Needless Negativity

Of all the disappointments associated with Barack Obama’s leadership, the most painful involves the president’s failure to bring us together in national unity and common purpose. While Obama apologists prefer to blame Republicans for the bitterness and polarization in Washington, the president’s reelection campaign tells a different story. Any undecided or wavering voters should confront a crucial question: Which campaign—Obama’s or Romney’s—has focused more fiercely on harshly negative messages?

While Romney has criticized his opponent’s record as president, Obama has emphasized the other candidate’s allegedly bad character and purported desire to play by “different rules” in his private life. Two weeks before Election Day the president even described Romney’s approach as a “disease” that should be “fixed up” by Obamacare. Americans who long for more positive, less decisive politics have only one real choice on November 6th.