For the moment, all goes well on the Obama-Romney front as the President bumps upward in the polls amid the savagery of personal attacks by both sides.
Yet the main 2012 issue is being lost in the hate Olympics: Will the American people take back their government from a Congress that has brought it to a standstill and threatens four more years of deadlock if Barack Obama is reelected?
Despite head-to-head presidential intensity, little will change if Democrats keep the White House and lose the legislative branch to those who hold it hostage with debt-ceiling shootouts and mindless wall-to-wall naysaying. Even now, before he has their nomination, GOP zealots are looking past Romney to hobbling Obama for four more years if he wins.
Plans for the Democratic convention stress the President’s qualities but, in the urgency of swaying “independent” voters, there is no visible effort to break the Tea Party stranglehold in Washington.
As the only elder statesman available, Bill Clinton might take on that role, but will he? There are compelling reasons for him to do so, even beyond love of country.
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