If you need the Washington Post to tell you this, you probably haven't given much thought to what's going on right now. Also, Obama is most likely not nearly as upset at economic bad news as one might think. Remember, no crisis should go to waste? As someone who sees himself as transformational, Obama relishes crisis. He can only re-arrange the deck chairs the way he wants them when the deck is already rocking from rough seas.
Obama plans to turn anti-Wall Street anger on Mitt Romney, Republicans
Sorry, Obama is not as upset at all the bad news, economic and otherwise, the Right and the GOP have been tagging him with lately. There are few surprises in it for him. While they look terrible for Obama through the prism we've been viewing politics in America since 2008, it's that prism he aims to change, not the facts on the ground. In fact, Romney as a challenger fits better into the vision driving Obama's re-election campaign than does any other challenger.
Beginning in 2008, the national political debate has been shaped as us, think we the people, versus Washington. As a sitting President, Obama can't hope to win that argument. However, if one changes the terms of debate, making Wall Street and big business the enemy of the people, with Washington as a pro-active force the American people need to do battle against it, that's a debate Obama can win.
Romney's Big Business background - expect anything and everything he ever did at Bain Capital to come to light in a general election - makes him precisely the kind of target Team Obama wants in 2012. I'm not saying that the Democrats will prevail in turning the discussion to where it favors them. But anyone ruling out the possibility is underestimating them.
Obama will attempt to cast himself as Roosevelt-ian x 2. Teddy was the Trust Buster and FDR the Great Progressive. If the discussion turns in Obama's favor, Democrats will try to use Romney's image as a successful "Big" businessman against him (Cain's image differs btw). And because Romney is closer to being a Republican Progressive, as opposed to a Conservative, he will be much less effective than Obama in presenting himself as a populist champion of the little guy.
We know how the nation's political discourse has been framed for the past three years. Until we know how it's framed coming out of next Summer, going into Fall, we can't know how any two candidates may shape up in a head-to-head comparison.
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