In 2004 , Sen. John Kerry entered the campaign against incumbent President George W. Bush with a seemingly unassailable advantage on a sensitive issue -- the liberal Kerry served in the Vietnam War , and the conservative Bush did n't . Rather than avoid the topic , Bush supporters came up with the notorious `` Swift Boat '' campaign that raised enough questions about Kerry 's war record to negate a major strength . Such `` attack the strength '' tactics have been a staple of this year 's presidential race , with both sides trying to undermine perceived advantages of the other . The latest example is a new Web video that accuses President Barack Obama of engineering classified leaks and claiming undue credit on his signature foreign policy achievement : the raid that killed Osama bin Laden . The premise is simple : In a political environment where perception often trumps policy , mount early challenges to your opponent 's strongest attributes to raise questions and create an alternative image in the minds of voters . For example , the Obama campaign has attacked certain Republican nominee Mitt Romney 's successful business career , portraying the venture capitalist company he founded as a pioneer in outsourcing American jobs . The purpose was to blunt Romney 's persistent claim that his business background made him better qualified than Obama to manage the slow-recovering economy , the most important issue to voters . Meanwhile , Romney 's team is challenging Obama on the volatile issue of reforming Medicare , the popular health care program for senior citizens . By naming House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan as his running mate last week , Romney and his team knew the Obama campaign would attack Ryan 's proposal to partially privatize Medicare , so they have tried to turn the tables by accusing the president this week of cutting more than $ 700 billion out of the government-run system . Both of the attacks are misleading or untrue , according to independent assessments . Websites such as PolitiFact.com and Fact.Check.org ruled that outsourcing by Romney 's company , Bain Capital , occurred after he gave up daily management responsibilities in 1999 . On Medicare , the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that reforms to the program under Obama 's 2010 health care law resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars in savings , rather than spending cuts that reduced benefits , as alleged by the Romney campaign . PolitiFact rated the Romney campaign 's claim as `` mostly false . '' To Republican strategist Ron Bonjean , the Romney camp 's maneuver on Medicare was `` a brilliant move . '' `` They are going to be attacked on it anyway . They have 'jujitsued ' this , '' Bonjean told CNN on Friday , adding : `` It 's a good idea to try to neutralize this issue right now , which I think they are being very effective at . '' Outside groups supporting the candidates also are taking part . A video spot by Priorities USA Action , a super-PAC backing Obama , sought to link Romney to the death of the wife of a steel worker who lost his job at a plant closed down by Bain Capital . The ad , which has yet to be scheduled for broadcast , was rated `` false '' by PolitiFact . Now , a little-known group of former special forces members called the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund has released the 22-minute Web video that criticizes Obama on the bin Laden takedown . A spokeswoman says the group has raised about $ 1 million toward an advertising campaign in some key swing states , but refused to discuss donors . Over a picture of Obama , the video 's narrator says that the group 's mission is to stop politicians from using sensitive intelligence about the bin Laden raid and other clandestine programs for political benefit . The organization , which describes itself as nonpartisan , shares an office with two Republican political consulting firms in Alexandria , Virginia . Its spokesman , Chad Kolton , worked for the Bush administration as a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence , and its president ran for Congress as a Republican . To Darrell West of the Brookings Institution , the video evokes memories of the Swift Boat campaign that mounted a barrage of negative attacks against Kerry 's war record . `` Obama 's strong suit actually is on national security , '' said West , the vice president and director of governance studies at Brookings . `` He 's the guy who got bin Laden , and that 's been a central claim of his campaign . So there 's always a risk of the opposition coming in with this type of ad to try to undermine the president 's credibility and take away what is really his strong suit . '' The president has regularly cited the killing of bin Laden as a campaign promise he fulfilled , and the head of special operations , Adm. William McRaven , recently told CNN that Obama deserved credit . `` Make no mistake about it : It was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation , that made the hard decisions , '' McRaven said . Like other top officials , including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates , McRaven also has been highly critical of recent leaks about clandestine operations . The White House has denied leaking classified information , and two federal prosecutors have been assigned to investigate recent leaks about the Stuxnet virus and drone strike operations . Republicans blame Obama for the leaks that occurred on his watch , and they call for an independent investigation . The `` attack the strength '' tactic is nothing new , but gained prominence last decade when utilized by Republican strategist Karl Rove , who guided Bush 's two presidential campaigns . `` Karl Rove did something that many other political operatives do n't do , and it 's really an element of why he 's a unique figure in American political life , '' journalist Wayne Slater said in a PBS Frontline documentary titled `` Karl Rove : The Architect . '' `` He understands that while other people look for the weakness in an opponent and exploit that , Rove has long looked at the strength of an opponent . '' That was particularly true of the Swift Boat attacks on Kerry , said Slater , co-author of the book `` Bush 's Brain : How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential . '' `` The No . 1 thing that John Kerry offered was his heroic service in Vietnam , '' Slater said in the PBS documentary , `` and so what Rove did was attack the strength of Kerry , not his weakness . '' Others clearly took notice . In attacking Romney 's background at Bain Capital , the Obama campaign is following the example of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich from the Republican primary campaign . Gingrich 's criticism that Romney 's business record included shutting down companies and outsourcing jobs got panned by many fellow Republicans . In response , Gingrich said his attacks were only the initial salvos of an all-out assault on the issue that Romney would face from the Obama campaign if he became the nominee .
A GOP strategist says the Romney campaign ` ` jujitsued '' Obama on Medicare . The tactic was to exploit the other guy 's strongest advantages . " Romney touts his business model , so President Obama attacks it . Romney is vulnerable on Medicare reforms , so he criticizes Obama on the issue .