Still Dancing the Backward-Step-Pivot-Forward

One thing we learned about Romney during the primary debate season was that he was good under attack. Better than when he’s not under attack. When everybody starts to worry that he can’t handle it, something magical happens, and he comes out ahead and stronger.

We talked about this back in January. Somebody who knows a lot more about debate than I do described it as the Backward-Step-Pivot-Forward move. He defends himself (the backward step), then turns (pivots) and makes what looked like a weakness into an offense on his own terms (forward). I think that’s what we saw this week. (Jennifer Rubin used the word “pivot” in this piece Tuesday, which clued me in to what we were seeing.)

Everyone was so concerned about Romney under attack for being rich and successful. How was he going to defend against the onslaught of “Bain Capital outsourced jobs” and “Why doesn’t he give us several decades of tax returns? What is he hiding?” Then, fortuitously, Obama goes off teleprompter and says the offensive “You didn’t build that” line.

Without even knowing what hit him, Obama was on defense in a big way. Some of it would have happened regardless of the opponent; Obama is just tone deaf about how to talk to actual business builders. But what Romney and campaign have done is point out that, “this wasn’t a gaffe; it’s his ideology.” That is the defense, pivot, and offense answer to "He made money at a capital investment firm."

The problem isn’t, as Obama seems to believe, that he hasn’t been able to “tell the story.” The problem is that his way of thinking, his belief system, is harmful to America and Americans. All that needs to happen for him to be defeated is for his beliefs to be revealed.

Romney hasn’t had to say (as others have with conviction, energy, and accuracy) that Obama is a socialist. As they tell you in writing classes: show, don’t tell. He doesn’t have to use a label when Obama accommodatingly announces that he believes government is the all-powerful grantor of privileges that has allowed some hard workers to become successful, and they should be beholden to him as government’s icon. All Romney has to do is call attention to what Obama admits he believes, while contrasting that with what real American workers believe.

Romney came back with this response: “President Obama attacks success, and therefore under President Obama we have less success. And I will change that.” (A good 4-minute video of his response is here.)

And the message has connected. The Romney campaign has made good use of it with new video ads (like this one, titled “These Hands”) and other materials. But plenty of volunteers are carrying the message widely. People start asking, “If I didn’t build my business, who did?” When the president brushes away all their blood, sweat and tears—all the risk and dedication over years of sacrifice on the way to modest but deserved success—as insignificant compared to the advantage they got from government, they’re not going to take kindly to that.

I’ve been entertained by some of the visual representations. I found about two dozen on Facebook in the last couple of days. Below are a few of my favorites. (Some identify sources, but I’m sorry I can’t identify original sources for all of them. The most prolific source was Kevin Jackson’s The Black Sphere page.)