David Axelrod: 2012 will be “titanic struggle”

David Axelrod, who once served as President Barack Obama's senior adviser and is now a campaign strategist, said Tuesday that the 2012 election will be a big challenge for the incumbent Democrat, MSNBC reports.

"This is going to be a titanic struggle," Axelrod said at a breakfast event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. "But I firmly believe we are on the right side of the struggle."

Axelrod touched on the difference between this election cycle and the 2008 one.

"In 2008, we had the wind at our backs," he said. "Now, we don't have the wind at our back. We have the wind in our faces, because the American people have the wind in their faces."

According to MSNBC, Axelrod called the Republican presidential candidates “the most ideological, partisan group of Republicans in my lifetime," and criticized them for not reacting at a recent debate when audience members booed a gay soldier who asked a question about the recently reversed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

“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.

The Boston Globe reports that Axelrod also previewed what Obama's campaign message will be.

“Ultimately, this isn’t just going to be a referendum on economic conditions,” Axelrod said. “It’s going to be a choice between two candidates with records and ideas bringing a very individual character to this race.”

Axelrod offered specific criticisms of the two GOP frontrunners, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

“I think Governor Perry is going have to explain why a state with among the lowest wages in the country; the highest rate of uninsured people; …why a state with schools are on the decline where he’s slashing investment in schools; why that’s a model for the country,” Axelrod said.

“Governor Romney is going to have to explain why if he’s such an economic virtuoso, Massachusetts did so poorly under his leadership – 47th in the nation in job creation," Axelrod said. "He’s going to have to explain how you claim that you never raised taxes when you were governor, when you raised fees to the tune of $750 million a year.”