Obama’s Unbecoming Presidential Campaign

The attack on the Romney statement has evolved over the last week. Initially, the thrust of the issue was the clumsy phraseology. There were jokes all over twitter with the hash tag, #bindersfullofwomen. Then, from the left there was the swipe at Romney for being dishonest about who commissioned the binders to be prepared. Ultimately, the Obama campaign settled on the idea that Romney should have known all the qualified female candidates for appointment within his gubernatorial administration.

Any new executive, in the public or private sector, with many positions to fill would be remiss not to seek out the most qualified candidates. It is impossible to expect one person to personally know the most qualified candidate for any single job. That’s what head hunter firms are for. In Romney’s case, a bipartisan commission did the leg work.

The attack is small, even for the war on women meme. Millions of dollars in advertisements have not succeeded in demonizing Romney to a clear majority of the electorate. So Romney’s awkward turn of phrase has become Obama’s salient issue of the week. The Obama campaign seems oblivious, clinging, because it’s nearly all that’s left.

The problem isn’t that the comment has become a campaign issue. Americans know that our politics is not above the gotcha games of capitalizing on opponent’s clumsy wording. What stands out is the level of emphasis the Obama campaign is placing on the issue within the context of the proximity to Election Day.

At a time when Democrats are clamoring for the president to go big to inspire the nation again with a grandiose agenda to secure a second term, the president is peddling in the politics of gotcha. Americans are noticing and polls are still trending toward Romney. These are serious times. The smallness of Obama’s message is unbecoming of the presidency.