I don’t think Barack Obama will have a hard time defeating his Republican opponent in 2012, barring a financial meltdown or a major foreign crisis. It’s a Democratic opponent he should worry about. […] As for Mitt Romney, who, if you stretch things a bit, is a semi-celebrity, he has a shot at the presidency only if the economy falls apart and Americans really think a businessman president will help them out of a crisis. – Roger Simon, Politico

WASHINGTON – Happy “RomneyCare” anniversary. It’s just one reason Romney will have a tough slog, but he’s announced he’s in on the exploratory level. So now we have one candidate who can say the word JOBS.

Pres. Obama hasn’t one clue how to inspire job creation in the private sector. It’s hard to imagine anyone worse on the economy, believing that taking money out of the economy is the answer; particularly since he doesn’t even want to hail how he steered the American economy away from a near disastrous depression.

Mr. Romney also understands the core problem in the economy. It’s just watching this video he doesn’t look like he can sell it.

Romney also makes another classic candidate mistake by trying to appear as someone he’s not. He’ll never be the average guy, never. So whoever advised him to stand in this setting wearing these clothes should be fired.

It’s a mistake Donald Trump would never make. He’s an egotistical, misogynistic, birther front man, but he is who he is and he’s not going to make the mistake of trying to remake himself for the masses. It would be impossible anyway. If you haven’t seen Trump’s Sharpie marker message to Vanity Fair, you simply must.

Someone on my FB page asked whether he’s the new Bullworth. I think that pegs it. Trump claims he’s the Obama campaign’s “worst nightmare.”

The comments come after Plouffe joked on ABC’s “This Week” that he would love to face off against Trump in a general election match-up.

“I saw Donald Trump kind of rising in the polls. Given his behavior, and the spectacle of the last couple of weeks, I hope he keeps on rising,” Plouffe said with a smile. “There’s zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people to do this job.”

But Trump contends the opposite is true:

“I am not the person they want to run against,” he said. “They know it, and I know it, and I know it for a fact. Because I have a lot of people that, frankly, are contributors to him and they tell me, ‘Donald you are not the person you want to run against.'”

Trump, Pawlenty, Santorum, they’re all minor league players, with Trump a wild card who isn’t afraid of anything, because he’s not looking for anyone’s approval. He’s also got nothing to lose, which is always dangerous in an election season where volatility may be the foundation. His patter on China is the best in the field until and unless Jon Hunstman gets in the game.

As for Trump being Obama’s “worst nightmare,” I doubt it. His worst nightmare is if Democrats do what they should and walk away from Pres. Obama’s disastrous path, just saying no. That’s it. I’m through. No more. You’re on your own, pal. Then go concentrate on good progressive candidates.

Though if Trump throws down, I won’t miss one Republican debate. His candor is just as entertaining as it is refreshing. And unless Jon Hunstman gets in, Trump is the only one with a message on U.S. trade with China that rings.

Taylor Marsh is a Washington based political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics, foreign policy, and women in power. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog.