Molly Ball notes that the Obama campaign has had a tough time trying to link Mitt Romney's time at Bain with his actual economic policies and confirms that, yeah, Bain is essentially a character attack.
That, not policy, is what the attacks on Bain are really about: what kind of person Romney is. It's about character -- whether he feels the pain of average folks or is instead seen as callous and greedy.
It's yet another in the seemingly endless litany of depictions of Romney as an out-of-touch rich guy. Romney has tried to engage the Bain critique on this level, issuing a video featuring out-of-work Americans and telling more stories about regular people on the campaign trail.
But he hasn't done a very effective job fending off the Bain critique, and maybe this is why: The idea that he lacks empathy has become so deeply embedded it's nearly impossible to shake. When it comes to policy planning, though, people may be more inclined to believe him.
