The Policy-Free Campaign

John Avlon: “Mitt Romney has learned from experience that policy specifics can cause political headaches.” His recent speech on immigration “was a microcosm of a strategy we’re seeing over and over in this campaign: attack your opponent but avoid saying what you’d specifically do differently to solve the problem.”

Meanwhile, President Obama “has so far failed to lay out a compelling argument about how a second term would be different and better than his first one.”

“For voters, the key question is what the next president will actually do in office. That’s why policy matters, especially for challengers. The addiction to negative attacks offers heat but no light. After all, pointing out a problem is very different from having a plan to solve it.”