Can Rick Santorum win by 'parroting' Team Obama?

Santorum cribs lines from Obama and Co. to use against Mitt Romney on the campaign trail — but Santorum may be doing himself more harm than good

Rick Santorum says Mitt Romney lacks a "core," a critique Obama adviser David Axelrod leveled against Romney last fall.
(Image credit: Whitney Curtis/Getty Images)

As Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum face off Tuesday in delegate-rich Illinois, Santorum appears to be taking pages from "the Obama campaign's playbook" to shape his attacks on Romney, says John Dickerson at Slate. For example, Santorum recently called Romney out for his history of flip-flopping, saying Mitt "has no core" — a line that President Obama's top strategist David Axelrod first used last October. Team Santorum has also thumped Romney with a "Democratic talking point" casting Romney's Bain Capital career as one of ruthless capitalism gone awry. Will this ape-the-Democrats strategy be effective?

No. This hurts Romney and Santorum: Santorum isn't concerned with how difficult it might be for Romney to beat Obama in a general election, but "by parroting the administration's critique, [Santorum] lends weight to their claims," says John Dickerson at Slate. Surely "the Obama team will be ready to hit 'replay'" on these Santorum clips when the president faces off with Romney. And if Santorum somehow becomes the nominee, he'll have created a major headache for himself: Any bit of agreement with the Obama campaign will be used against him.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us