It must be physically painful sometimes to be a NYT columnist: you have to apparently hold in so many things. Case in point: Chris Wallace asked Jeff Zeleny whether President Obama’s re-election campaign “stumbled out of the gate” (spoiler warning: YES, they did). Here is Zeleny’s response:
The Washington Free Beacon has the transcript, for your delectation. A taste:
JEFF ZELENY: I think we don’t—it’s too early to know if he’s stumbled out of the gate. The reality is the Obama campaign had always planned to use the two months of the summer, really—May, June, beginning of July—to define Mitt Romney, so that’s what we’re seeing now. We are not sure if it is successful or not. The rollout of Bain Capital was really nothing short of a disaster for them, and they have had a lot of time to do this. At least in the eastern sort of coastal region.
So… yes, Team Obama stumbled out of the gate. This is the time that Democratic operatives were expecting to start going after Romney, they had plenty of time to get their attacks against Romney ready… and when the Obama campaign actually launched those attacks they ended up having Democratic politicians from one of their primary electoral strongholds dive for cover, screaming. And that was just the Bain Capital attack: the previous attacks (“Romney hates women!” and “Romney is weird!”) had been similarly shot down with surprising speed. One wonders what the NYT would consider to be “stumbling out of the gate”… actually, no, one does not wonder.
No, and that’s not really supposed to be complimentary to the NYT, either.
Moe Lane
The bigger problem, I think, is that the left actually believes that these are good attacks. This makes them vulnerable to making more “stumbles.”
Shhhhhhh!
These attacks by the Obama campaign have been devastating! I sure do hope they don’t continue the class warfare and the demonization and the solidarity with those wonderful Occupy Wall Street kids — that hurts us so bad! Oh Lordy, please don’t throw us in that-there briar patch!
Stumble? They Faceplanted out of the gate, and only then stumble while trying to get up.
Romney’s in fighting form because he’s been in a primary this whole time. But it’s disengenious to say that Obama is just getting started with his campaign. Obama’s been in full campaign mode ever since he’s been in office. What problem has he faced that his immediate answer was to make a speech and hold a series of town halls? The reason he’s stumbling is because we’ve already had 4 years of his stuttering and disassembling logic that it’s worn thin on people. Clearly this president is no longer “punching above his weight”.
Man, it is oh so hard to defend the worst President in our lifetime after you’ve invested some much in the idea of his Hope and Change.
And speaking of brilliant campaign strategies, this Saturday I saw where Julia – Obama’s campaign creation – works. She’s a mannakin at a high end clothing boutique. That faceless expression on her head is unforgettable!