What Mitt Romney Needs to Do

Today is the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  Nearly all of the establishment pundits claim that this first debate is Mr. Romney’s last chance to change the direction of his supposedly stagnating campaign.  The mainstream media would love it be his last chance at beating Mr. Obama.  Presidential debates can be important and this year’s election debates are important.  However, I don’t believe this first debate is Mr. Romney’s last chance.

The first obvious thing Mr. Romney has to do is look Presidential and come across as a President for every American.  I know how cliché that sounds.  It’s because it has become a cliché.  That will be easy for him to do.  The hard part for Mr. Romney is for him to speak with passion for his policies.  He will also need to make it a clear choice between an opportunity vision for America and a dependent-on-the-government vision for America.

Mr. Romney has always had trouble passionately articulating his vision, and contrasting it with Mr. Obama’s vision.  Throughout this entire campaign he has always reverted to listening to his establishment advisors who tell him to play it safe.  As if that won’t hurt his chances at beating Mr. Obama.  He needs to take a hard look at the polls, which show that playing it safe has kept him behind Obama in polls.

He needs to talk directly to the American people when he’s passionately articulating his vision for America.  When he “attacks” Obama, he needs to do it forcefully and directed at Obama.  However, he needs to not come across as angry, or the content of the “attacks” won’t be heard.  He needs to figure out a way to get under Obama’s skin and put Obama on the spot.  Romney’s own vision still needs to be his main message in the debate because people already know Obama is a failure.

Mr. Romney needs to let the moderator ask the questions, but he needs to ignore the moderator when he answers the questions.  He needs to make the debate be a conversation between himself and Mr. Obama talking directly to the American people.

The establishment loves to say that Mr. Romney did a great job at the Republican debates.  He was okay.  He didn’t say anything.  Republican voters did learn a thing about his vision for America in those debates.  What he did do well in those debates was that he stayed above the fray and he let his opponents do all the “attacking.”

However, these presidential debates between party nominees are completely different because Mr. Romney won’t be debating opponents in his own party.  These debates need to be about passionately distinguishing the Romney vision from the Obama vision, and getting under Obama’s skin to force him to appear angry.  Mr. Obama does not do well when he is confronted directly.  He gets agitated.

The first debate is Mr. Romney’s chance to make this election be about the future and whose vision is best to get America working again.  Mr. Obama’s vision is about “fundamentally transforming this country” into something where more government has more control over our lives.  Mr. Romney’s vision is about turning America around and putting individuals in control of their own lives, and creating an environment where private enterprise can create jobs.