2012 Decoded

Out of touch, waging a war on women, pursuing an "alarming" foreign policy, trying to "end Medicare as we know it."

President Obama must feel like he's gone through the looking glass to hear Mitt Romney leveling those charges against him -- after all, Romney is the former CEO with the $200 million fortune, whose party erupted in debate this year over the merits of contraception, prenatal testing and forced ultrasounds, whose hawkish foreign policy views include a threat to invade Iran, and who has endorsed conservative proposals to change Medicare from a government health program to one based on private insurance.

The script in these early days of the 2012 general election campaign carries echoes of 2004. Think George W. Bush -- who snagged a coveted spot in the National Guard rather than go to Vietnam -- winning reelection in part because his allies used Democrat John Kerry's military service to eviscerate his character. Kerry volunteered to serve in Vietnam and was respected for it until the well financed "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" came along and wrote the definitive chapter on how to turn your opponent's strength into a fatal vulnerability -- even if your own record on the same subject is weaker.