Is This the Worst Presidential Campaign Ever?

Probably not.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was accused by supporters of John Quincy Adams of murder and adultery.  In turn, Jackson’s campaign charged Adams with being a “Yankee,” intended as a slur since it meant, then, a Northern storekeeper who cheated his customers.  He was also accused of procuring sexual favors (“pimping”) for diplomatic contacts.

But, according to long-time political journalist Brit Hume, who has covered ten presidential campaigns, the present campaign is the worst he has ever seen. 

Campaigns in recent years have certainly been increasingly hard-edged.  Perhaps it began in 2000 when George W. Bush won the presidency in the Electoral College, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, despite losing the popular vote. 

To be sure, one can’t accuse Democrat Walter Mondale of having run a mean-spirited race against GOP president Ronald Reagan in 1984, or Republican Bob Dole of having made vicious attacks against incumbent Bill Clinton in 1996.

But even since 2000, presidential candidates have operated within certain boundaries.  For instance, 2008 Republican nominee John McCain disavowed a South Carolina GOP ad attacking Barack Obama’s long-time association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the seemingly anti-American cleric from Chicago. 

How about this year?

Mitt Romney blasts the president by exaggerating the immediate effects of his executive order giving states more discretion in imposing welfare work requirements (although it’s eventual demise is most likely what Obama wants).

And the chief executive accuses the Republican of wanting to “end Medicare as we know it” - which is true except that unless Medicare is changed, demographics will compel its death.

Fairly standard campaign rhetoric, that.

But things have turned personal:

*A deputy head of the Obama campaign accuses Romney of

“maybe” having committed a felony because his name appeared on an SEC filing for Bain Capital after his active involvement had ceased.

 *Harry Reid, Senate Democratic Leader, claims that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for ten years while at Bain (the information was based on an “anonymous source”).

 *Vice President Joe Biden – in what was evidently his attempt at humor – told a mostly black audience of campaign supporters: “Look at their budget and at what they’re proposing.  Romney wants to let the – he said in the first hundred days, he is going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, Unchain Wall Street! [pause]  They are going to put y’all back in chains.” [laughter]

 *A political action committee supporting President Obama creates a TV ad that implies, quite falsely, that Bain Capital, under Romney, was responsible for a person’s death. 

[Romney and his campaign are not blameless for the ugly nature of politics this year, but calling the president “angry and out of touch” is hardly comparable.]

Sadly, for those who believe that campaign combat should be constrained by a sense of propriety, these outrageous remarks have generated neither apologies from those who uttered them or, more tellingly, have they been disavowed by the president. 

Why not?

It’s as if no misdeed can be conceded lest Romney be emboldened to attack the chinks in the campaign’s armor.  If so, the toleration of such misconduct can be viewed as merely tactical and not reflective of how President Obama “really” views such out-of-line utterances. 

But then, maybe Obama and his campaign don’t see it that way at all.  If the other side is seen as an enemy, not just as an opponent, the ruthless will give no quarter to the foe.  [All’s fair in love and war.]

As examples such as those noted above mount in the campaign, it is increasingly difficult to avoid the second possible explanation as the more plausible one. 

Regardless, the Obama campaign is making a big mistake in failing to acknowledge the obvious.  Some voters will undoubtedly recoil from a candidate whose campaign insists he can do no wrong.