New Obama campaign has different tone
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The new commercial announcing President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election bid is slick, with a sliver of melancholy dropped into the mix.
The sense that things are about to change for the better is no longer taken for granted like the first time around. The insurgent U.S. senator with the vaguely messianic demeanor has become the incumbent with a mixed record and a reputation for ruthless pragmatism.
The unbridled sense of joy that characterized Mr. Obama's run for the presidency in 2008 is nowhere to be seen in the new ad. Unbridled enthusiasm has been replaced by duty and a sense of obligation.
The supporters from Michigan, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina and New York who speak on camera reflect the president's low-key manner. They have no ideological axes to grind. They don't look like any Democrats I know.
Ed from North Carolina admits that he doesn't agree with the president on everything, yet respects and trusts him. His support for the president may not be unconditional, but it is unwavering.
Alice from Michigan goes a step further and grabs the enthusiasm gap by the horns. She insists it is up to those who believe the country would benefit from a second Obama term to supply the passion that he can't because he's too busy being president.
Mr. Obama never appears in the commercial. There is no archival footage of him speaking before adoring crowds or meeting with supporters in living rooms. He is treated more like a benevolent rumor than a flesh-and-blood politician.
The campaign slogan is the first clue of the Obama campaign's strategy going forward: "It begins with us."
Implied in the slogan is a willingness to leave it to "us" -- presumably, grass-roots supporters -- to define the 2012 political cycle. That isn't what's going to happen.
President Obama's campaign will raise somewhere north of a billion dollars. The Republican nominee, whoever he or she is, will attempt to match it and could come relatively close.
Most of the donations to the Obama campaign will be from big-money donors, corporations, unions, fund-raising dinners and various special interests. The flood of small donations that helped buoy Mr. Obama's unlikely run in 2008 probably won't be there to the same extent.
First Published April 5, 2011 12:00 am
