Guide to Rovian undermining and Swift-boating
Last edited Tue Jul 17, 2012, 08:07 PM - Edit history (1)
Rovian undermining involves three main factors.
1) Attacks on an opponent's point of strength, and often a point of your relative weakness. If these attacks are manufactured lies then Rovian undermining is "swift-boating."
2) The opponant is definable... relatively unknown. Rovian undermining doesn't work well with incumbents because the public already has a perception of the person. They could have tried to paint Obama as dumb in 2008 (going after his strength of being a smart man), but in 2012 that would be impossible. Even people who hate Obama think he's smart. (Only the very crudest sort of racists think he isn't.)
3) The attacks have perceptual plausibility
The swift-boating of John Kerry was plausible because to enough Americans he seemed like an effete snob, despite his admirable service in Vietnam. Chicken-hawk Bush was, on the other hand, perceptually more plausible in his flight suit to a lot of Americans, despite being a craven weakling.
Bain-o-rama is ideal Rovian undermining. (But not swift-boating, since the charges are not manufactured.) Romney's greatest perceptual strength is that he's a rich white businessman of the sort who (it is thought by many) ought to know how to get things done. He is, however, fantastically insincere and a compulsive liar. He is perceived as a hollow liar, and he is. By tying the perception of lying to the business career it becomes impossible for him to cite his greatest asset without advertising his greatest deficit.
Now, here is Romney's counter-attack:
Swings at Obama as crony capitalist who favors donors over country
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/16/romney-shows-his-fighting-side-to-gop-cheers/
That's a FAIL across the board. Obama is not an unknown quantity. Factually he is not much of a "crony capitalist." Perceptually he is not much of a "crony capitalist."
This is not Rovian undermining (which works when applicable), but rather mere "I know you are but what am I?" It is foolish.
It is as if George W. Bush had run ads saying, "John Kerry is a half-wit redneck wannabee who nobody would have heard of if his rich and powerful father hadn't foisted his simple-minded son on the nation."
Those ads would not have been effective. They would have served to increase public disapproval of half-witted redneck wannabes.
So I don't think Romney's attempts to get people riled up about "crony capitalists" will redound to his benefit.
= new reply since forum marked as read
...Crony Capitalist?
Huh? 
