Let me repeat, cockiness is the enemy

A friend just sent me a link to the report that AARP has asked President Obama not to mention them again. This is, of course, good news to anyone who does not want Obama to have a second term.

BUT-

As I keep opining to anyone who will listen, right now is no time to be overconfident or cocky.

Romney and Obama are at war over the independent voters.

And we all know who they are, don’t we? They are the politically uninvolved people who are detested by activists on both sides.

Like it or not, what Romney has going for him is that he was a Republican governor of a very liberal state. This could give him creds with independents. So… if conservatives can just hold their tongues and let the hysterical liberals make fools of themselves (which they are good at doing), Romney might just be able to pull it off.

If not, then we’re all stuck for another four years.

MORE: There seems to be some confusion about what I meant by conservatives holding their tongues. I don’t mean being cowed by Obama or not criticizing him. They absolutely should criticize him and his record, and they should rub it in.

What I was driving at is culture war politics. Independents do not like it, and one of the reasons young people don’t vote Republican is the perception that they are anti-gay, anti-marijuana, and — as one young college age man who is avidly anti-socialist and anti-Obama told me —  the idea that you cannot be a Republican unless you want to outlaw abortion.

I didn’t know what to tell the guy, but I often worry that some conservatives are perfectly content to let Obama have the youth vote.