Eye of the Tiger - The rise of Mitt Romney

It's a good time to be Mitt Romney. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is rising in the polls and his favorability ratings have just risen above 50 percent. He is now within easy striking distance of Obama, who voters find disappointing and increasingly unelectable. 

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Everyone has expected that it would be  the other way around, that Obama would easily slide to a second term and that Romney would prove to be the unelectable one. After all, Republicans flirted with virtually every other candidate before "settling" on Romney, so it's reasonable to think that the right isn't too pleased with Romney.

But regardless of the hesitancy of some more conservative and pro-life voters toward Romney, at the end of the day most of them can be counted on to vote against Obama. And many experts predict that the election will be decided in the middle as moderates and independents cast the deciding ballots in November. 

Polls show that this critical group of voters is moving ever faster toward Romney's camp. 

Obama has very little to show for four year's work. True, the economy avoided a depression, but the recession of the past four years lingers - not for Wall Street, but for Main Street. Jobs are still hard to come by and jobs with decent pay and benefits are virtually impossible for the average person on the street to get. 

Meanwhile, mortgages remain underwater, gas prices remain high, and the price of an education is skyrocketing. Under Obama, the American dream has slipped far out of reach for most Americans. 

Obama can say he got Bin Laden. And he can point out that there have been no terrorist attacks on US soil during his term. However, much of the groundwork that kept America safe was laid during the eight years of the Bush administration. Meanwhile the US has seen itself involved in Libya and other conflicts, barely extracting itself from Iraq just recently and new confrontations looming. 

No, Americans are not very pleased with Obama.

Meanwhile, Romney has had to defend himself against Obama's primary campaign strategy, which appears according to Romney, to be "focused on character assassination." 

Obama has criticized Romney's past as a venture capitalist. 

Still, the public does not seem to be bothered by Romney's financial experience, and in fact that strategy may backfire if the public begins to see Romney as something of a financial wizard. After all, the country is the world's largest troubled company and its assets need to be managed better. Perhaps Romney is the man who can do that.

The polls show the public asking that same question, and over the course of the next six months with 20 presidential debates scheduled, Romney will have an opportunity to make his case for the highest office in the land. On his side will be a bevy of facts and the growing affections of the swing voters that will propel him into office. 

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