What Mitt Can Learn From Trump

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been dodging a daily blitzkrieg of mud-slinging attacks from the Obama tag team of surrogates and their accomplices in the media.  As a result, the mild-mannered Romney has spent most of his time deflecting barbs, forcing him to abandon his economic message.

With Barrack Obama's lackluster record dangling like an albatross around the president's neck, his deputies have unleashed a toxic string of vicious charges against the Republican as part of a campaign strategy aimed at tarring Romney's image.  It is the only way Democrats can win.

That explains why Democrats have smeared Romney as a filthy rich Wall Street pawn with offshore accounts, questionable tax returns and a dubious record of outsourcing jobs and shuttering unprofitable businesses while he was at Bain Capital.   New scuzzy attacks hint Romney's behavior may have involved criminal activity. Oh, and, Romney's a Mormon, too.  Does it get any scarier than that?

The barrage of half-truths and deliberate distortions has allowed Democrats to paint an unflattering picture of the GOP standard bearer.  The implication is that wealth, even if it is legally acquired, precludes Romney from occupying the White House.

President John F. Kennedy could have set fire to his cash stockpiles and still had more money than Romney. But in President Obama's America, wealth is evil.  People who have money are objects of derision. Being poor and dependent on the government is more honorable.

Romney will lose the election unless he takes a lesson from Donald Trump.

Like him or not, Trump got under Obama's skin during his short-lived, whirlwind presidential talk show tour.  Trump unmercifully attacked Obama.  The tone was civil but unrelenting.  One charge in particular exposed the thin-skinned Obama's aversion to stinging criticism.

Trump questioned Obama's birth certificate at every opportunity. Others had done the same, but not in such a high-profile manner. After years of adamantly refusing to release his birth certificate, Obama relented in April of 2011 to dampen the firestorm ignited by Trump.

It proved nothing yet underscored a fatal flaw in Obama's character. When someone turns up the political heat, the president wilts under the pressure.

Trump was the first politician to personally attack Obama.  Hillary Clinton backed off after husband Bill was branded a racist for merely suggesting Obama might be ill prepared to be president.  Timid John McCain practically swooned at the mention of Obama's name during his presidential campaign.

Mitt Romney has an opportunity to change the tenor of the race.  He needs to hold a news conference and announce that he has a message for the president.  Here's what he should say.

"Effective today, every specious charge from President Obama, his surrogates and his allies in the media will be met with a swift and immediate counter attack of my own.  I am not going to stand still while the president makes a mockery of our political system by trashing my character with lies.

"Therefore, I plan to thoroughly vet my opponent so the American people can finally hear the truth about Barrack Obama.  Voters need to know about his relationships with hate-mongering Rev. Jeremiah Wright, terrorist William "Bill" Ayers, convicted swindler Antoin "Tony" Rezko and the shadowy George Soros.

"Since the media has no interest in exposing the truth about the president, I will.  I would prefer to talk about issues, but the president has made it clear he would rather wallow around in the mud.  I am happy to oblige, if that's what it takes to get him to abandon his scorched earth campaign and return to a serious discussion of his handling of the economy."

Mitt Romney has the credentials to be the next president of the United States.  Now we will find out if he has the political gumption to take off the gloves and fight back against the Obama-sanctioned campaign to destroy Romney with character assassinations.

If he ducks the fight, Romney will have only himself to blame when he takes it on the chin in November's election.