Should Mitt Romney have to defend Obama against 'treason' remark?
Should Mitt Romney have been quicker to defend President Obama against a verbal charge of treason?
This question arises because at a Romney town hall meeting in Cleveland on Monday, a female supporter told the crowd that Mr. Obama is 鈥渙perating outside the structure of our Constitution鈥� and should be 鈥渢ried for treason.鈥�
At the time, Mr. Romney let the comment pass. Later, asked by reporters about the 鈥渢reason鈥� incident, Romney said that 鈥渘o, of course鈥� the president should not be tried for that offense.
Too late, too late! Top Democrats ratcheted their umbrage meters up to 鈥渟tun.鈥�
Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement, 鈥淭ime after time in this campaign, Mitt Romney has had the opportunity to show that he has the fortitude to stand up to hateful and over-the-line rhetoric and time after time, he has failed to do so.鈥�
Does the Obama team think Romney secretly sympathizes with the call to put their guy in the dock? No, they know better. They鈥檙e just maneuvering for a tiny bit of rhetorical advantage in a campaign that鈥檚 becoming more personal by the day.
Handling supporters who go over the line isn鈥檛 easy, after all. Sure, in the 2008 campaign Sen. John McCain did it pretty well. After a rally supporter called Obama an 鈥淎rab鈥� who couldn鈥檛 be trusted, Senator McCain took the mike and said, 鈥淣o, ma鈥檃m, he鈥檚 a decent family man.鈥�
But it鈥檚 more common for candidates to look on with a strained smile that says, 鈥淚 hope that person did not say what I think they just said.鈥�
Even some generally liberal commentators sounded as if they thought the blistering Democratic response seemed a touch ... sensitive.
鈥淚t would be nice if we could establish some kind of clear standard for when candidates are and aren鈥檛 responsible for the things their supporters say, but that isn鈥檛 going to happen anytime soon, since both campaigns seem to think they profit from jumping on such episodes, perhaps because they鈥檙e easy ways to motivate base supporters,鈥� wrote Greg Sargent on his liberal .
Others added that the problem here is not Romney鈥檚 response per se, but the political culture that produced the woman鈥檚 comment. If Donald Trump can question whether the president is legally a US citizen, why can鈥檛 the rank and file yell 鈥渢reason鈥�?
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure which is worse: the idea that we鈥檙e all supposed to care whether or not Mitt Romney adequately knocks down the crazy every time it鈥檚 thrust in his face ... or the fact that the crazy is constantly thrust in his face (and that he and other Republican leaders encourage it),鈥� wrote聽Jonathan Bernstein on his .
Conservatives, meanwhile, charged Democrats with hypocrisy.
At the , Ben Howe pointed out that at a Labor Day rally with President Obama in 2011, Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa said Democrats should 鈥渢ake these [Republican expletives] out.鈥�
Interviewed afterward, White House adviser Daniel Pfeiffer said that 鈥渙fficials shouldn鈥檛 be responsible for everything said and don鈥檛 have to serve as the 鈥榮peech police.鈥� 鈥�
鈥淪o there you have it,鈥� wrote Mr. Howe. 鈥淭here is absolutely nothing worse than a man of Governor Romney鈥檚 stature staying quiet while awful things are said about his opponent. This is something that Obama would never find himself on the wrong end of. Unless of course when he was exactly on the other end of it just last year.鈥�
