By Charles ParkerBack in the 1980s, I ran for a seat on the Cocoa Beach City Commission. I kicked off my campaign with a rally and fundraiser at the restaurant of a local hotel. I invited a couple of hundred people. Why? So that if the press was there, the room would look full. Why? So that the impression would be that I had a lot of support.
This is Campaign 101.
President Obama “officially” began his run for a second term this weekend at a half-full rally at Ohio State University. Note to campaign: don’t book a 20,000-seat arena for a campaign kick-off event if you can’t guarantee that 20,000 people will show.
His second stop was a second college campus in Virginia. At least this time they got the optics right. Smaller venue, smaller crowd, liberal media called it “boisterous.” But the writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch also made some interesting writing decisions.
The story described the president’s visit and interspersed anecdotes and quotes from Mitt Romney’s visit to Virginia earlier in the week. As I skimmed the story, I frankly got mixed up.
I thought the story said that Mitt Romney said, “Somehow, he and his friends in Congress think that the same bad ideas will lead to a different result.”
In actuality, President Obama said that. What is he talking about?
He had complete control of Congress for two years. He passed just about everything he wanted. He got his stimulus, he got his mandated health care, he got his funding for green energy companies, he got his financial regulatory reform, and he got his Supreme Court justices.
And what does he want now? Another round of stimulus, early implementation of ObamaCare by bypassing Congress, more money for environmental projects, more regulation on Wall Street, and the hopes that he can deplete the court of conservative justices if he get another term.
In other words, “the same bad ideas.”
Mitt Romney needs to be disciplined – and keep his campaign on ideas and issues. He has them. Evidently, the president doesn’t.
You can follow Charles Parker on Twitter @cpbrevard and on BlogTalkRadio from 6:30-7:00 pm Sunday evenings - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-charles-parker-show/2012/04/30/the-charles-parker-show / http://cp.opinion.brevardtimes.com/
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