E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

The Recipe for the Charlotte Convention
The Obama Democrats who gather in Charlotte this week have a single big advantage over Tampa's Romney Republicans: Last week's GOP convention gave President Obama a peek at Mitt Romney's playbook. Combining the lessons of this highly public briefing with what's already known about the Romney strategy defines the Charlotte Imperative.
Meaning, I suppose, that which the Dems must do to keep the White House and return to their rightful place.
The best lines in both Romney's and Paul Ryan's speeches spoke to the disenchanted. Obama will have to speak directly to them, too: explaining why the economy isn't where it should be, arguing that his path forward is still more promising than Romney's, and linking his second term plans with the hopes of 2008. These goals lie behind Obama's "Forward" slogan.
The real question, E. J., is how many people are "disenchanted"? 20%, which you believe, or 60%, which I suspect?
Even conservatives have conceded that Romney left a huge opening by doing little to specify what he would do in office.
Yeah! Just like that last guy! The 2008 candidate...
Obama will define the Romney agenda himself, but he'll also have to offer his own plans as a contrast to Romney's vagueness. Since Romney accused Obama of my way or the highway "divisiveness," Obama will have to explain why the division in the country was caused primarily by the duly-elected GOP.

Romney has found real traction on one issue: his broadside against Obama for allegedly ending the work requirement in the nation's welfare program. The fact that the charge is based on a lie -- Obama is not dismantling the work requirement -- has not stopped Romney from running a series of advertisements that cast Obama as the friend of freeloaders.

What's maddening for Democrats is that whenever they point out the racially charged nature of Romney's assault, Republicans piously cast themselves as victims, accusing Democrats of "playing the race card." The GOP reply is disingenuous but effective.
I was not aware that "Freeloaders" was a race. If certain ethnic groups are over-represented in the category, perhaps that''s a factor that needs to be addressed, rather than being used as a strawman.
Defanging the welfare issue is Obama's highest immediate priority. This task is complicated because voters tend to view Obama as more liberal than he actually is, which means many of them are prepared to believe there may be some truth in Romney's false claims.

Two messages dominated in Tampa: that business is responsible for building the United States and thus deserves more tax and regulatory concessions;
Wrong: businesses, and people of all colors, both genders, and all faiths built the United States, and thus deserve to have a limited government that does strictly what needs doing and otherwise stays out of the way.
and that Republicans are the party of opportunity while Democrats are the party of dependency on government.
Well, at least you got the point.
The idea that Obama is anti-business is absurd (look at the Dow Jones averages and Alfalfa''s expression) and needs to be refuted. But more important is challenging both Tampa premises. The United States was built not only by business people but also by those who "labor in the oil and gas fields, mines and mills," and by the "hands that work in restaurants and hotels, in hospitals, banks, and grocery stores." The words of Rick Santorum, Romney's former rival, were among the few spoken in Tampa that acknowledged the priority of labor. It's a theme Democrats should embrace.
As absurd as Obama''s statement was, to say the Trunks think business built it all by themselves is a bit inaccurate. Business is the engine of the economy, labor is the fuel. A bigger engine needs more fuel. Now, E. J., go ahead and make your final point.
And Obama will have to return unapologetically to the theme of his inartfully cast but philosophically sound "You didn't build that" speech. American government -- through student loans, the GI Bill, the interstate highway system and so many other measures -- has always been primarily about opportunity, investment and enterprise, not dependency. For Obama, winning this argument is a precondition to winning the election.
I believe a Tea-Party government would have all those things, but it would not have entitlements that consume half the budget of the richest country in the world. You''ve dodged the issue. Again!
Posted by: Bobby 2012-09-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=351323