GO LARGE, MITT
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
WASHINGTON POST
For six months, [Romney's] been matching Obama small ball for small ball. A hit-and-run critique here, a slogan-of-the-week there. His only momentum came when he chose Paul Ryan and seemed ready to engage on the big stuff: Medicare, entitlements, tax reform, national solvency, a restructured welfare state. Yet he has since retreated to the small and safe. When you’re behind, however, safe is fatal. Even his counterpunching has gone miniature. Make the case. Go large. About a foreign policy in ruins. About an archaic, 20th-century welfare state model that guarantees 21st-century insolvency. And about an alternate vision of an unapologetically assertive America abroad unafraid of fundamental structural change at home. It might just work. And it’s not too late.
2012 DEBATES: THIS IS IT, MITT
PEGGY NOONAN
WALL STREET JOURNAL
There are some institutional and personal elements surrounding the Wednesday debate that may well work in Mr. Romney's favor. From a canny journalist with a counterintuitive head: "The media will be rooting for Romney." Two reasons. First, they don't want the story to end. They're in show biz: A boring end means lower ratings. ...Second, the mainstream media is suddenly realizing that more than half the country (and some of their colleagues) think they are at least operationally in the tank for the president, or the Democrats in general. It is hurting the media's standing. ... Mr. Romney walks in as the underdog, behind in the polls. He's not the president, the other guy is. He's not world-famous, the other guy is. The president is known for smooth presentation and verbal fluidity, Mr. Romney more recently for awkwardisms and gaffes. It's good to be the underdog. "Politics is exceeding expectations."
Must-Read Op-Eds for Sept. 27, 2012