In the last 48 hours, Mitt Romney received some coaching from his staff: yell.
It's a good idea. Yelling at rallies is candidatial. I don't know if that word exists, but if Mitt can strive to appear presidential, he can also strive to appear candidatial.
Additionally, audiences are not accustomed to him yelling. It surprises them. They are accustomed to hearing Mitt labor to make an argument, which is practically impossible to do, because he is hemmed in between appeasing the base and courting the moderates (see my blog, "The dock and the boat"). They are also becoming accustomed to hear him commit some really damaging gaffes when speaking at conversational levels.
So this is a positive, happy, surprise from Mitt. It's not impossible, but it's harder to commit a gaffe when you are yelling than when you are trying to be thoughtful. Mitt was yelling yesterday, and we can look for more yelling today. If you want thoughtful language today from the Romney camp, listen to Mitt's wife telling alarmed Republicans to shut up and walk a mile in Mitt's 12 ½ D wingtip shoes.
Obama, meanwhile, responded by employing a strategy of reviewing old tapes for things Mitt has said in times prior ("can't change Washington from the inside," from 2007, for example) then repeating them on the air, then waiting for Mitt, an hour or so later, like it happened yesterday, to seize on them as a new Obama weakness and yell them out at this or that rally.
It makes Mitt look a little silly, but that's not his fault. It's the job of his senior staff to vet these things. Speaking of good jobs, any American should leap at a job on Mitt's staff. While they were making Mitt look silly yesterday, they got paid bonuses. Can't beat that.
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