I suppose you could say that this ad gets a couple of things right. For starters, it’s not a rerun of his 2008 messages. Obama himself is barely in it. There are no cheering crowds. There are no chants of “O-ba-ma!” Any talk from an incumbent with serious problems on many fronts about “hope and change” would have been widely mocked, and deservedly so.
To the gentle strumming of a coffeehouse guitar, Ed from North Carolina says, “It seems like the last couple elections we’ve had have been turning point campaigns.” What did we turn from in 2008? Do we like what we’ve turned to? Are we better off? The unemployment rate, foreclosure rate, and gas prices might suggest otherwise.
Gladys from Nevada seems surprised that we’re talking about Obama’s reelection campaign already, and admits, “I’m kind of nervous about it. It’s like, ‘It’s coming! Here it is! 2012, the election!’”
Except that it’s not here yet. It’s the beginning of April 2011. No major Republican contenders have made their bids official yet. The earliest GOP debates are being postponed and canceled. Obama’s in no danger of being overtaken by the early start of the GOP. Instead, this sudden, unprompted debut looks like a man more comfortable with campaigning than governing returning to his first love.
Katherine from Colorado says, “I think it needs to reflect the changes that we’ve seen in the last two and a half years.”
What is “it”? Obama’s campaign? The decision of the electorate? This ad?
She continues, “Then we had an underdog senator. Nobody thought he had a chance. And now he’s the president!” she says, as if she can’t quite believe it. What does reminding the electorate of Obama’s past underdog status do? Are we to marvel at his achievement of being elected one more time? Why are we taking a trip down memory lane instead of talking about the here and now and the decision before us?
Mike from New York admits he couldn’t vote at the time, meaning he was under 18 in 2008. He is 20, at most now. Apparently Mike’s presence is to represent the teenagers so enthusiastic about how their lives have improved since Obama took office. Oh, by the way, the unemployment rate for teenagers was 20.8 percent the month Obama took office, peaked to 27.1 percent in October 2009, slid down slightly, went back up to 27.1 percent again in October 2010, and is now 24.5 percent. As with the population-wide unemployment rate, the teen unemployment rate was lower for every month of both terms of the Bush administration than the lowest it has been in the Obama administration.
As noted below, Alice from Michigan mentions that Obama is too busy to get his base voters too energized.
Gladys says, “as a community, we all have the same concerns,” a wonderful-sounding statement that just isn’t true. Tea Partiers don’t have the same concerns as protesting Wisconsin union members. Some of those folks are really concerned about runaway spending, debt, deficit, and taxation. Some of those folks are really concerned that they not have to give up any parts of the generous deal they’ve secured from past lawmakers. School reformers and teachers’ unions don’t have the same concerns.
She continues, “We all want our kids to go to school and learn,” although I guess we don’t all want District of Columbia kids to go to private schools under the voucher program the president killed.
She adds, “We want jobs to be out there, we want people to have homes, we want people to have opportunity.” So do Republicans; that’s why they want a new president. Home ownership, unemployment, and opportunity have all gotten worse in the past two years.
Finally, in the line many think is the most important, Ed from North Carolina declares, “I don’t always agree with Obama, but I respect him and trust him.”
Okay. Why? Particularly the trust issue — even liberals can point to areas where he’s broken his campaign promises and used evasive language. Why, Ed?
“There are so many things still on the table that need to be addressed,” Gladys says, summing up the president’s record of accomplishment.
Katherine in Colorado continues, “I had this perception that politics is all show, all soundbites,” in touting her candidate, who ran on “hope” and “change.” But, she says, “politics is how we govern ourselves.” I’ll keep that in mind the next time the president denounces the opposition for “playing politics.”
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