dw93
DWL
YaBB God
Posts: 4,870
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« on: June 26, 2017, 12:06:41 AM » |
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While the recovery was weak, it was still a recovery and it was noticeable by 2012, not to mention unemployment also started to fall in late 2011 early 2012 as well, so Obama had that going for him as well. On top of that, Obama had the Bin Laden raid and the ending of the war in Iraq, and the flaws of his foreign policy wouldn't become obvious until his second term. Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy also gave him a boost.
Romney was also disturbingly prone to gaffes, such as "I like being able to fire people," "Corporations are people my friend," and let's not forget the infamous 47% remark. He had these gaffes and didn't have a strong base of support like Trump had in '16 to defend and support him no matter what. Also, Romney's record at Bain was for him what Willie Horton was for Dukakis or what the Swift Boat Veterans Ads were for Kerry, and as was the case with Kerry and Dukakis, Romney didn't respond to the attacks at all. He also didn't effectively attack Obama either.
Romney could've won that election, but it would've been tough and it would've been close because even with Obama's vulnerabilities (and there were quite a bit and I say that as someone who voted for him), I don't think the Country was all too willing to elect a Republican President just four years after the Bush/Cheney debacle.
So in short, he underperformed because Obama had more going for him (even if it was slightly more) than against him in the last two years of his first term and Romney made a great deal of mistakes
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