Out of Bounds

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Tue, 2012-08-21 00:36 -- John Batchelor
Tuesday, August 21, 2012

(Above: President Obama at a White House news briefing on Monday. His campaign and the Democrats spent $91 million in July.)  

The Todd Akin scandal in Missouri illustrates how both presidential camps are wired for instant reaction, and that attacks are by far the preferred road to victory.  Akin's absurd remarks made it obvious to both sides that he was expendable, and so both sides enjoyed sending cruise missiles into his empty brain.  Mitt Romney launched first by condemning Akin as "inexcusable" and "wrong."  At this point, the game was over for Akin: the GOP nominee with all the king's horses and all the king's men had judged and sentenced Akin to the wilderness.  Candidate Obama chose today to make his first remarks to the White House media in weeks, and it was convenient that his first questions were about the Akin folly.  Mr. Obama's word were arch and easy.  The striking hard work was for the OFA to tie Akin's ignominy to RomneyRyan2012.  The DNC later issues a display ad (left) that twists the case in so much verbiage that it freezes the brain.  Akin is a Republican member of Congress and therefore a liability until Akin joins the dustbin of history,which will likely be soonest.  

Out of Bounds.  

Lessons learned from the day include the fact that Mr. Obama's campaign has no grand strategy.  Gossipy revelations from reporters point to an OFA obsession with taunting Romney.  OFA looks to be taking its lead on the Romney attacks from the boss, POTUS Obama:  “What is absolutely true is if you watch me on the campaign trail, here's what I'm talking about: I'm talking about how we put Americans back to work, and there are sharp differences between Romney in terms of how we would do that. If you look at the overall trajectory of our campaign and the ads that I have approved and are produced by my campaign, you will see that we point out sharp differences between the candidates, but we don't go out of bounds.”   Candidate Obama speaks with frustration.  The report that the Obama Victory Fund only has $20m on hand (and a total of $126 when combined with OFA and that the DNC) -- and that the Obama Victory Fund spent more than it took in for July, and that Mr. Romney has way more money to spend after the convention, not counting the SuperPac warchests -- points to why Mr. Obama has turned to trash-talking and far-fetched smears of his opponent.  OFA is without a battle plan for September; OFA is in a defensive crouch; OFA is low on ammunition; OFA needs a break (perhaps this is why Candidate Obama jumped on the Akin story).