Keller @ Large: Shift In Strategy For Romney, Obama
BOSTON (CBS) - There's a shift in strategy in the race for president. Both the president and Mitt Romney addressed veterans groups Tuesday, and it looks like their tones are changing.
Romney really came out swinging.
In his speech today to the American Legion Convention, the president offered a hopeful note.
Obama said, "When we choose to move forward together, as one people, there's nothing we can't achieve."
WBZ-TV's Jon Keller Is At Large
But Romney, in his remarks to the VFW, struck the opposite tone.
Romney's speech: "We stand near a threshold of profound economic misery."
Obama: "America's military is the best that it's ever been."
Romney's speech: "Did you know that our Air Force is now older and smaller than it has been for decades."
What's going on? Romney is suddenly running second to Texas Governor Rick Perry in the polls, and must now compete harder for the title of most effective Obama critic.
Meanwhile, as his poll numbers slump, the president must do all he can to promote voter optimism, lest a negative tide pull him under.
Would Romney prefer to play the happy warrior? Sure he would.
But that may have to wait for a one-on-one matchup that's a long way from materializing.
Romney has to be careful with his new sharp edge. History shows voters don't warm up to candidates who are too negative. But the president must be careful as well, to avoid being seen as trying to happy talk his way out of an unhappy situation.
