One of the obvious strategies coming from President Obama’s re-election campaign is to make his opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, look like a wealthy aristocrat out to make the rich richer at the expense of the “poor and middle class.”
But, in the wake of the liberal backlash against Newark Mayor Cory Booker for criticizing Obama’s attempts attacking private along with Romney, the mainstream media is beginning to show signs that it’s not buying into the Obama campaign’s efforts.
Bob Schieffer, the host of CBS’ “Face the Nation,” joined the growing chorus of political and media figures critical of Obama’s strategy during an appearance on Tuesday’s “Imus in the Morning.” In an interview that was simulcast on the Fox Business network, Schieffer equated the attempts to make Romney out to be a “robber baron” to those trying to make Obama out to be a “European” socialist.
“Well, I’m not sure [Booker is] rocking the world, but he’s got a lot of people’s attention, you know because he’s saying that these ads that the Obama team is running against Mitt Romney kind of questioning whether he’s — was in business for the money,” Schieffer said. “And Romney started this campaign, talking about how he created all of these jobs, so they’re kind of taking the other side of it.”
“But you know, I tell you something, Imus — what I find really interesting. What’s going on here, frankly, is you know, Mitt Romney, is not the robber baron that the Obama folks would have you believe any more than Obama is a European socialist as the Romney folks would have you believe.”
Schieffer went on to explain that there has been a positive coming out of this, which he said was the rise of the center.
“But, we’re in this age of these negative ads now and both sides will try you know, to appeal to the extremes of both sides and that’s where we are,” he continued. “And you know, excuse me for, you know looking for a bright side, but maybe some of the centrists in both parties now are saying, ‘Hey, let’s kind of get serious about this and get these campaigns back to appealing to the folks in the middle and not to just the folks on either side.’”