The Supreme Court ruled Obamacare constitutional as a tax with the pivotal vote of Chief Justice John Roberts, the politician. Despite Obama campaigning it wouldn’t be a tax on the middle class, that’s exactly Obamacare is. According to the Congressional Budget Office, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, “three quarters of those who pay the mandate tax will make less than $120,00 a year” and those people need jobs not more taxes.
Instead of coming out like every other Republican under the sun and agreeing it’s a tax, Mitt Romney’s campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney agreed with president that it’s a penalty not a tax. Then Romney reversed himself July 4th and said it was a tax. Well duh! In a scathing editorial on the goof up, the Wall Street Journal noted “he [Romney] offered no explanation so the campaign looks confused in addition to being politically dumb.”
Romney can ill afford any more mistakes like this. Don’t forget earlier this year, in March, Fehrnstrom infamously declared Romney’s strategy from the primaries to the general would be akin to an Etch-a-Sketch, one in which Romney would just shake up his campaign and start over. Maybe Romney needs to shake things up and start cleaning house because these sophomoric mistakes reinforce the perception he’s silly putty on the issues. Rupert Murdoch agreed tweeting, “Met Romney last week. Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to bat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.”
Another big Achilles heel for Romney is Romneycare. “The tragedy is that for the sake of not abandoning his faulty health-care legacy in Massachusetts, Mr. Romney is jeopardizing his chance at becoming President,” wrote the Wall Street Journal. In an appearance on CNN in March, I discussed the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on Obamacare and said the same thing that Romney would have to admit his signing the individual mandate into law in Massachusetts was a mistake in order for him to be credible on the topic against Obama.
The time has come for Romney to step out of the sand and take an aggressive stance on the issues and take the fight to Obama not throw in the towel like Senator John McCain did in 2008 for fear of being called a racist. Since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, no president has run for re-election and won when unemployment is at 7% or above. Now isn’t the moment for Romney to blow that trend. Since Obama took office the jobless rate has been persistently stuck at 8% or above for 40 plus straight months, despite the fact Obama has spent $5 trillion in three and half short years. That’s more than what President George W. Bush spent in eight years in office.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t repackage Humpty Dumpty aka President Obama into a leader in another four years because he has no record to run on. If he’s given more time, Obama will drive the country further into this black hole of economic misery. But we need Romney to convince us he’s the better man. It’s all in the message. So, let’s “shake it Romney,” there’s no time to waste.
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