Obama Campaign Paints Romney as a Flip-Flopper

The general consensus is that Wednesday’s GOP debate on the economy only cemented Mitt Romney’s status as the front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination. It seems Team Obama has taken notice.

The Washington Post reports that senior campaign strategist David Axelrod spent most of a 30-minute conference call with reporters Wednesday attacking Romney. The main thrust of the attack—and stop us if you’ve heard this one before—is that the former Massachusetts governor is a flip-flopper who has changed his position on everything from health care to tax policy.

Axelrod’s comments are noteworthy because they suggest the president’s re-election campaign is gearing up to do battle with Romney next year. Still, they were hardly original: Romney’s perceived willingness to change his stance so that he always has the political wind at his back has been attacked by politicians on both sides of the aisle, and has been closely documented by the Democratic National Committee’s website and Youtube "Which Mitt" campaigns.

During the call, Axelrod said of Romney: "Across the political spectrum, people have the same question: If you are willing to change positions on fundamental issues of principle, how can we know what you will do as president? How can we trust who you are?"

In previous debates, Rick Perry also accused Romney of flip-flopping, though stumbling over himself in the process. Axelrod dismissed the Texan’s attempts, saying he "hasn't exactly gotten his gun out of the holster."

"I will give him this," Axelrod said of Romney, "he is as vehement and as strong in his convictions when he takes one position and he is when he takes diametrically opposite positions." He continued, saying, "The comedian George Burns once said all you need for success in show business is sincerity and if you’ve got that, you’ve got it made. Maybe that’s true in politics sometimes. But not in a presidential campaign. People want to know who you are, what you believe in, what you stand for."