barack obama's success or lack of success over the course of the last four years. usually, when an incumbent runs for re-election, it sis a revereferendum election. but it can be made into a choice election. the interesting thing that's happened in the last week, i think, is the way in which the obama campaign has shifted away from the consistent argument that they have made over the course of the last year really about mitt romney, which is that he is a flip flopping phony, away from that argument to the argument he is a right-wing nut. with david plouffe saying he is the most radical conservative since barry goldwater, you can't have it both ways. barry goldwater was not a flip flopping phony. if you're going to say that romney is a flip flopping phony, you can't say he is a right wing nut. they think romney might be able to get to the middle, and they want to keep him over there on the far right. that was almost a way of trying