SALON

Saturday, May 26, 2012 7:48 AM UTC

Obama, Romney try to play it safe in 2012 gamble

By

Topics: From the Wires,

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the risky business of running for president, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are largely playing it safe.

For all the small daily dramas of the 2012 campaign, there’s a risk-averse dynamic playing out: Neither candidate has been making bold new policy proposals or displaying a free-wheeling personal style. So far, at least.

Part of that is just who they are: Obama always has been known for his cool demeanor, and Romney has discipline built into his corporate pedigree.

Neither of them has the swagger of former President George W. Bush, the renegade streak of 2008 GOP nominee John McCain or the rapscallion’s grin of former President Bill Clinton.

But Obama and Romney are men who know how to gamble: Obama decided to run for president after just two years in the Senate, launched an ambitious health care overhaul effort while the economy was still on shaky ground, and gave the “go” order on the Osama bin Laden raid. Romney entered politics after a career in private equity, where risk is part of the job description.

Despite their backgrounds, their caution as candidates extends well beyond personal style.

The president debated for weeks how and when to announce that he supports gay marriage, and only went public after remarks by Vice President Joe Biden nudged him along. When Obama finally did make his announcement, his words were carefully measured to tamp down any backlash. He spoke of dinnertime conversations with his daughters about treating people equally, and of abiding by the Golden Rule.

Romney, too, treated the issue gingerly, even as he disagreed with the president. He restated his opposition to legalizing such marriages, but called it a “very tender and sensitive topic” and said he supported extending certain rights to gay couples.

Political psychologist Stan Renshon, a professor at City University of New York, said Romney has clearly decided that the benefits of sticking to a script outweigh any downsides.

“His No. 1 priority at this point is to establish himself as a bona fide alternative,” Renshon says, “and the less risky he sounds, the more conventional, the more boring, the better off he is.”

And Renshon said Obama’s even demeanor helps him fend off accusations that he’s too radical. The president’s re-election argument is a recitation of promises kept and a plea for more time to deliver on those yet to be fulfilled.

For now, Obama doesn’t see the need to strike out in new directions. His announcement on gay rights, for all the commotion it generated, was largely seen as confirming what people already believed about him. And getting the word out early will make it feel like ancient history by Election Day.

Both candidates also have been wary in their interactions with the press — to the point that Romney’s aides recently tried to physically bar reporters from approaching the candidate to question him as he shook hands with people standing along a rope line.

The GOP candidate later tried to smooth over the flap by paying an impromptu visit to reporters in the back of his campaign plan. But he took note of what a rarity that was by observing that his press aide was “about to pass out.” And, no, he didn’t still didn’t take questions.

Obama, for his part, is happy to use the press when it suits his purposes — he hastily scheduled a TV interview to reveal his shift on gay marriage — and to pummel reporters when that fits his campaign narrative.

In a talk to graduates at Barnard College earlier this month, Obama lamented that “faith in our institutions has never been lower, particularly when good news doesn’t get the same kind of ratings as bad news anymore. Every day you receive a steady stream of sensationalism and scandal and stories with a message that suggest change isn’t possible.”

The candidates’ wives also have been playing it safe for the most part.

Michelle Obama has largely steered clear of all the contentious talk about issues important to women — contraception, abortion, the Violence Against Women Act and more. Her standard speech at campaign fundraisers ticks off a list of accomplishments by her husband. Her public appearances largely focus on her two signature issues of fighting childhood obesity and supporting military families, both widely popular and non-political.

Ann Romney, for her part, generally sticks to a script while campaigning for her husband, sharing warm and humorous stories about Romney family life and the challenges of raising five boys.

David Ropeik, a Harvard professor and author of several books on risk, said it’s no surprise that the candidates are being cautious “in a no-holds-barred, 24-7, scream-a-thon world, where any hint of what the other side might see as an error is guaranteed to explode.”

But Ropeik said both men need to know that being too careful can do them more harm than good.

“Candidates take a huge risk by being so buttoned up that they fail to express human sincerity,” Ropeik said. “It’s risky not to be sincere — even though sincerity is risky.”

As the campaign progresses, the candidates may well adopt more risky strategies to further their own ambitions, especially if the race remains close.

Obama, for example, raised eyebrows this week with a tough new ad that goes after Romney’s record at the Bain Capital private equity firm. The ad quotes a former steelworker who compared the firm to a “vampire” that sucked the lifeblood out of companies.

The populist pitch may help fire up Obama’s base of support but risks making it more difficult for him to attract voters in the political center.

___

Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nbenac

More Nancy Benac.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
3059 points3060 points | 2007 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
950 points951 points | 497 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
154 points155 points | 52 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
29 points30 points | 15 comments
vote
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
25 points26 points | 10 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations