re: #193 Targetpractice

Romney’s campaign has relied upon not taking a stance that it can’t slither out from under when pounded on. If he stands up there on stage and starts adding details on what his plans are, he’s either gonna further alienate independents or he’s gonna totally discourage the base.

I figure he’s gonna do what he did during the Republican primary debates: He’s gonna try to avoid direct confrontation and focus instead on doing nothing more than offering criticism to anything Obama puts forward. His focus is going to be on “looking presidential.”

Then he’ll lose. “Looking presidential” only works for the frontrunner, which is not him right now. If he wants to win, he’s going to have to show he can hold fast during a pounding and then pound back. That may lead him to a victory or it may lead him to a severe defeat, but he’ll at least have a chance to win.

The sentence in italics is derived from the Duke of Wellington’s remark about Waterloo: “Hard pounding this, gentlemen. Let’s see who can pound the longest.” Wellington knew that risks must sometimes be taken, and if he wants to win this election Mitt Romney must function on that assumption.