Over the weekend, Jon Heilemann wrote in New York Magazine that the Obama campaign has turned from Hope to Fear in the run-up to the 2012 election.
According to the author:
Though the Obamans certainly hit John McCain hard four years ago—running more negative ads than any campaign in history—what they intend to do to Romney is more savage. They will pummel him for being a vulture-vampire capitalist at Bain Capital. They will pound him for being a miserable failure as the governor of Massachusetts. They will mash him for being a water-carrier for Paul Ryan’s Social Darwinist fiscal program. They will maul him for being a combination of Jerry Falwell, Joe Arpaio, and John Galt on a range of issues that strike deep chords with the Obama coalition.
I couldn’t agree more with the Obama campaign that there’s a lot to be worried about. And I’m not alone. Poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans think our country is headed in the wrong direction. And how could they not? We are faced with an exploding debt, nearing $16 trillion; the possibility of our nation’s bankruptcy; a financial meltdown; and a tremendous loss of freedom in areas like healthcare and education.
As I said on America's Newsroom on Monday, Americans are facing the complete subjugation of the citizen to the state, instead of the reverse, as was intended by our founders.
But as Heilemann picks up, this White House is stooping to the lowest and most dangerous form of leadership. It’s using fear – practically as a new campaign slogan – rather than tackling our economic problems head on.
We have a name for this kind of “leadership.” Demagoguery.
Sadly, the White House and the Obama campaign are talking out of two side of its mouth. On one hand it’s coming down hard on Romney for his ties to Bain Capital; while on the other hand it’s done nothing to curb the revolving door politics that were certainly, in part, to blame for the financial crisis. They’ve continued to engage in crony capitalism, subsidizing companies like Solyndra, and picking winners and losers across industries at the expense of the American people.
The Obama administration’s use of fear – and it’s vilification of Bain Capital and free markets – is class warfare at its worst; and it should be a cue to all Americans that this is not an administration that believes in free enterprise or that will advance legislation that will truly improve the economy.