The 2012 presidential campaign has passed a point of no return: The negativity is here to stay.
President Obama, who four years ago called for a change in the nation’s divisive politics-as-usual, has been ceaselessly battering Mitt Romney as a wealthy, out-of-touch executive with questionable business credentials.
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And while Romney has until now largely resisted conservatives’ calls for a counterattack, the presumptive Republican nominee on Tuesday ripped into the president as an anti-business politician more concerned with lavishing taxpayer dollars on political pals than jump-starting the economy.
Going negative so early poses risks for Obama. Voters generally like him even if they disagree with his policies, so negativity could cost him. But analysts say there’s little doubt that the attacks are producing results.
“Obama can’t do the old Ronald Reagan and say, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ ” said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar with the Brookings Institution. “But there’s no doubt that up to now his negative advertising has been effective. If he were not going negative, he might be doing even worse.”
The Obama campaign has been hammering Romney for refusing to release his tax returns, hiding his wealth in overseas banks and for outsourcing jobs as head of Bain Capital. The goal is to raise questions in voters’ minds about Romney’s business background, the Republican’s chief argument for being president.
Obama’s strategy is right out of the political playbook of President George W. Bush, who in 2004 convinced voters that his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, was an elitist unable to relate to middle-class Americans.
“It’s not as much of a risk [for Obama] because Romney is not a warm and charismatic person,” said Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. “Even though Obama’s gotten mean and nasty, Romney’s still not a guy voters think they could have a beer with. It makes a big difference.”
Romney, who has tried to remain focused on the economy and Obama’s failure to revive it during his first term, has now determined that he must fight back or risk allowing Democrats to define him for voters. Appearing in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Romney charged that Obama is hostile toward private business, the very people the country needs to turn the economy around.
“President Obama attacks success, and therefore, under President Obama we have less success,” Romney said.
The attack marked an escalation for Romney, though it continues to pale in comparison to the job his surrogates are doing in bashing Obama.
“I wish this president would learn how to be an American,” former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu told reporters.
Still, Romney is capable of turning up the volume on his attacks. During the Republican primaries, his team and super-PACs supporting him pumped millions of dollars into waves of attack ads that brought down conservative foes like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Some Democrats lament Obama’s go-for-the-jugular strategy but say it’s more practical than trying to reprise his message from his last White House run.
“It’s not as fun as four years ago,” one Democratic strategist said. “In fact, it’s the opposite of inspiring. But you can’t pursue ‘hope and change’ if you’re not in the White House anymore.”
