GOP ad asks women: 'Is Obama the boyfriend you need to dump?'
| Charlotte, N.C.
鈥淟isten, this just isn鈥檛 working,鈥� an attractive young woman tells a mostly-off-camera figure. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been four years. You鈥檝e changed. Your spending is out of control. You鈥檙e constantly on the golf course, and you鈥檙e constantly out with Hollywood celebrities.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not me, it鈥檚 you,鈥澛�, as the camera pans out to reveal a cardboard cutout of President Obama.
On the day Mr. Obama delivers his big Democratic National Convention speech, not one but two attacks are being leveled at the president that make him into the boyfriend who鈥檚 pushed things too far and needs to go.
One, an ad called 鈥淭he Breakup,鈥� which debuted Thursday morning on NBC鈥檚 鈥�Today Show,鈥� comes courtesy of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Another, a web video called 鈥淏oyfriend,鈥� which depicts two women on a couch, was produced by the conservative group Independent Women鈥檚 Voice (IWV).
聽鈥淚 was so excited at first,鈥� the younger woman confides, coffee mug in hand. 鈥淗e seemed so perfect.鈥�
鈥淭hey always do,鈥澛�, reassuringly.
In other words, time to break up.
The two pitches are clearly aimed at women voters, who have long favored Obama 鈥� but less so recently.聽 The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Obama sinking in overall favorability, a decline that has occurred entirely among women voters. Obama has gone from 57-39 percent favorable-unfavorable among women in April to 46-50 now.
The RNC ad ends with a call for stories on 鈥渨hy you鈥檙e breaking up with Obama,鈥� to be posted on . 聽IWV says its web video will be part of a larger online campaign, coming soon.
The messages refine for women a longstanding effort to woo voters away from Obama, first by acknowledging that his 鈥渉ope and change鈥� campaign last time was compelling 鈥� and that, let鈥檚 face it, Obama was younger and cuter than the other guy.
But now, the reasoning goes, it鈥檚 time to go for the less flashy alternative. The charismatically challenged Mitt Romney doesn鈥檛 lend himself to a pitch based on sex appeal, but maybe that鈥檚 a good thing, Republicans say.
After four years of dating, the woman in the RNC ad tells cardboard Obama, 鈥淚 think we should just be friends.鈥� Then she slams her napkin on the table, and storms off.
