It’s going to be bait and switch for as far as the eye can see. That’s how it looks now that the smoke has cleared after the recent “Mommy War” skirmish over Democratic operative Hilary Rosen’s comment that mother of five Ann Romney had “never worked a day in her life.”

The scene came to mind Wednesday when I saw an instantly infamous clip of Eric Fehrnstrom, Mitt Romney’s communications director, comparing his candidate to a children’s toy.

We got mixed signals from a turbulent political week. Barack Obama seems to be enjoying an uptick in polls, moving toward 50 percent approval. But his weakness was apparent in his State of the Union address: issues. 

The revealing of Barack Obama's relationship with William Ayers left Obama puzzled at the April 16 debate.

Barack Obama is in danger of causing his campaign as much damage as the furlough ads caused Michael Dukakis and the Swift Boat ads caused John Kerry.

Having encountered un-Chicago-like dissent and disagreement in Washington, Obama has responded with classic Chicago brass knuckles.

Barack Obama will probably get a bounce out of the Democratic convention, but it is unclear whether his narrative can be sustained in the weeks and months ahead.

Obama's Chicago way fosters a culture of crony capitalism and assumes that there will always be a bounteous private sector for politicians to plunder.