MITT AS PUNCHING BAG – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:   Republican operatives are continuing to pressure Mitt Romney to fight back harder against the relentless, overwhelming Obama attacks.  Republican governors are getting into the fray, putting heat on Romney.  And one of Romney's own advisers concedes deficiencies.  From The Politico:

The Obama campaign's attacks on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital have successfully shifted the campaign narrative away from the economy, Romney strategist Ed Gillespie acknowledged on Sunday.

"They want to talk about anything other President Obama's dismal record on the economy, and it's working," Gillespie said on CNN's State of the Nation.

Gillespie repeatedly accused the president of economic malfeasance, saying his policies were designed to reward campaign contributors with green jobs but had left middle-class workers without jobs.

He also repeatedly defended Romney's work on the St. Lake City Winter Olympics. Obama officials have accused Romney of misrepresenting his role at Bain during that period -- with spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter accusing him of lying or committing a felony -- in an effort to tie the Republican to investments that sent jobs overseas.

Gillespie was adamant that Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, had no day-to-day involvement in the company at that time, and was instead sacrificing to prevent the Olympics from being pulled from the country.

"He left a life he loved to save the Olympics for the country he loved more," Gillespie said, accusing the Obama campaign of distorting that record into "something sinister."

COMMENT:  It's time for the political grown-ups to take over.  The only thing Obama does well is run for office.  (Well, he actually does a great job at writing dishonest autobiographies, too.)  And Obama is running well again.  He is severe on the attack, doing what a good candidate does – defining his opponent early in the race.

Romney has clearly been caught off guard by the intensity of the Obama sledgehammer.  He's never fought Chicago-style politicians before.  Maybe Romney thought this would be a tennis match at the club.  The one thing you never want to do in presidential politics is play defense, and that's what Romney has been forced to do.  Yes, he's got to respond to attacks, but he's got to go on the offensive.  "Attack repeat attack," was Halsey's mantra.  It works in politics. 

The fact is, most Americans seem to want a change.  Obama, with all his attacking, still can't get to the 50% mark in the polls.  But Romney doesn't advance either.  He will advance only when he demolishes Obama, destroys Obama's arguments, and creates a vision of his own.

The ball is in Mitt's court.  He has been criticized for having a staff that may not be up to the job of presidential combat, although it did well in the primaries.   Romney will soon leave for a trip to the Olympics, and to Israel.  There is talk he will name a vice presidential candidate before he leaves, so at least he has a surrogate fighting for him while he's abroad. The foreign trip may or may not be a good idea at this time, but Romney is committed to it, and pulling out now would look like panic.  However, he doesn't have long to right his campaign, define himself, and put Obama on the defensive.

July 15, 2012