Curmudgeon's Corner

Dear Governor Romney...

Posted by Al Campbell on July 16, 2012

U.S., Taxes, Political, Quality of Life, Economy

Dear Governor Romney,

I wish you were more spirited and forceful in your delivery style, and that you took umbrage when assailed for your record at Bain Capital.  I wish your campaign would constantly refer to your combination of private sector business and public sector experience and your governing experience as a contrast to the current office holder.  Identify the number of times he chose to vote “Present”, for example, rather than to take a position knowing he was climbing the ladder more safely by doing so.

I wish your surrogates would counter the endless solicitations for more tax returns by simply saying you’d be happy to do that IF and WHEN the President’s Harvard records were released to the press.

I wish your surrogates would detail President Obama’s dismal record whenever he attacks your record on decisions made.  He needs to be made to stand to account for what he and his appointees have not accomplished as much as he brags about what he has accomplished.

I wish you would adopt the ‘white board’ approach of Karl Rove to simply explain what this Administration is costing us Americans.  Simple graphics can be very effective given short attention spans.

I wish, if the President finds it to his liking to continue to politicize your success, that your surrogates would point out his tax returns before and after becoming President so that people would better understand his rate of growth in personal wealth; and, that they would raise the original, and still outstanding, questions about his wonderfully engineered home purchase in Chicago on a neighborhood organizer’s income and a short time in the Illinois Senate.

With all due respect Governor Romney, I believe it is time for your campaign to begin emphasizing tactics similar to those being employed against you.  I know that this is anathema to you, but you are being dirtied every day by the Obama campaign; and, there is plenty of ammunition for return fire if you would but say to your staff, “Okay, if that is the way it is, then we really must counter-punch.”

I am not suggesting that you stoop to lying and the use of half-truths like those being used against you by President Obama’s partisan voices; I don’t think you have to do that to raise the issues that point to his failings.

Rather than to see you continuously on the defensive, I’d personally like to see you go on the offensive.  If the campaign is to be run that way from the President’s perspective, your campaign needs to counter with similar tactics, and I’ve not seen that to any degree yet.  Solyndra is but one example.  The GM ‘bailout’ to protect the UAW and screw the stock and bond holders is another.  The massive debt accumulation is another.  ‘Fast and Furious’ is another.  This list goes on and on.

“Chicago-style” politics isn’t pretty, but, unfortunately, it seems to be quite effective.  You don’t need to get to that point, but you do need to punch back.  They dump dirt virtually every week and then run on to the next dump, and the press, of course, permits that kind of thing from them while trying to hold you to a much different standard of conduct.  You are running against President Obama and the mainstream media.

Governor, you must win this election.  Our country is simply unable to withstand another Obama term.  You have my vote and it appears you are climbing in polls, but time is short.

Please adopt a more aggressive posture.

Thank you.

PS – As much as I’d like to see you pick Paul Ryan for the Veep slot, he will do a lot more for you and us in Congress at this time.