Obama's Miscalculation; Romney's Shift

Obama’s campaign strategy of attacking Romney may have blown up on him in more ways than one. It is not just that Romney, by showing up at the debates and sounding moderate and reasonable, easily and instantly made the attacks looks false. It is not just that the attacks threw away Obama’s chief advantage, his likability, making him sound, angry, extreme, and disingenuous. It is also what probably enabled Romney to move to the centre in the debates, to appeal to independents. Under normal circumstances he probably could not do this without angering or disaffecting his base. But by putting him under attack, and what seemed unfair attack, Obama encouraged Republicans to rally around him. They will now turn out to vote for him in Hurricane Sandy force no matter what.