Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) criticized the tone of President Barack Obama's attacks against GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a recent interview with Newsmax, claiming that it was more befitting of a child than a president.
“When you act like that, when you blame other people and when you use profane language, and when you act like you’re a 10-year-old, sometimes as in the debates, I don’t think that independent voters and undecided voters are really moved by that,” Bush told Newsmax. “I hope that President Obama continues to campaign these last 10 days in that surly way, because if he does, I think he loses.”
Obama has adopted markedly more aggressive campaign tactics in October, after starting the month with an uninspiring debate showing in the first of three meetings between the president and Romney. Critics had charged Obama was too hesitant to confront Romney on what the former Massachusetts governor's opponents claimed were outright mischaracterizations of his record and platform. The president challenged Romney much more aggressively on specifics at the next two debates, displaying a newfound enthusiasm, also exhibited on the campaign trail, to portray Romney as an unprincipled and unpredictable candidate who is willing to bend the truth in order to win the presidency.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Obama summed up his opinion of Romney in a tougher vernacular, referring to him as a "bulls****er."
Conservatives have been quick to depict the president's change in demeanor as immature and unbecoming of a president, as well as unfair to Romney.
In his interview with Newsmax, Bush claimed Obama was turning up the heat on Romney because he “is very annoyed by the fact that someone dare challenge him, and challenge his presidency, and challenge him for reelection.”
Earlier this month, Romney's wife, Ann, similarly attempted to argue that Obama's attacks on Romney's truthfulness were without merit, and indicative of an increasingly bitter, childish candidate.
“I mean, lied about what?" she said in an interview with Fox News. "It’s sort of like someone that’s, you know, in the sandbox that like lost the game and they’re just going to kick sand in someone’s face and say, 'you liar.' I mean, it’s like they lost, and so now they just are going to say, okay, the game, we didn’t like the game. So to me, it’s poor sportsmanship."
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