While the Obama campaign pushes out its new slogan urging voters to look "forward," Mitt Romney's team is feeling reminiscent.
In a press briefing before Romney's speech in Lansing, MI Tuesday, a senior adviser sought to contrast Obama's campaign message with that of a Democratic presidential candidate of the past: Bill Clinton.
"The reality is that when Bill Clinton ran in '92, he ran as a new Democrat," said the aide, citing ticket's campaign pledge to reform welfare. "That was the famous ad that they ran: Clinton and Gore were going to be different kinds of Democrats."
He continued: "President Obama has really turned his back on all of that. He hasn't run as a new Democrat, he's run as an old Democrat... more spending, more taxation, more regulation."
In casting Obama as an "old-style Democrat," the Romney campaign is apparently seeking to undermine the president's campaign slogan and the message it represents — one of progressive, forward-thinking solutions.
Team Romney's retort: Look at the past four years.
The aide's characterization of Obama as being stuck in the past was reaffirmed by Romney's speech, which sought to draw a contrast with references to Facebook and mobile apps — as well as jabs at what he sees as hollow rhetoric about the future.
"In his campaign kickoff speech last week, he asked us not to think about these last four years," Romney said, prompting laughter from the audience. "Convenient, but not convincing. Ignoring his record would bind us to repeat it."