海角大神

Reporters who cover presidential campaigns often complain that it can become like 鈥淕roundhog Day,鈥� listening to the candidates give the same speeches and recycle the same attack lines day after day.

But this year, the campaign feels more like 鈥淭rading Places鈥� 鈥� or perhaps 鈥淏oomerang.鈥�

Repeatedly, we鈥檝e seen the Obama campaign launch an attack, only to find the exact same accusation hurled right back at them by the Romney folks. Multiple pundits on the left have dubbed it the 鈥淚鈥檓 rubber, you鈥檙e glue鈥� approach, as it has become a predictable pattern in Campaign 2012.

Remember the Democratic charge that Republicans were waging a 鈥渨ar on women鈥�? On Wednesday, American Crossroads, a GOP super PAC, has a new ad out accusing President Obama of waging a war on women 鈥渋n our economy.鈥�

Likewise, both sides have traded accusations over 鈥渇lip-flopping鈥� and being 鈥渙ut of touch.鈥�

Perhaps the biggest boomerang to date came this week on outsourcing. For weeks, the Obama campaign has been hammering Mitt Romney for allegedly investing in companies that shipped jobs overseas during his tenure at Bain Capital. A hard-hitting attack ad asked if Americans really want 鈥渁n outsourcer in chief in the White House.鈥� Although Mr. Romney has denied the charges 鈥� and the independent group FactCheck.org found them to be 鈥渢hinly supported鈥� 鈥� the attacks seem to have had an impact, with Romney鈥檚 poll numbers weakening in swing states where the ads have been running.聽

So Romney turned the tables, accusing Mr. Obama on the trail this week of being the 鈥渙utsourcer in chief.鈥�

The Republican National Committee followed up with a website called 鈥淥bamanomics Outsourced: the Truth About How Obama Shipped the Recovery Overseas,鈥� which lists stimulus funds that it claims wound up being spent outside the United States, on everything from LED lights to electric cars.

Many of these same accusations were used in an attack ad last spring by Americans for Prosperity, another GOP super PAC 鈥� and they were also debunked by FactCheck.org.

But the Romney campaign 鈥� like Obama 鈥� doesn鈥檛 need the charges to be fully validated (as The New York Times put it, 鈥渢he two candidates and their allies have all but stuck their fingers in their ears while continuing with their outsourcing attacks鈥�). Frankly, the Romney folks don鈥檛 even need the public to buy into the argument that Obama is the one who鈥檚 really guilty of outsourcing. They just need their counterattack to get enough attention 鈥� to enter into enough of the 鈥渙utsourcing鈥� discussion 鈥� that it effectively defuses the original attack. The ultimate goal is for the whole back-and-forth to become more political white noise that the public eventually just tunes out.

It's not a bad strategy, so far as it goes. The danger, however, is that it keeps Romney in a mostly defensive posture. Even if the counterattacks wind up having an impact, they鈥檙e still allowing the Obama campaign to drive the discussion. They鈥檙e reacting, instead of forcing the other side to react.

The Obama campaign鈥檚 main goal right now is to 鈥渄efine鈥� Romney, and while Romney may have found an effective way to push back at some of the charges with his boomerang approach, he鈥檚 still not doing much to effectively define himself. That could prove a crucial lost opportunity.