Obama makes it official: He's running for reelection
Have you heard? President Obama is officially kicking off his reelection campaign today, traveling to rallies in battleground states Ohio and Virginia.
We know what you鈥檙e thinking: Hasn鈥檛 he been running for reelection for months? Years?
Well, yes, that鈥檚 the way it is for all first-term presidents. But just as Mitt Romney pivoted from the primaries and caucuses once he鈥檇 virtually been declared the Republican nominee (don鈥檛 tell Ron Paul), so Obama will try to reignite 2008鈥檚 鈥渇ired up, ready to go鈥� spirit at campus rallies Saturday at Ohio State and Virginia Commonwealth.
Getting bin Laden and five other boosts to Obama's reelection bid
Gone is the campaign slogan 鈥淗ope and change,鈥� replaced by 鈥淔orward.鈥� Or as Politico.com put it in a headline: 鈥淥bama 2012: Less aspiration, more function.鈥�
鈥淲hat their choice of 鈥楩orward鈥� is recognizing is that this isn鈥檛 going to be an election of passion,鈥� Drew Westen, the author of 鈥淭he Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation,鈥� told Politico 鈥淭he passion that can be built into 鈥楥hange We Can Believe In鈥� 鈥� that this time is going to be different 鈥� people don鈥檛 believe that anymore. They were smart not to try to go with something like that. 鈥楩orward鈥� is more workmanlike.鈥�
It鈥檚 also pretty easy to mock, as the conservative political action committee American Crossroads did in a new video Thursday titled 鈥淏ackward.鈥�
"The only thing moving forward under Barack Obama 鈥� our national debt, up $5 trillion," the narrator intones in the ad.
Of course, the Obama campaign is launching campaign videos left and right too 鈥� suggesting that Romney might not have gone after bin Laden; taking a dig at Romney鈥檚 Swiss bank account; tracking the life of a fictitious 鈥淛ulia鈥� to prod the GOP鈥檚 alleged 鈥渨ar on women;鈥� stringing together a bunch of Newt Gingrich鈥檚 attacks on Romney.
So how is Obama doing six months before the election?
His overall message can pretty much be bumper stickered with something Joe Biden said recently: 鈥淏in Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.鈥�
Obama takes credit for launching the Navy鈥檚 SEAL Team Six to take out Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a 鈥淢ission Accomplished鈥� moment more legitimate than his predecessor鈥檚 flying aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on a brilliant made-for-TV May Day, 2003 鈥� years before the United States was able to begin disengaging from Iraq.
But as Friday鈥檚 jobs report shows, and the auto industry recovery aside, the economy is another matter.
In his radio address Saturday (which had a political and therefore a campaign tinge), Obama tried to move public attention from war to 鈥渘ation building鈥� in the United States.
鈥淎s a new greatest generation returns from overseas, we must ask ourselves, what kind of country will they come back to?鈥� Obama said.聽鈥淲ill it be a country where a shrinking number of Americans do really well while a growing number barely get by?聽Or will it be a country where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules 鈥� a country with opportunity worthy of the troops who protect us?鈥�
And with an obvious dig at Republicans, he said that would take 鈥渞esponsible choices.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we should prioritize things like more tax cuts for millionaires while cutting the kinds of investments that built a strong middle class, he said.
It鈥檒l take some pretty persuasive arguing to make his case for another four years in office.
According to a new聽Quinnipiac poll, 47 percent of voters in Ohio think Romney would do a better job on the economy than Obama (43 percent). In Florida, another battleground state, Romney is ahead on the economy 49-40 percent.
In an open letter to Obama in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Romney writes: 鈥淚 have a simple question for you: Where are the jobs?鈥�
鈥淚 recognize, of course, as do all Americans, that you inherited an economic crisis,鈥� Romney continues. 鈥淏ut you've now had three years to turn things around. The record of those three years is clear. Your policies have failed, not only in Ohio, but across the nation.鈥�
Tough stuff, not easily rebutted.
Which is why Obama has been fund-raising for months, his campaign brain trust meets regularly in the White House, and he鈥檚 trying to fire up his supporters with an official campaign launch today.
Getting bin Laden and five other boosts to Obama's reelection bid
