Comments about ‘Michael Gerson: Obama's campaign strategy could make it harder to govern’

Sad but true.

When I heard our President promise to get rid of the EPA and all government red tape to get help to the victims of Sandy, I laughed out loud. Why not do this all the time? Is Obama admitting that the government is the problem? Vote Romney, he gets it! We can govern ourselves much better than be governed.

Mountanman. If the EPA wasn't there who would be doing anything beyond the first responders? This damage is so bad that no single state or private concern could stand the expense. Obama is not "admitting the government is the problem" He is just doing his job to make sure that it does its job with as much dispatch as possible. I suspect that the Governor of New Jersey would think you comment to be crazy, as do I.

Exactly where is Romney's positive campaign? Besides, Republicans stated goal was to make Obama a one term president and brought about a record number of filibusters. It was already hard to govern because Republicans are already a party of obstructionism.

Re: atl134 Salt Lake City, UT
"Exactly where is Romney's positive campaign?"

There are going to be a lot of long sad faces among Obama's liberal following next week.

Unlike Obama, Mitt Romney didn't grow up on Chicago politics and will be able to work with the loyal opposition.

Romney said just a year ago that he would cut FEMA.

Today? He refuses to answer questions about this subject.

So much for leadership.

@Rifleman
"There are going to be a lot of long sad faces among Obama's liberal following next week. "

Yeah, we'll be disappointed when gay marriage fails to pass in Maryland and Washington.

As for Obama... he's got 80% odds of winning in Nate Silver's model and currently has over 270 electoral votes in the RCP average in states that he leads by 2.0+ points. I'm predicting 281-257. I'm not guaranteeing a win, but Obama is clearly the favorite.

Quoting Nate Silver does not credibly advance any argument

Romney's campain is to throw out half truths and lies and then consider it a negative Obama campain to to point out he's lying.

Jeep is an example. Romney claims that it's Obama's fault Jeep is going to move all it's Jeep production to China. It all turns out to be a lie when Jeep's CEO claims Romney is lying and doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

Romney says Obama didn't call the Embassy attack a "terrorist" attack untill 15 days later, except he acually did the very next day after it happend. Yet it's a negative campain to point that out.

It's a negative campain to point out that Obama ordered Bin Laden Killed.
It's a negative campain to point out 30 months of job growth and 5 year DOW high.
It's a negative campain to point out that millions more people have health insurance.
And it's a negative campain to point out that republicans have accused Obama of not even being American while they have lost over 150 court cases THEY started and failed to prove it.

And 9/11 was a republican failure.

If Obama happens to win next Tuesday, it will be a crushing defeat for Republican leaders Cantor, DeMint, McConnell, et al, who met on Inauguration night of 2008 to outline the strategy to defeat Obama in 2012.

With a re-election in hand, and Eric Cantor effectively de-fanged, perhaps Obama will engage with Boehner and with Harry Reid they can get down to addressing the nation's business.

There are some enormous issues to be dealt with, very quickly.

This artcle is pure schlock.

First, there is a difference between what a candidate's campaign produces and what Super Pacs and other organizations produce.

Secondly, Romney has engaged in a very negative campaign from the get-go.

Romney launched his attack on Obama before the campaign even started with his "No Apology" book falsely accusing Obama of embarking on an apology tour.

@atl134 "...Republicans are already a party of obstructionism."

This is a half-truth. The other half is when you say the same thing about Democrats. Ask Harry Reid.

@Truthseeker

It depends on what one means by "apology tour." One dictionary definition of apologist is: "A person who makes a defense in speech or writing of a belief, idea, etc." Obama certainly wasn't doing that.

He was denigrating America. On foreign soil. With the world watching.

You may try to revise history, but it was recorded where everyone can look it up for themselves.

Re:Nate

Obama's speeches could just as easily be portrayed as denigrating the countries he was speaking to and touting America's greatness.

"While Obama's speeches contained some criticisms of past U.S. actions, those passages were typically leavened by praise for the United States and its ideals, and he frequently mentioned how other countries have erred as well. We found not a single, full-throated apology in the bunch. There’s a clear difference between changing policies and apologizing, and Obama didn’t do the latter. So we rate Romney’s statement Pants on Fire." (Politifact)

"We went through Obama’s speeches that Romney points to in his book “No Apology,” and we didn’t see anything that rose to the level of an apology."
(Factcheck)

Nobody's vote will get changed today.

Romney's campaign strategy will make it harder to govern.

Democrats might be willing to work with someone they can trust.

Too many Mitts makes trust impossible.

@Truthseeker

As I said...Obama didn't apologize as much as he criticized.

OBAMA: "In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world....There have been times where America's shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."

OBAMA: "We have at times been disengaged, and at times we've sought to dictate our terms."

OBAMA: "Unfortunately, when faced with a serious threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions....Instead of strategically applying our power and our principles, too often we set those principles aside....In other words, we went off course."

OBAMA: "[9-11] led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals."

OBAMA: "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that we are not your enemy, we sometimes make mistakes, we have not been perfect.

OBAMA: "Often the United States starts by dictating -- in the past on some of these issues -- and we don't always know all the factors that are involved."

OBAMA: "I would like to think that with my election and the early decisions that we've made, that you're starting to see some restoration of America's standing in the world."