"campaign that R's wanted to be ... on President's job-creation record ... about everything else"
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/focus-of-presidential-campaign-shifts-away-from-economy/
"Self-inflicted problems" indeed.
NYT: Focus of Presidential Campaign Shifts Away From Economy
A presidential campaign that Republicans wanted to be focused relentlessly on President Obama’s job-creation record seems to be about almost everything else at the moment.
...
In part it’s the result of what now appears to be a strategic shift by Mr. Romney, who had spent much of this year hammering home his credentials as Mr. Economic Fix-It. His choice of Paul D. Ryan as his running mate has elevated conservative approaches to Medicare and budget cutting to the forefront of the election debate, crowding out a more direct focus on jobs and economic growth. It suggests that Mr. Romney is more interested in motivating his base than winning an economic argument for the allegiance of a dwindling number of undecided and independent voters.
His current advertising appeal to frustrated middle-class voters is primarily the charge, much debunked by fact-checkers, that Mr. Obama is trying to make it easier for the poor to get welfare checks and escape work requirements. He has chosen to engage in a debate with the White House about campaign tactics, another diversion from what had been his core message.
...
Still, the dissipation of focus on what Republicans believed – and Democrats feared – would be a lethal issue for Mr. Obama’s hopes of a second term has been striking. Mr. Obama got only a single question about it at his news conference on Tuesday — after talking about Medicare, Mr. Akin’s comments and Mr. Romney’s tax returns — and he deflected it by suggesting that it was up to Republicans in Congress to act on his proposals to help homeowners and address the budget standoff.