The Coming Romney Comeback Narrative

[WilliamPitt]

If there's one thing the media won't tolerate for long, it's an unchanging media narrative. So the current story of the presidential campaign -- Obama sits on a lead that is modest but increasingly comfortable, thanks to a hapless Romney and a hapless Romney campaign -- should be yielding any moment to something fresher.

The essential property of the new narrative is that it inject new drama into the race, which means it has to be in some sense pro-Romney. This can in turn mean finding previously unappreciated assets in Romney or his campaign, previously undetected vulnerabilities in the Obama campaign, etc. The big question is whether the new narrative then becomes self-fulfilling, altering the focus of coverage in a way that actually increases Romney's chances of a victory. And that depends on the narrative's exact ingredients. Here are some candidate memes:

1. Romney has a previously undiscovered sense of humor! Here apologies are due to my Atlantic colleague Molly Ball, who, actually, discovered Romney's sense of humor some time ago. Sorry, Molly, but I'm afraid your discovery will have to be shrouded in obscurity, because the meta-narrative governing new narratives dictates that their ingredients be fresh and surprising. Man must bite dog! There has to be a new Mitt, an unexpected Mitt, so that suddenly all bets are off. For example, a little joke Romney makes at the Clinton Global Initiative has to seem so refreshingly unexpected that it makes headlines.

2. Sudden and unexpected foreign policy switcheroo! Whereas Obama had seemed to have an edge in the realm of national security and foreign policy over Romney (who, you may recall, has never ever killed Osama bin Laden), suddenly the tables turn! Actually, this narrative is already starting to take shape. After being widely panned for his too-early exploitation of the uprising over "Innocence of Muslims," a chastened Romney did some not-too-early exploitation of it that was received more warmly. And, helpfully, Obama has been far from sure-footed. Asking YouTube whether the video in question complies with its standards played into Romney's "apology" trope; calling Israel " one of our closest allies in the region" was a pre-packaged Romney Florida ad; "bumps in the road" was an unfortunate turn of phrase; and so on.

The rest: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/the-coming-romney-comeback-narrative/262876/

Any minute now...

[spanone]

1. absolutely....their amazement will be, well, amazing

[hifiguy]

2. Could be, but the problem is that Willard is the most incompetent

candidate in the last 100 years. This discounts the possibility of continued self-inflicted foot wounds by the Mittbot.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. Where's a missing blonde girl when you need one?

[hexola]

4. The comback narrative started when they brought Ryan on.

"America's Comeback Team"

http://www.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/08/americas-comeback-team

And Romney stood in front a banner with the same phrase on it.

Its even worse than "We Built It" - It makes it sound like you (your ticket) is behind...dumb!

[Bluenorthwest]

5. I have to disagree that the need for drama means a need for 'pro Romeny'

materials. The election is getting fairly near, they have the debates to deal with, and while 'horse race' is the easy way to go with election blather, 'trainwreck' is even better when it can be done.

[Scootaloo]

6. Well, unless they have the scab refs counting ballots, too...

Even this hail mary won't help the campaign.

[Wednesdays]

7. "(Romney)... never ever killed Osama bin Laden"

Last edited Wed Sep 26, 2012, 07:13 PM - Edit history (1)

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he goes out and tries.

[nichomachus]

8. They couldn't manage it with McCain/Palin

And they barely managed it with Bush -- although they needed a corrupt supreme court to nail it down.

Bush, unlike Romney, had a well-seasoned apparatus, a collection of fascist handlers and advisers who ran interference for him and kept him from inflicting too much damage on himself.

Romney's out there twisting in the wind. You've got video of him making stupid and contradictory statements with Ryan grimacing in the background. You've got Ann out there alternately scolding and whining.

He took advantage of the primary to shit on every Republican who could help him, and I can imagine the GOP is the party of schadenfreude right now. He's surrounded by opportunists who are using him to feather their own nest -- and when things get too desperate, they'll simply turn their coats and slip into the night.

George Bush could at least fake being a regular guy. He had a lot of practice at that in Texas and the Air Force and the effort led to his drinking and drug problems. There were people who wanted to have a beer with Bush (although they didn't realize it would not be a pleasant experience). Who the hell would want to have a beer with Romney?

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Mitt is religiously prohibited from drinking beer.

So even if someone wanted to have a beer with him, he could not. Nor a cup of coffee, or tea. Not even Sanka.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

15. "A guy you'd like to have a cup of Postum with" just doesn't have a ring, does it?

[JI7]

14. but in 2008 Palin provided entertainment and ratings even if they were losing badly

[central scrutinizer]

9. this article seems to be 80% snark and 20% serious

The last paragraph sounds almost like "when pigs fly"

[Bucky]

10. You'd think more DUers would love it then.

[cali]

11. alas for the media they've got rMoney to contend with

it's not that easy to shill the comeback line with a candidate this awful.

[porphyrian]

12. Who's got something better to steal their wind with again? n/t