Fmr. Governor Mitt Romney says something intelligent

Mitt Romney has plenty of faults. But, his keen insight on how elections are framed and how economic cycles work are still one of his greatest strengths. I have said for some time now, and will continue to say, that the economy IS recovering. There is almost a measurable cycle to when a country experiences a recession and to when it recovers to its' full strength.

The point? In 2012, running against President Obama and the economy would potentially be a disaster because, more likely than not, the economy will be significantly better in 2012 than it is in 2010 and the President and Vice-President will be running on the economy's rebound. Mitt Romney, businessman "extraordinaire," knows this very well.

So, in an interview this week he stated:

But he will do everything he can to get the economy going back again, and most likely -- at least in my view -- the economy will be coming back.

He will, you know, you can expect Vice President Biden to come out and say it was the President's great economic accomplishment that the economy has turned around, and of course, most of the people in this room will recognize it was in spite of much that was done in Washington that the economy has turned around. Recessions do end. The economy recovers. It always has. It always will.

That being said, however, they will take credit for the fact that things are getting better. That will help the President's reelection effort.

Yes. It will certainly help the President's reelection effort. So, how do you run against the President in 2012? Mitt Romney believes you do so by attacking the President's identity in order to cast him as "the other." So, you know, pretty much the exact same strategy from 2008, but without the inexperience meme, because it's hard to cast a sitting President as "inexperienced." So, what's the problem with this strategy?

Well, something tells me that if the American people didn't buy the argument in 2008 that Obama was this sinister "other" figure when he was practically unknown and had the middle name "Hussein" than they certainly won't buy the argument in 2012 after he's been President for FOUR YEARS and hasn't done one sinister thing to everyday Americans during his term of office.

So, while Fmr. Governor Mitt Romney is completely right about fleeing from the economic strategy during the election, it would also be a hazard to run with the fringe element and attack the President personally for four straight months.

-- Joseph Banks