Another Dem Turns on Obama's Bain Attacks

You can add one more name to the growing list of Democrats who havespoken out against Obama’s attack ads aimed at Bain Capital. Formergovernor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell told BuzzFeed he found the ads “very disappointing.”

This makes at least four nationally known Democrats who havecriticized the tone of the ads. The big splash came Sunday when MayorCory Booker called the attacks “nauseating.” Booker was backed up byHarold Ford Jr. and former Obama Car Czar Steve Rattner, both of whomchose to side with “private equity” over party.

The Romney campaign was quick to jump on the backlash and produced an ad using clips of the dissenters within Democratic ranks.However, President Obama seems committed to the strategy of attackingRomney by highlighting his time at Bain. At a news conference yesterday, he emphasized, “This is what this campaign is going to be about.”

What should be of more concern to the Obama camp than the complaintsof a few stray Democrats is the response the attacks are getting fromthe media. This ABC report hints that the attacks on Bain seemcalculated to exploit ignorance about the role companies like Bain playin our economy:

Pumping more money into a company that has shown signs of failureisn’tas smart a move business-wise as cutting losses to save investorsmoney… that’s what private-equity firms do, a reality that the Obamacampaign doesn’t mention in its videos.

An LA Times opinion piece examining Obama’s Bain ads is even more succinct: “most of the Obama campaign’s criticism of Romney’s Bain record to date has been misleading and inconsequential.” So far, this isn’t looking like a winning strategy for team Obama.