The Financial Times: Obama’s Luck vs. Mitt’s last stand
excerpts from article by Edward Luce
Tomorrow night we will learn whether Obama has been very lucky in getting Romney as his debate partner. Edward Luce remarks on what he sees as Obama’s amazing luck ,,, perhaps more accuarately the amzing incompetence of first the McCain campaign and now the Romney campaign.
Midway through his opponent’s latest calamity, the president last week sat down (with the) five friendly ladies on The View…. Mr Obama joked that he was mere “eye candy” for his hosts.
There can be little doubt that Mr Obama is a lucky candidate….Republican donors are debating whether to divert cash to the congressional election, where they could at least hold up the firewall against Mr Obama. Paul Ryan, meanwhile, is looking for ways to salvage his credibility as a future White House contender…….
Staff at the president’s Facebook-style headquarters in Chicago may dispute that description (their targeting techniques are light years ahead of their rivals in Boston). But Mr Romney has inflicted most of the damage on himself. Last week he had the decency to admit it. “That’s not the campaign,” Mr Romney said in response to the fallout from of his infamous “47 per cent” remark at a private fundraiser. “That was me, right?”
….. as journalists can attest, this president has had little recent practice at fielding sustained questioning on the economy. Should Mr Romney draw blood there is still time for Mr Obama’s luck to change. Sensibly, perhaps, Mr Romney has been preparing for the debates for almost three months. It is his last real hope.