case involving Iraqi WMD and Joe Wilson? I would also ask: When Romney is in Poland, will he denounce the Solidarity Trade Union, criticize Lech Walesa and attack collective bargaining?

I have supported the attacks by the Obama campaign regarding Romney's awful record on jobs and outsourcing, and his still-secret tax returns. However, we have reached the point where the president and his campaign should move beyond negativity and tell the nation why America would be better off if the president is reelected. Negativity alone is not enough. The president needs a narrative about why he should be granted a second term, beyond the argument that his opponent is bad. Mitt Romney also needs a narrative about why he should be elected president.

In my latest column about Nancy Pelosi's mission I called for Karl Rove to be investigated to determine whether he engages in illegal collusion with Mitt Romney. Rove is everywhere. Rove is the most important player for the Romney campaign. One minute he organizes his super-PAC fundraisers. Hours later he meets privately at the closed and exclusive Mitt Romney soiree for dollars. If you liked the George W. Bush presidency, you will love a W. Mitt Romney presidency. If Rove is not colluding with Romney in violation of law, there is no law, even by the shabby standards of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United.

Karl Rove=Mitt Romney. Rove is by far the most powerful player for the Romney team.

During the previous presidential campaign, President Obama clearly stated that a candidate who cannot speak about his or her record in a positive way concentrates on attacking and tearing down his or her opponents as a way to create fear.

Is that not exactly what the president is consistently engaging in during this presidential election in 2012? He fits perfectly the description of an ideologue who can always criticize those who don't agree with him even though he is doing the exact same thing and cannot see it for himself.

If Ron Paul does address the Republican Convention in prime time, he will say some things I agree with, and many things I strongly disagree with. But Ron Paul has earned the right to address the Republican National Convention in prime time. I give him great credit for suggesting Mitt Romney release more tax returns at the very moment his convention role is under discussion. Paul is right about the Romney taxes, but that is not the point, which is: Read more...

I wish the Romney team would be more consistent in its messaging. One of the reasons Team Obama has been so successful in getting the word out is because the campaign selects a theme, whether it is true or not, and pounds the message into people’s heads until the people believe that the message is true.

Team Obama’s negative strategy seems to be working, because new public opinion polls show that the Obama campaign’s consistent, negative messaging seems to have taken a toll on the public’s perception of Romney.

Now here comes John Sununu. I won't dignify his insults of the president by even repeating them. Looks like the surrogates for the Republican candidate are getting desperate. They should be. Their champion Mitt Romney is not the champion of American workers. He cannot even make his mind up about whether American Olympic athletes should be wearing uniforms made in China. Mitt Romney vows to continue his tax return cover-up. He fears that whatever will be revealed could destroy his campaign. Perhaps it will. There is now a sick feeling in the pit of many Republican stomachs. This is not spin. It is truth.