After becoming entangled in contradictory messages over the Supreme Court’s characterization of the individual mandate as a tax, Mitt Romney’s campaign is drawing sharp scrutiny on the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal. In a scathing editorial published Wednesday evening, the Journal writes that the Romney camp “looks confused in addition to being politically dumb” after the presumptive Republican nominee told CBS that he believes the mandate is a tax, a position at odds with remarks made by senior campaign adviser Eric Ferhnstrom earlier this week. The piece also takes aim at the lack of specifics put forward by Romney.
From the Journal:
The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it’s Mr. Obama’s fault. We’re on its email list and the main daily message from the campaign is that “Obama isn’t working.” Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President’s policies aren’t working and how Mr. Romney’s policies will do better.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is assailing Mr. Romney as an out-of-touch rich man, and the rich man obliged by vacationing this week at his lake-side home with a jet-ski cameo. Team Obama is pounding him for Bain Capital, and until a recent ad in Ohio the Romney campaign has been slow to respond.
Team Obama is now opening up a new assault on Mr. Romney as a job outsourcer with foreign bank accounts, and if the Boston boys let that one go unanswered, they ought to be fired for malpractice.
