It's an uphill fight for Romney now

With less than two months until the election, Romney is left with dwindling opportunities to reshape the dynamic of the race. This places extraordinary pressure on him in the presidential debates that commence on Oct. 3. He was an able debater during the Republican primaries. Obama is a weaker debater than his reputation — often professorial and elliptical. But Romney has the harder task. He must do more than hold his own. He will need to shake and shift public attitudes. And it is not easy to be aggressive during a debate without appearing overbearing or desperate.

This analysis requires an admission. Obama’s political strategy has generally worked. The president could not run on his economic performance. So he has turned the race into an ideological contest that he has a better chance of winning. His convention speech — equally light on creative policy — emphasized the choice between Democratic community and Republican selfishness. The Democratic convention (with the exception of Bill Clinton’s throwback moderation) was designed to energize social liberals and economic populists while trying to destroy Romney as a viable alternative.

This approach to politics is not pretty. If it succeeds, we will see a lot more early, scorched-earth negative attacks and purposeful ideological polarization in American campaigns. Quite a legacy for Obama to leave.