How to Campaign Against Obama
Herewith some ideas. Let's crowdsourse this thing. A thousand heads are better than one.
Obamacare: Don’t tax the uninsured! The House GOP should introduce a bill reducing the tax for not carrying insurance to $5 per person. Perhaps that should only apply to people making less than $250,000. Why should we tax the uninsured? Aren’t they suffering enough? The reactions to this will be fun to watch.
Alternatively, or in addition, Romney could say, tongue in cheek, that he will direct the IRS not to punish anyone for failing to pay the tax or carry insurance. That would highlight the lawlessness of the President's immigration non-enforcement.
The Romney Campaign, and/or the RNC should have a crack team going through Obamacare line by line, listing any and all taxes contained in it, and highlighting any bad regulations it contains. They should do the same with any regulations issued by the administration under the law. As they do that, they should also complain that so much of this law is being written by unelected people who are not responsible to their true boss—the American people.
They should also highlight the crony capitalism of it. Obama bought off the big health insurance companies–working with the big guys to help them make money and kill off competition.
Responding to Obama's "Romney is an elite white guy" attacks:
The Romney campaign needs to bring up Solyndra and its many brothers and sisters on a regular basis. Beyond that, they need to focus on Obama’s crony capitalism, all his money from Wall Street and Hollywood, and the billionaires like George Soros who are spending lavishly to get him re-elected, so that they can continue to make money off the government.
The campaign should mention Tony Rezko’s name. How was it that a fixer like that helped Obama buy a house? Did he help Obama get a sweetheart deal on the plot next to his own?
The Romney campaign must become very familiar with Fast and Furious, and highlight it regularly. At the very least, it was a blunder or heroic proportions–a blunder reflecting both Lefty ideology run amok, and the smug arrogance of Obama’s cronies like Holder.
Obama’s background. The President attended an elite prep school in Hawaii and elite colleges, not public school. He spent most of his adult life after that working for an with rich and well connected Lefties, mostly in Chicago. That story tells us a good deal about him, and it bears repeating.
Obama is the product of a class that does not think the average American is capable of self-government. That explains his recent comment that, “this country is at its best when we harness the God-given talents of every individual.” His goal is not to run a government that helps we the people enjoy liberty. It is to harness us, like beasts of burden, beneath our philosopher king.
Obama’s "Bitter clinger" quote should be playing in a continuous loop in the Rust Belt.
The campaign should also play his "hold on sweetie" comment to a female reporter in key markets, full of urban professionals. He probably won’t win those, but it might weaken his fan base.
The overall theme: Obama represents the powerful, not the people. He stands for bureaucracy, not choice.
The smartest man in the world:
Mockery is an important tool, especially against someone like Obama. It hits his image (and his self-image) particularly hard.
The Romney campaign should have a website devoted to Obama’s gaffes, from Obama's 57 states comment, to "corpseman," to his reference to "Cominskey Field" in Chicago, where his "favorite" team plays, to speaking Austrian in Austria (might be fun to get a video from Schwarzenegger on that one), to video of Obama’s pathetic attempts at bowling and at throwing out the first pitch (no red-blooded American mail should throw or bowl like that). This site should have a suggestion box, etc.
Note: I update the original post to add one item I forgot to mention.
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Comments:
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Amen, amen.
Mar '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Thanks. Along with the "hold on sweetie" line, it would be wise to note that the Obama administration pays women less than it pays men.
Edited on July 6, 2012 at 2:41amApr '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Who are you calling me "Sweetie".
How working women react when they hear that line at work from a man who is not their sweetie. OK, Maximus in Gladiator could say it to me. Or Clint Eastward.
I was shocked when Obama said that - good one!
Dec '10
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Let's not forget the ride on the girl bike in mommy stretch-jeans. Great post.
Mar '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Thanks. Forgot that one.
And we forgot all the rounds of golf. He's worse than Bush!
There's also the record number of fundraisers--Fundraisr in chief.
And mock his call for people to give to his campaign rather than give a regular wedding gift.
Jan '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Obama will have more flexibility after the election.
Apr '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
For Obamacare, the confusion is a selling point. Pelosi didn't know what was in the bill, no one knew what was going to be Constitutional, everything was slammed together by lobbyists in a hurry. It wasn't the bill that the Democrats wanted, but they passed it because they wanted it finished before Sen. Brown could filibuster it. They don't want to talk about it, at least not the ones in competitive seats, and the people free to speak their mind have expressed regret over it.
Opposing it is the bipartisan, reasonable, American thing to do. No one should have to live with it.
Edited on July 6, 2012 at 5:57amApr '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
A briefer version of my most recent post: Obama has no plans to make social security sustainable. People depend on social security. A plan that you know will result in letting down the vulnerable people who depend on you for their lives, because you have told them that they can depend on you, is an evil plan to enact and we should not vote for people who enact that plan.
Repeat for Medicare, Medicaid, etc.
Shipping security is reducing in the South China Seas, and elsewhere. We have any number of security threats looming. It is highly likely that one of these will come to pass (more likely if we let our guard down), and that we will have to spend more to replace the military capacity we're currently destroying. Implementing this planned weakness will only provoke more action from our enemies and cost us more in the long term.
Obama has done less to open foreign markets to American goods than any President since Hoover. No GATT/WTO progress, no new FTAs negotiated, not a single BIT passed. Obama appointed a mayor with no trade experience to the USTR because he doesn't understand or support capitalist prosperity.
May '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
I would like to see Gov. Romney use his business acumen to attack the coercive taxation of the fed gov't.
He is well equipped from experience both in business and governor to articulate this issue.
Why does the federal government confiscate taxes from individuals in states, bring the money to Washington DC, fund a leviathan bureaucracy, and return a portion of the funds from whence they came with chains of regulations. Gov. Romney has the intelligence and ability to make an argument crushing this system. It eliminates Medicaid, Dept of Education, HUD, transfer payments, etc. Keep the money in the states where it belongs and the issues will be dealt with efficiently . Gov. Perry would be an awesome surrogate to further the argument.
Gov. Romney should re-visit the tax return issue and his effective ~15% tax rate. Again his business acumen should explain that his taxes are not too low, but that those earning less than him have rates too high. Lower everybody's rate to his, don't raise rates on entrepreneurs.
Yes, there is a 59 point plan. He needs to make a forceful argument in 500 words that we can all repeat.
May '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Follow on suggestion. If you haven't watched Peter Robinson's interview with Governor Perry, it is must see TV. Gov. Perry did not do well on the national stage, but that doesn't make his principles and arguments any less valid.
Gov. Perry has endorsed Gov. Romney and no one this presidential election comes close to Gov. Perry when he is discussing federalism and the 10th Amendment. Being a sitting governor adds enormouse credibility.
If the Romney campaign wants to defuse the Obamacare/RomneyCare/State's Rights/Federalism/10th Amendment hand grenade that they can't seem to get the pin back in I recommend Gov. Romney gets on the phone to Gov. Perry and ask Gov. Perry to hit the road, the Sunday talk shows, cable, etc. and make the case that it is Massachusetts’s business how to handle their healthcare and get the fed gov't and everybody else's nose out of it.
Mar '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
There's also the President's comment about doctors taking out tonsils for money: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/07/22/obama_doctors_taking_tonsils_out_for_money_instead_of_diagnosing_it_as_allergies.html
And some people wonder why Obamacare makes people less likely to want to become doctors.
Apr '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
BrentB67:
Why does the federal government confiscate taxes from individuals in states, bring the money to Washington DC, fund a leviathan bureaucracy, and return a portion of the funds from whence they came with chains of regulations. Gov. Romney has the intelligence and ability to make an argument crushing this system. It eliminates Medicaid, Dept of Education, HUD, transfer payments, etc. Keep the money in the states where it belongs and the issues will be dealt with efficiently . Gov. Perry would be an awesome surrogate to further the argument.
If Romney became the latest in a long line of Republicans to make stupid promises about the DofEd and then watch it grow, I would be very disappointed in him indeed. Even if he succeeded, those who advocate abolishing it tend to talk about moving much of its contents elsewhere. It's symbolism rather than substance. We need substance.
With regard to Medicaid and HUD, he starts those reforms with lightly regulated block grants. If that sticks, you're absolutely right that it's likely to lead to full federalization; like Obamacare (if it sticks) for single payer, sometimes an unstable interim solution is the surest way to the end.
Sep '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
How 'bout we mention how he explained his bowling score, which is what made it hit the headlines: "it was, like, Special Olympics bowling, or something like that."
May '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
James Of England
BrentB67:
Why does the federal government confiscate taxes from individuals in states, bring the money to Washington DC, fund a leviathan bureaucracy, and return a portion of the funds from whence they came with chains of regulations. Gov. Romney has the intelligence and ability to make an argument crushing this system. It eliminates Medicaid, Dept of Education, HUD, transfer payments, etc. Keep the money in the states where it belongs and the issues will be dealt with efficiently . Gov. Perry would be an awesome surrogate to further the argument.
If Romney became the latest in a long line of Republicans to make stupid promises about the DofEd and then watch it grow, I would be very disappointed in him indeed. Even if he succeeded, those who advocate abolishing it tend to talk about moving much of its contents elsewhere. It's symbolism rather than substance. We need substance.
Symbolism? Dept. of Ed serves no purpose other than to give teacher's unions 1 stop shopping. The department was created under Carter, we managed just fine, much better actually before then.
This is the height of substance and courage, a change from what we have seen so far.
Apr '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Holding your opponents to their own standards and exposing them as hypocrites is one Alinsky strategy Repubs shouldn't be ashamed of using. It is very effective.
Scarlet Pimpernel: Thanks. Along with the "hold on sweetie" line, it would be wise to note that the Obama administration pays women less than it pays men. · 22 hours ago
Edited 22 hours ago
Apr '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
(In a former life) I've some experience being at the core of some statewide elections in an industrial, populous, midwestern state. Watched the hours and hours focus groups tapes, read the daily internal tracking polls, sat in strategy meetings, conducted phone polls, even knocked on doors, and all that stuff.
Didn't make me an expert, but I can offer some insights from what I've learned.
Rush Limbaugh loves to dismiss the idea that the independents are who elect everyone in this country. But, it's absolutely true. You know the formula: roughly 38%D-34%R-28%I. That's who we focus grouped, that's who we wrote the campaign literature for, the tv and radio ads; that's who we spent all our time and resources persuading.
What Rush is talking about is the fact that A) a large majority of independents don't pay attention until October, which is too late; B) their ideology is mostly conservative (unless you can scare them off from conservative candidates); and C) you can't pre-determine how they fall on the issues--you can't pander to them since they have weak convictions (except about their wallets).
Edited on July 7, 2012 at 2:50amApr '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Point is, you can't really get to them...except through saturation. Issues have to make it into the nightly news, and they have to sustain themselves--otherwise the Independents just can't hear you.
They will never understand the issues as well as the membership of Ricochet.
And pandering really doesn't work on someone not paying attention.
I think Romney's best campaign strategy is to mostly ignore Barack Obama, as if he's irrelevant. As if Obama is not the real issue of the campaign; Already defeated; A non contender.
Not dismissive like Mohammed Ali, of course. Romney could never pull off arrogant. Stick to simple issues, enthusiastically, and ignore Obama because you're so excited, you never get around to criticizing him.
Three bedrock issues. Repeat and repeat and repeat:
"$2.50 gasoline."
An independent may not know much about how that can be done, but she can remember "$2.50" in the polling booth. Reporters will repeat it incredulously...nightly. No one cares what reporters think.
"Unleash sidelined capital for job growth."
Mrs. Independent knows there aren't enough jobs. Whatever is being done now doesn't seem to work.
"Check China through strength."
KISS.
Jun '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
I can finally praise President Clinton.
He threw a better ball.
Apr '12
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
Three simple questions for the electorate1) Are you better off now compared to four years ago?2) Do you believe that regulations and red tape are the keys to economic growth?3) Do you believe that Barack Obama has been a good steward of your tax money?
Apr '11
Re: How to Campaign Against Obama
I would run a series of three 30-second commercials along the lines of your "Smartest Man in the World" suggestion. They would all be simple with Peter Robinson's voice as announcer:
First one: "They tell us Barack Obama is an avid sports fan." Then show all his sports gaffes. Then the announcer says, "You Decide." And a Vote Romney logo.
Second one: "They tell us Barack Obama is the smartest President ever." Then show his dumb gaffes. "You Decide." And a Vote Romney logo.
Third one: "They tell us Barack Obama is not a socialist." The clips might be harder to nail down, but things like "Spreading the wealth" and wanting to raise capital gains even if tax revenues went down, "because it is fair." The announcer would again say "You Decide." Vote Romney Logo.
After the first two which are so obvious and anyone viewing them would have to laugh at him, the socialist one would have more impact.