The president looks rough these days. Everyone from comedians like Seth Myers to the unintentionally hilarious Chris Matthews have remarked on just how bone-tired the man who had a quasi-cocky swagger only a few months ago has become. You can hear it in his voice, you can see it on his face, and you can practically FEEL it coming off his radically graying hair. The job of the presidency has aged Obama ten years in three, but he can still win re-election…if he even wants to.
Strategy 1, Stay out of the Republican primary: Last week came reports that Obama is gearing up to launch an attack on Mitt Romney, the presumed front runner of the GOP nomination. The problem is that Mitt is still almost ten months away from even securing the nomination. Now of course it probably won’t drag out that long (Republicans are notorious for picking a leader early and goose stepping behind them), but still…the general election is a long way from now and Romney has a good chance at not winning it. In fact, unless people figure out Rick Perry is a George W. Bush impersonator pretending to be a real candidate, it’s probably going to be Perry.
Now Obama actually wants to run against Perry, thinking he’s easier to beat than a moderate like Romney who can appeal to independents. EXCEPT that people said John McCain and Bob Dole were both moderates that were supposed to win over independents and lost in landslides. The last two Republican presidents to win two terms were extreme conservatives (Bush the II, Reagan) that could appeal to religious voters…something Romney can’t do. Obama should WANT to run against Romney as he’s too moderate to inspire the GOP base. Either way, he needs to let these two bloody each other in the primaries, and save every penny he can to slam the winner out of the gate.
Strategy 2, Don’t Play Defense: Obama can’t defend his economic record. He just can’t. His economic record is too complicated, and you can’t put “I inherited a shit sandwich” on a campaign poster. You can’t rationalize the horrible economy he inherited to people because it’s not satisfying, and you can’t say “Everything I tried to do, Republicans blocked,” for the same reason. When Romney says “The Economy Is In the Toilet,” he has to say “Because you fired people when you worked at Bain Capital.”
John Kerry and Al Gore made the mistake of being too passive and letting the fight get taken to them instead of running out to meet the fight with a sock full of quarter rolls. Obama needs to study WWF rallies or Faux News screaming matches or the Jerry Springer Show to see how people get angry. Now of course he can’t get too angry because then Republicans will paint him as the “Angry Black Man,” but he does need to know how to go after Perry, punch him (metaphorically) in the face, and keep him on the floor. After all, Obama’s been punished so much in the last three years, it’s got to feel good to dish it out a little.
Strategy 3, Go Negative: Karl Rove is the most successful political slime ball on the scene for a reason. He knows to go negative. Obama won in 2008 because of a positive, uplifting, staying-above-the-fray campaign that stayed hopeful in message. That worked because of the inspirational message of America’s first black president after a time when we had just had our first retarded president, but also because McCain is a relatively clean Republican that refused to go as negative as he could have.
McCain, Kerry, and Gore are all classy…but they lost. And I’d rather have a dirty winner than a classy loser. Besides, look at how much dirty fighters (LBJ for Democrats and Bush for Republicans) can accomplish when rubber hits the road. Most of Obama’s failures have come from trying to get people who hate him to like him. It’s not in Obama’s style to be a nasty fighter…but it’s going to have to get there if he wants re-election. WANTS being the key word.