Because we, the voters, can change Washington from the outside.
Wil Wheaton: in other words…
Obama: I tried to change Washington on my own, but I couldn’t do it because Republicans refused to work with me and Democrats. I was able to accomplish some pretty good things, though, because the American People wanted those things done, and they pressured Congress to act. If I get a second term, I want and need the American People to be even more involved in governing our country.
Romney: ZOMG GAFFE! HE SAID YOU CAN’T CHANGE WASHINGTON! HE ADMITS HE’S A FAILURE FOR PETE’S SAKE! MARVELOUS!
American People: Um, that’s not what he said at all, Mitt.
Romney: FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT OF YOU NEED TO SHUT UP AND KNOW YOUR PLACE. AREN’T YOU PAYING ATTENTION?! IT! WAS! A! GAFFE!
American People: This is why you’re going to lose, jack ass.
Jonathan Bernstein wonders why Romney picks such feeble attacks. One theory: All Romney’s campaign has to do is pull out a sentence and call it a gaffe, and it instantly becomes one. It blows up on twitter, it goes straight to Fox News and most of the conservative radio shows…it’s all over the place. Indeed, if it’s in those places, it’s also going to be in Politico and Buzzfeed, too. So on the one hand, it must encourage laziness to know that all you have to do is come up with something vaguely appropriate to movement conservatives in order to get that effect; on the other hand, it must just feel as if you’re making something happen when you do it. And the more it hits the sort of things that the GOP-aligned media loves, the more you get the immediate effect. Really, for campaign operatives, it must be incredibly temping to do it. (via: Andrew Sullivan)
Greg Sargent: “If Romney thinks the promise to engage more Americans in the political process is a gaffe, that is certainly newsworthy.”
Dave Weigel: “The distractable style of the Romney campaign, the focus on “gaffes” like this, seems to be re-emerging.”
Steve Benen: “Romney mentioned Obama’s remarks three times at the beginning of his rally in Sarasota. It’s almost as if our political discourse is getting dumber as the election draws closer.”
Meanwhile, President Obama just turns it around…
Obama Mocks Romney: What Kind Of Inside Job Is He Talking About?
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