One of the reasons I had – and still have – considerably more hope for the Romney campaign than I ever really did for the McCain campaign is that Romney has shown an ability to counter-punch, especially in the early, sparring rounds. \u00a0But the Romney response to Obama’s discredited claims about outsourcing fall falt.<\/p>\n

Let’s stipulate that a Democrat getting Four Pinnochios from the Washington Post<\/em> on an ad is as close to metaphysical certainty that the ad is untrue as it’s possible to get in this lifetime. \u00a0That still doesn’t make Romney’s response effective.<\/p>\n

I’m unsure why featuring noted non-Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton doing the same thing that Mitt’s doing – telling Obama to cut it out – is supposed to help. \u00a0To me, it just illustrates the tactic’s futility. \u00a0 It’s a little like Bob Dole futilely imploring George H.W. Bush to, “stop lying about my record.”<\/p>\n

People expect their politicians to lie. \u00a0People don’t expect their Presidents to lie, which is why Obama’s ad, explicitly saying that “What a President believes matters,” is so much more effective, even though the criticism would work better on him.
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