Kristol Piles On Criticism Of Romney Campaign

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Conservative stalwart William Kristol slams the Romney campaign in a Weekly Standard column, arguing that its narrow focus on the economy will lead to defeat in November. Kristol’s column comes on the heels of a Wall Street Journal op-ed that similarly argued Romney was “play[ing] it safe” and needed to do more than just say “the economy stinks and it’s Mr. Obama’s fault.”

Kristol agrees that Romney needs to provide more substantive policy proposals:

The economy is of course important. But voters want to hear what Romney is going to do about the economy. He can “speak about” how bad the economy is all he wants—though Americans are already well aware of the economy’s problems—but doesn’t the content of what Romney has to say matter? What is his economic growth agenda? His deficit reform agenda? His health care reform agenda? His tax reform agenda? His replacement for Dodd-Frank? No need for any of that, I suppose the Romney campaign believes. Just need to keep on “speaking about the economy.

Even taking into account super PAC money and disillusionment with Obama, Kristol says Romney’s strategy “still strikes me as a path to (narrow) defeat.”

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