Presidential Campaign

Mitt Romney heads to Liberty University this weekend to deliver the commencement address, walking a tightrope as he switches gears from the “severely conservative” rhetoric required in the GOP primary to the more moderate rhetoric needed to appeal to independent voters in the general election.

The crowd at Liberty U is no doubt expecting to hear his reaction to the president’s announcement on marriage equality and the passage of Amendment 1 in North Carolina. Romney’s campaign has billed the speech as part of his efforts to make inroads with social and religious conservatives he will need to win the election. As noted by Liberty faculty members Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski on the Huffington Post, with 50,000 students, the school is affiliated with the largest evangelical denomination in America, the 16 million members of the Southern Baptist Convention.

I guess Ron Paul will soon attack Mitt Romney for being a socialist, since Romney is claiming credit for the Obama triumph saving the auto industry.

I am laughing as I write this. What can I say? Mitt Romney might be the most shameless liar in modern political history!

The moral of the story is that polls show Hillary Clinton would win in an epic landslide against any Republican in 2012, and I believe an even more epic landslide against Sarah Palin or Nikki Haley in 2016, because Clinton has qualifications and experience far out of their league, and because:

Hillary Clinton fights for American workers and American women while Palin and Haley side against them on the great issues.

Hillary Clinton stands for equality and fairness while Palin and Haley represent the interests of elites who profit from unfairness and inequality.

Hard truth: What is called libertarianism in America is nothing more than a fig leaf to disguise support for banks that abuse customers. This is the real-life result of the Ron Paul ideology and the real-life reason that the Ron Paul campaign is a Trojan horse promoting a Romney presidency.

Of course Romney, called a vulture capitalist by Republican Rick Perry, is the one true candidate of the financial elites, the most offending banks and the greediest elements of the 1 percent. Ron Paul, in the end, will be Romney's man.

As in 2008, President Obama is running on biography, personality and on the perceived faults of his opponent, or of people associated with his opponent. He must believe that his tactics will work, or else he would not be running such a campaign.

But we’re not hearing about hope anymore.

This year’s version of “hope and change” is “forward.” It’s a term just as empty of content as “hope and change,” something that no one can disagree with. It’s easy to see why it’s so useful.

But it’s also easy to see that it’s outrageous.

Our nation’s political history is replete with examples of snarky comments/attacks against spouses and children of presidents.
 
Dolly Madison was criticized as far too outspoken and called a “party-giver.” Imagine! Mary Todd Lincoln was criticized for spending too much and for her extravagant clothes. Lucy Hayes was thought to be way too far out front on women’s rights.
 
In more recent times, the criticisms of Eleanor Roosevelt are well-known. Margaret Truman, as a young daughter, was belittled for her piano-playing. Amy Carter was ridiculed as a teenager, as was Chelsea Clinton, by those who disagreed with their fathers’ politics.

After much debate and discussion, the Obama message for 2012 has taken shape. The narrative is pretty simple: During the first eight years of the 21st century the Republicans drove the car right up to the edge, where it was leaning, ready to go over the cliff. Barack Obama took over as 800,000 jobs a month were being lost, the economy was in meltdown and our entire auto industry was on the brink of dissolution.
 
Because of President Obama’s leadership, the car is safely back on the road, proceeding to its destination, still not going at 60 mph, but picking up speed.

Many of the Navy SEALs involved in the killing of Osama bin Laden are speaking out against President Obama for taking so much credit for an operation in which they placed their lives in danger.

They felt it was a no-brainer in moving forward to end bin Laden's reign of terror. For the president to imply that he's endowed with some special gift for making such a decision is remarkably arrogant and clearly out of touch with reality.

Can our president humble himself and share a little credit with others involved in the successful operation?

The race is on, and in a dead heat, as I described in my column this week. The focus for Mitt Romney is not only on shoring up support among conservatives who supported his rivals during the primary season, but on his pivot to a general-election electorate. Romney faces the greatest challenge appealing to female voters and Latinos, as polls currently show him far behind President Obama with both groups.

During the primary campaign, Romney used the issue of immigration to draw contrasts between himself and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, as well as with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.). Romney not only pledged to veto the DREAM Act, but said Arizona's new, controversial immigration law was a "model" for the nation. He also characterized Perry's support of in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants as "a magnet."

In my Elizabeth Warren column, I referred to the war of the worlds about the future of the U.S. economy. Well, the dark side in this war is led by Mitt Romney, the man who likes firing people, claims that vulture capitalists are job creators and recently criticized the housing policies of a great man, his father, George Romney. The even darker side is led by Ron Paul, whose reactionary economics would bring America back to Austrian economists from a previous century, would cause a depression for America, and have nothing to do with the Constitution or the Founding Fathers.