What many pundits miss when considering the 2012 election cycle  is the 800-pound elephant in the room: Obama now has a resume.

What made Obama so special, his aura of invincibility and the great message of Hope and Change that he repeated at every whistle stop on his two-year campaign for the presidency, has been pierced by the needle of reality. There will be no Styrofoam Greek Columns in 2012. His will not be a new face on the scene in 2012.  His promises of post-partisanship will ring fraudulent following four years of hyper-partisan governing.

In 2012, Obama will be what Conservatives have known all along: a misguided liberal full of promises but lacking the skill sets necessary to deliver. America will see Obama as a charismatic anomaly whose shelf life was exceeded and who will no doubt still be blaming his predecessor for his current problems. America will know that Obama is an ideologue who appears to have more in common with our enemies than he does with the American people.

Obama will run as a vunerable, out-of-step candidate in 2012. This is a critical point because his Conservative opposition, whomever it may be, will be campaigning on proven formulas for economic growth, not glossy, air-brushed visions of how things ‘could be’. His opposition will drive home over and over the record of Obama, and in doing so Obama will be forced to wage two simultaneous campaigns: One with his opponent and one with his poor record.

In short, the Obama “mystique” will be gone, the electorate will have woken from its long slumber in the poppy field, and hard questions will be asked. Obama will be forced into numerous and frequent question and answer sessions where he will not be able to hide behind his teleprompter. He will look human and, at times, unable to sufficiently answer questions posed to him.

The job of the  GOP candidate will be to effectively illuminate Obama’s poor record, portray Obama as wistful and ideological and, ultimately, put forth the argument that America has spent way too much time in the shallow end of the pool and that it’s now time to get back to the business of putting America back on track.

Obama’s Achilles heel will be his own resume.