Romney Needs To Learn "The Chicago Way." No More Mr. Nice Guy

“You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That’s* the *Chicago* way! And that’s how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that? I’m offering you a deal. Do you want this deal?-Sean Connery as Jim Malone in The Untouchables (1987)”

One of the (many) mistakes of the McCain campaign in 2008 was the candidate's failure to realize the arena in which he was competing. The Republican nominee thought he was competing in the traditional world of presidential politics, but his opponent then-Senator Barack Obama was following the rules of Chicago politics, which is a much dirtier game. In Chicago, the political arena is in the gutter, names are called lies are told and no one cares, especially when only one side is playing by Chicago rules. And rule number one is there are no rules.

Rather than talk about his policies vs. John McCain, Obama’s most effective commercials in 2008 cast the Arizona Senator as the second coming of George W. Bush. McCain’s highest-scoring commercial was about the future President’s twenty years in the Church of the racist/anti-Semitic Jeremiah Wright. The commercial was never released because McCain refused to play Obama’s game of Chicago-style politics.

2012 is turning out to be just like 2008, only dirtier. And once again the GOP candidate is refusing to get down into the gutter and compete with Barack Obama the same way he is being attacked.

Witness the Bain Capital mess. The President is still pushing the “when did Romney quit Bain, and did he outsource jobs” meme despite the fact that liberal outlets such as the Washington Post called it nonsense. When the Boston Globe published an already discredited story about Romney's date of Bain departure, these outlets again said the story was nonsense. Even CNN said the president's claims were wrong.

The Obama campaign doubled-down on the nastiness, implying that Romney (and all the liberal media outlets backing him up) was either lying about his Bain tenure or committed a felony.

"Romney and Bain claim that he was not involved with Bain, but Bain and its portfolio companies in their required filings under the Securities Exchange Act continuously certified to the Securities and Exchange Commission say precisely the opposite — asserting without qualification that he was a controlling person, fully in charge of Bain, under the Federal securities law. Under normal circumstances, the question of the truth of this representation would result in an investigation by the SEC into possible criminal, as well as civil, violations of the law."— Robert Bauer, Obama campaign counsel, July 13, 2012”

Obama political strategist David Axelrod cleared things up when he appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and said that the campaign would never accuse Romney of being a felon, just potentially engaging in activity that would be considered a felony.

Romney's response was to demand an apology. He doesn’t understand that here are no apologies in Chicago politics. In fact Obama turned it all around and used the apology request for his advantage. Romney demanded an apology for Bauer saying the GOP candidate may have broken SEC laws. Obama answered to something totally different, that he would not apologize for making Bain an issue. It doesn't matter Obama wasn't addressing what Romney was talking about; the liberal-leaning mainstream media would never call Obama out on it.

If Romney wants to become president, he must fight the president in his arena; it’s time for Romney to engage in Chicago politics.

If the President want to make a false charge of outsourcing ask him why he agreed to give Brazilian Owned Oil Company Petrobras up to $10 Billion Dollars to look for oil off the Brazilian coast but prevented the Keystone pipeline from being built. Ask him if the fact that George Soros made a lot of money off the Brazil deal had anything to do with his decision.

If the President trumpets Obamacare, ask him why unions whose membership make up only 12-14% of the United States received 40% of the Obamacare waivers. Ask him why another big chunk was granted to businesses in Democratic districts?

Ask Obama why he signed executive order, known as the “High Road Contracting Policy,” which gave preferential treatment to government construction contractors that pay their hourly workers a "union wage," and provide additional benefits such as health insurance, employer-funded retirement plans and paid sick leave. In other words even non-union shops had to pay money to the Unions and increase benefits if they want to get federal projects. This further depressed the Construction industry, and raised the cost of Federal construction projects between 10-20% increasing the federal deficit.

Its time for Romney to make crony capitalism an issue, talk about Solyndra and other failing companies. Point out how he offered Joe Sestak a White House job to drop out of the Senate race against Arlen Specter or offering Andrew Romanoff a White House job to drop out of the Senate Race against Michael Bennett. Ask the POTUS about the no bid contract given to a company owned by major Obama donor for a small pox vaccine that doesn't work. And isn’t it about time the President was made to face up to Fast and Furious?

Sure its the economy stupid, but first you have to hit the President's campaign the way he is hitting you. The only difference Romney has truthful charges to make.

Hit Obama on the deficit, how he has increased our national debt in less than 4-years more than all presidents up to George W. Bush combined, and has already raised the debt more than Bush did in 8 years.

And if the reelection campaign’s lies about Bain Capital are on the table so should the truth about Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi.

No more weak-kneed responses. The President is playing Chicago Politics! If Romney wants to have a chance in November, he must be prepared to fight Obama the way Obama is fighting him.