Mitt Romney has released the first ad of his general election campaign. It's a quick, sunny spot that stays "positive," at least according to the low standards of political advertising, but does little to define him as a potential president:
For those who read this blog regularly and are thinking, "But PoliticOlogy, you hate Mitt Romney and will never like one of his ads"—not true! I'm more than willing to let Romney make a case for his presidency. If he's got ideas on how to improve the economy, I welcome his arguments in favor of them.
On that note, the ad starts off strong. Romney declares that he would approve the Keystone Pipeline on his first day in office, a clear and distinct policy difference from Obama, who has refused to allow the pipeline until it meets certain environmental standards. This is the kind of political advertising I can get behind: specific policy disagreements that inform the voter where each candidate stands.
The rest of the ad fails to live up to this promise. Romney says he "will introduce tax cuts and reforms that will reward job creators, not punish them." Great. Which tax cuts and which reforms are those? Because Romney has endorsed Paul Ryan's budget, which promises to erase the deficit and drastically lower taxes and buy the moon, but fails to indicate how it will do any of that. In the absence of any explanation as to how Romney and Ryan intend to cut taxes beyond the Bush tax cuts without causing a seizure in the country, they seem less like fiscal conservatives and more like they don't know what they're talking about.
Next, Romney says he "will replace Obama care with common sense health care reform." Pardon my elite coastal language, but that's bullshit. The GOP has had three years to come up with an alternative to the Affordable Care Act and have yet to introduce so much as one proposal. Their health care platform really is "repeal Obama care," without any suggestions for what they intend to replace it with. That's just not a serious response to one of the most important issues of our generation. By the way, the last time Romney was seen enacting "common sense health care reform," it became the basis for the ACA that he now wants to repeal. If Romney has other ideas for health care, I'd love to hear them. But something tells me they're not listed in this ad because they don't exist.
A recent poll showed the nation is still largely undecided about Mitt Romney. He's got room to define himself. This ad shows his campaign knows how to shoot a video during the golden hour, and that Romney will absolutely approve the Keystone Pipeline. Does Romney have anything else he'd like to bring to this discussion?
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