His strategy has been to make the election a referendum on Obama, and he's stuck to that, perhaps to his detriment.
Mr Romney may calculate that it is best to keep quiet: the faltering economy will drive voters towards him. It is more likely, however, that his evasiveness will erode his main competitive advantage. EconomistRomney is a secretive man and he wants to keep his secrets, just in case he doesn't win. Romney's not fighting for average people. He's fighting on behalf of business, hardly a cause worthy or a cause that creates fire in the belly. If Romney loses, he'll be a content man. He has everything he needs or wants.
What republicans have been unable to recognize, blinded by their own prejudices, is Obama is well liked. Many blame republican policies for the state of the economy. Many people understand that the wind-up to the big housing bubble can't be undone in four years.
The Economist pegs Romney as a PR guy. :
WHEN Mitt Romney was governor of liberal Massachusetts, he supported abortion, gun control, tackling climate change and a requirement that everyone should buy health insurance, backed up with generous subsidies for those who could not afford it. Now, as he prepares to fly to Tampa to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president on August 30th, he opposes all those things. A year ago he favoured keeping income taxes at their current levels; now he wants to slash them for everybody, with the rate falling from 35% to 28% for the richest Americans.
All politicians flip-flop from time to time; but Mr Romney could win an Olympic medal in it (see article). And that is a pity, because this newspaper finds much to like in the history of this uncharismatic but dogged man, from his obvious business acumen to the way he worked across the political aisle as governor to get health reform passed and the state budget deficit down. We share many of his views about the excessive growth of regulation and of the state in general in America, and the effect that this has on investment, productivity and growth. After four years of soaring oratory and intermittent reforms, why not bring in a more businesslike figure who might start fixing the problems with America’s finances?
Details, details But competence is worthless without direction and, frankly, character. Would that Candidate Romney had indeed presented himself as a solid chief executive who got things done. Instead he has appeared as a fawning PR man,
Read the rest