Axelrod: 2012 a 'titanic struggle' for Obama

GOFFSTOWN, N.H., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- David Axelrod, one of U.S. President Barack Obama's top campaign advisers, said Tuesday the 2012 campaign will be a "titanic struggle."

Speaking at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College, Axelrod said he believes Obama will win a second term, the Boston Globe reported. But he said the president is in for a tough fight.

"We have the wind in our face because the American people have the wind in their faces," Axelrod said. "This is going to be a titanic struggle."

Axelrod has been working on campaign strategy for Obama since he ran for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2004. He said Obama plans to take responsibility for his actions as president and said Republican candidates cannot win simply by blaming Obama but will have to offer their own solutions.

He also said the Republican candidates are "cleaving very closely to the most strident voices in their party." He cited the reaction during the Florida debate last week to a gay soldier who called from Iraq with a question about the end of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and was booed by the audience.

"Not one person on that platform, not one candidate was willing to say, 'Don't do that. It's inappropriate to boo someone who's risking his life for our country, who's serving our country honorably,'" Axelrod said.