There is no such thing as bad publicity

Back in May, I remarked:

I must admit, I have a hard time understanding what kind of mud they'll be able to throw on [Romney] come this fall. It seems like they've thrown everything including the kitchen sink in his direction. Do they really think they can keep this up for six months, or are they relying on macroeconometric models that project rosy growth and employment scenarios to make up for the lack of "content" in their arguments against Romney?

Lo and behold, here comes Obama's Burn Rate Worries Some Democrats:

… some Democrats worry that the overhead built by the Obama camp over the past 15 months will prove impossible to sustain. Unless fundraising picks up, the Obama campaign may enter the season's final stretch confronting hard choices …

It seems the Romney camp is using Jujutsu techniques on Obama:

"Jū" can be translated to mean "gentle, supple, flexible, pliable, or yielding." "Jutsu" can be translated to mean "art" or "technique" and represents manipulating the opponent's force against himself rather than confronting it with one's own force. Jujutsu developed among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defeating an armed and armored opponent in which one uses no weapon, or only a short weapon

The President has a variety of shields at his disposal that are not available to Romney: "It's all Bush's fault", "I'm likable, he's mean and rich", "I took out Osama" etc etc. His fundraising during the 2008 campaign was phenomenal where he spent twice as much as McCain.

Chief among the President's weapons is name recognition. He is the president after all. Also important are the funds he steered towards constituencies favorable to him via stimulus and crony capitalism projects. He can also count on unions to spend on his behalf.

So far, Mr. President and his friends have kept Romney in the news to little effect. There is a good reason for that: Most people who are not going to vote to reelect the president will not change their minds. Same goes for people who are going to vote to reelect him. That leaves a bunch of people who have not made their minds yet.

It is folly to expect them to make their minds now, and not change until the election. In between, there is the Republican convention which is bound to attract more media attention than the Democrat one if only because the President and his running mate are already known (unless, of course, Ms. Clinton agrees to a swap. I think it is imperative that Governor Romney's VP pick be ready, willing, and able to debate Hillary Clinton.

In addition to that free publicity, the debates between the president and his challenger will provide ample opportunity for Romney to introduce himself while providing a side-by-side contrast. In fact, the more mud is thrown at him now, the more likely people will be to say "he doesn't look as bad as he was made out to be".

At some point, the president is going to have to run on something he has accomplished. We are all very happy that Osama met his maker for attacks carried out in 2001, but in 2012, we are facing a Middle East at the brink of large scale war including a potential conflict between Russia and Turkey (a NATO member).

Neither is blaming crises in Europe for the economic situation in the U.S. going to work. U.S. and European responses to crisis have largely involved various bailouts and shady government deals, and it is against that kind of meddling that the Tea Party movement in the U.S. rose up and delivered the 2010 Republican victory.

Maybe the President can promote more equality at the Olympics to garner support: Instead of the winner of a competition getting a gold medal, each competitor in the event could get an equal share of gold, silver, and bronze to hedge against future inflation brought about by record levels of government spending and borrowing.

Now, that would be an achievement.