Like Stella found her groove, the Obama administration and the GOP may have found theirs. As we move closer to the general election, campaign strategies are starting to coalesce and becoming more apparent. For Obama it is tapping into the the “us against them” sentiment that is presently permeating through American culture. From tackling corporate jet owners to going after oil companies, anything with Big in its description, with the exception of government, seems to be fair game. And when you look at recent polling on topics that are related to this sentiment, evidence is suggesting that this is a pretty coherent strategy.
What is left for Republican candidates? Well the other side of the coin of course. Richard Stevenson at the Caucus blog expounds.
In the context of the 2012 campaign, however, it has taken on a much more partisan edge, invoked by Republicans as a way to define President Obama as weak, lacking in core American values and almost unpatriotic.
It is easy to dismiss as election-season jingoism, the political equivalent of a “We’re No. 1” chant from the cheap seats. But the exceptionalism argument offers some voters a reassuring counternarrative to persistent joblessness, a long-term hollowing out of the middle class and a sense that the nation’s best days are past. And it intensifies the pressure on Mr. Obama to avoid sounding defensive about the difficult challenges he has faced as president and to articulate a positive story for why he deserves another four years. [...]
God knows that in terms of sound bites and video there is more than enough to make political cannon fodder out the Democrats. But the effectiveness of an America is #1! ad campaign is still determined by presentation. It’s awful easy to get caught up in fervor and come across as jingoist or nationalistic. The way I see it is there needs to be more hopeful and optimistic outlook, relying on the American idea that we are a nation of underdogs that was never supposed to succeed, but did. And that we may be knocked down but we are by no means out. This ad produced by the coal industry tends to epitomize what I am talking about. (Yeah…I know its an ad from the coal industry, but we aren’t talking issues here we are talking about political strategies.)
Related articles
- American Exceptionalism vs Universalism (thewesternexperience.com)
- ‘Earned American Exceptionalism’ (online.wsj.com)
Thank you for posting this! I love visiting your site!
Steve
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
It’s hard to say what will happen on election day in 2012. I really don’t know. My impressions, and those of a vast majority of polls, is that Republicans, as it stands now, are not going to do well. My position has always been that the party has simply swung way outside the mainstream and will pay for it. The key is to seize the vital center. That position wins. Obama, right now, compared to the current GOP lineup, is the only centrist running. Now, I expect Romney to move to the center very quickly once he’s nominated (if he is, I should say), but his move will also cost him dearly amongst so many right wingers who don’t support him now and probably aren’t going to show up election day to vote for him.
The likely failure of the Supercommittee will only add to the bad opinion many Americans have of the GOP currently. As polls show, a majority of Americans already think the GOP is shielding rich people from higher taxes. The failure of Republicans to agree to meaningful tax increases on the rich while vast cuts are on the table is a big score for the Dems…again! Obama’s strategy is working. I suspect his strategy is going to win the day at this point unless there’s a big course correction with the GOP. I’m doubtful. If Republicans continue to appear to be protecting wealthy people from higher taxes it will be a nonstarter election day. And to be candid, it’s plain wrong. Both politically and morally.
Let us not forget how the GOP did in Ohio recently. They got hammered. As Ohio goes, so does the Presidency. Through terrible leadership on Capitol Hill the GOP is slowly handing the election to the Democrats.
I should add, American Exceptionalism is real. We should be proud of that. We are the world’s leader….for now. I think we need, within reason and within our values both socially and economically, to continue to work hard toward maintaining that position in the world.
Actually on the Super Committee I think the damage is going to both ways, as Charlie Cook over at the National Journal is hypothesizing. This partisan divide is not going to work out well for either side as conventional wisdom is suggesting. Also this is why the President is trying to promulgate the image that he is a separate entity away from Congress.
On Ohio, I wouldn’t say the Republicans got hammered. Yes SB 5 failed miserably but for some “strange reason” there was very little media coverage of Issue 3. This was the measure which sought to strike down a key part of the Obama administration’s health care plan, the individual mandate.It was defeated resoundingly by a margin of 66-34%. I find it interesting that no one in the media is discussing the fact that Obama’s agenda got hammered. Of course this has nothing to with the fact that Ohio is a key swing state and very important to his re-election. The impression must be given that he is in command there while the reality is neither party is on solid ground in Ohio.
I don’t see how Republicans come out of this (super committee failure) looking good. I disagree on Ohio. The GOP has lost ground there. Remember, Obama is tying or polling ahead of all the GOP candidates in Ohio and he hasn’t even unleashed his campaign Juggernaut yet. He hasn’t even started really campaigning yet. That’s not a good sign. We have to face reality. The Republicans are damaging themselves with many independent voters. The Republicans just seem bent on obstruction more than governing. Sure, many Independent voters aren’t happy with Obama but the alternative is starting to look far worse.
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Jeff,
The point I was originally making is that on a national level neither party is going to come out of the Super Committee failure looking good. One might be a little better off than another but they will still both look incompetent. Besides, it doesn’t matter as much how they look on a national stage, in Congressional races its all about the district or half of the state. Yes, super committee failure gives each candidate cannon fodder for adds. But more often than not local races are determined more by local issues rather than national ones.
As far as Ohio is concerned I don’t see what you are talking about. Two polls released rather recently have Obama and Romney statically tied in Ohio. One is from Quinnipac and the other is from Pew. Now granted this is Romney i am talking about but he is for the most part the leader for nominee.
I am not saying you aren’t correct in your observations, just that you might be a little premature in writing everything off based on one half of the story in Ohio and failure of the Super Committee. By you Ohio logic, because Mississippi–the most conservative state in the union–is going to swing Obama’s way because they just dramatically shot down the Personhood amendment.
What we do know so far is that the Repubs haven’t chosen their nominee yet and Obama is going to run a fierce campaign when they do, and that is really it. Everything else is just speculation and conjecture.
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