End of the Referendum by Rich Lowry

If you had to pinpoint the exact moment when Mitt Romney’s strategy to make the election largely a referendum on President Barack Obama collapsed, about 10:56 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, would be as good a guess as any.

That’s when, roughly 20 minutes into his sprawling oration at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., former president Bill Clinton said that no president — not even the 42nd — could have done a better job fixing the economy than Obama, given the problems the incumbent inherited.

The riff was typically self-regarding. Yet it memorably — and for some voters, persuasively — stated the case for cutting the president slack for his economic stewardship in trying circumstances.

The Big Dog was pushing on something of an open door. Obama has failed, but for a majority of voters, he hasn’t failed enough to make it self-evident that he should go. The Romney campaign spent its convention answering the question: Is it OK to fire Obama if he’s such a fine fellow? When the real question is: Can Romney do any better?

Indeed, the two conventions — so far, the pivot of the election — were encapsulated in their two signature performances. On one hand, there was Clint Eastwood’s rambling, improvised ten-minute routine saying that it’s OK to cashier Obama. On the other, there was Clinton’s (at times rambling and improvised) 50-minute speech detailing why Romney’s program is wrong for the country. Eastwood could have given his speech at amateur night at a comedy club; Clinton could have given his at a policy luncheon at the Brookings Institution.

(Bolding mine.)