The Romney campaign has spent a good bit of time over the past few days bragging about the awesome zingers they’ve prepared for the debate tomorrow night. Apparently, the plan is that Barack Obama will be so overwhelmed by the sheer force of Mitt Romney’s witty one liners that he will immediately drop out of the presidential race, I guess.
This seems like a really silly strategy. Romney’s entire campaign has been a series of zingers.
You didn’t build that! Zing!
My opponent has increased the size of government, I want to cut it! Zing! But can you tell us what, specifically, you would cut? Nope.
My opponent thinks all our problems can be solved by taxing job creators. I want to lower your taxes and eliminate deductions. Zing! But can you tell us which deductions you would eliminate? Nope.
This seems like a really easy strategy to counter. The President should say I’ve heard Mitt Romney spent the last few months preparing some zingers to throw at me tonight. I look forward to hearing them. But it takes more than just a zinger to reduce unemployment and get 4 million people working again. It takes more than just a zinger to rescue Detroit and produce the clean energy we need to protect our future. It takes more than just a zinger to tell all of our men and women in uniform that they should be proud to serve their county and proud of who they are, regardless of who they love, and those folks know well that it takes more than just a zinger to defend our freedoms at home and abroad. This is a time of great challenges, and of great opportunity. We must, and we can meet those challenges head on, but it takes more than just a zinger.
Just like that, the President simultaneously gets to defend his record, tout his accomplishments and make himself look presidential, and Mitt Romney look unsuited and unprepared for the role. He can follow by asking Mitt Romney for the details of his tax plan, his budget, his jobs plan, etc, rather than just the zinger versions we’ve heard so far.
Bill Clinton proved to us last month that when you treat the American public like adults, they respond. People want to know the details of these policies. The president has them and Mitt Romney does not. Obama should point t that out, and hammer it home with Romney’s ridiculous focus on zingers.
520 Chestnut 
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