Political Animal

Blog

June 14, 2012 9:16 AM The “Reboot”

By Ed Kilgore

Digg Reddit StumbleUpon Delicious

We are told that the president will make a “major speech” in Ohio today that will serve as a “reboot” of his campaign message. Here’s what Obama staff seem to be telling media types, per The Hill:

“He will crystallize the argument as to what this campaign is about,” said one Obama aide, adding that Obama is expected to reiterate the need to boost the public sector and put firefighters, police officers and teachers back to work.
Obama will also cast Romney’s policies as a return to the years of former President George W. Bush, which Obama’s team says would include “more budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer rules for Wall Street.”
Aides say Obama will say that the election offers the American people a chance to break the stalemate between two distinctly different views on how to grow the economy, create jobs for the middle class, and pay down the debt. Obama is also expected to say that Romney and Republicans in Congress believe that eliminating regulations and cutting taxes by trillions of dollars, that the market will improve.
Obama on the other hand believes that the economy grows from the middle class up and not from the top down and has an economic plan that will focus on education, energy, innovation, infrastructure, and a tax code that creates jobs and pays down the debt in a balanced fashion.

Regular readers know I’m all for any message that focuses on the choice of governing philosophies the two candidates represent. But there is some danger that the “Obama is struggling” media chatter that has made a “reboot” seem appropriate will overwhelm the message. It’s a bit absurd. As Ezra Klein notes today, for all the talk of “Obama’s bad week” or “bad month,” there’s really only one significantly adverse thing that’s occurred recenctly: the May jobs report.

But the May jobs report illustrated the extreme peril associated with any Obama message that fished into the Romney/MSM assertion that the election is a referendum on how voters currently feel about the economy. That’s pretty much what the Democracy Corps memo everyone’s talking about concluded as well. A “reboot” isn’t needed because of the “private sector is fine” gaffe or the alleged rebellion of the Clintonites or the sudden bullishness on Romney on Wall Street or any of the other snail’s-eye-view crap we’ve been hearing the last week or so. It’s needed to reflect a full commitment by the Obama campaign to a comparative message, in the teeth of all the naysaying from the opposition and the news media and half the political scientists in Christendom who are saying swing voters are too stupid to make comparisons and the incumbent’s only hope is to continue happy-talking about his record.

Greg Sargent’s assessment of what the “reboot” speech should accomplish is pretty much my own:

Perhaps the clearest way to judge Obama’s speech is with this: How vivid a picture is Obama painting of what voters’ lives will be like, and what the American future we’re leaving to our children will look like, under a Romney presidency versus an Obama second term?
There are many layers to this contrast — taxes, entitlements, economic growth, health care, the role and scope of government, our energy future and the fate of the planet — but ultimately getting this right with total clarity seems like his best hope of solving the overlapping political difficulties he faces. I assume Team Obama already knows this, but the election will be all about the status quo under Obama unless he can make it about what each respective presidency would actually mean to people. It may be the only contrast voters are willing to listen to.


Ed Kilgore is a contributing writer to the Washington Monthly. He is managing editor for The Democratic Strategist and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Find him on Twitter: @ed_kilgore.
Digg Reddit StumbleUpon Delicious

Comments

  • Peter C on June 14, 2012 9:41 AM:

    First of all, there seems to be no official characterization of this up-coming speech as a 'reboot'; that's a characterization made from outside the campaign (by the hacks at 'The Hill' and from the Romney campaign).

    Secondly, the description of the message that's given doesn't sound like a 'reboot' in that it is the same message Obama has given on the economy all along.

    I hope (and expect) the speech to hit Romney hard about his statement that we don't need more teachers, cops, or firefighters. That goes to the core of an important campaign idea - that Republican actions at the state level have sabotaged the recovery for partisan political gains at the expense of the economic livelihood of the nation. Republican Governors have taken the first stimulus money, and instead of keeping public employment at realistic levels, they've given that money away in tax breaks to corporations and the 1% while cutting the public sector to the bone (in the name of austerity). And, as employment statistics clearly demonstrate, the largest problem with growth and employment is in the public sector.

    We have a DEPRESSION caused by Republican policies, and more than anything else, this depression is the direct cause of the deficit which Republicans say is our biggest economic problem.

    Obama is an articulate and powerful speaker. I think the chances are good that this argument will come through loud and clear.

    This would represent a focusing of the campaign, not a 'reboot'.

  • c u n d gulag on June 14, 2012 9:51 AM:

    He needs to add that he's already have had this nation in a better place, as he was moving towards until the 2010 mid-term, when too many voters stayed home, and those who showed-up gave him not a "Do Nothing Congress," but a "Do Worse Congress!"

    And the R's have been sabotaging any efforts at improving the economy for the last 4 years, to try to get back in control of DC.

    Hell, no matter what he says, the right's going to have both histrionic and hysterical fits, so he might as well boldly tell the truth, as try to be subtle about it.

    Call them out for what the are!

    This will put the blame squarely on the R's, and also have a GOTV message.

  • sjw on June 14, 2012 10:00 AM:

    Have a look at the Michael Tomasky piece in today's Daily Beast in which the author asks that Obama "grow a pair." We'll see with the speech today if that process has started. But I'm not holding my breath. For well on two years now I've been one of many wanting Obama to "grow a pair" and it ain't happened yet. (What this means in practical terms is not one single speech, though one with fire and brimstone and passion and anger would be most welcome, but a multi-front war on Romney in particular and the Republicans in general.)

  • T2 on June 14, 2012 10:03 AM:

    Apparently Romney is in Ohio today also, giving a "speech"...so it is Reboot vs. Robot.

    But yes, "reboot" sounds like propaganda from the Right reinforcing the "Obama in trouble" meme that has been trumpeted by the cable Media for a week now (thanks to Obama's "fine" gaffe...which was a gaffe).
    President Obama needs to do one thing and one thing only....go after the middle class relentlessly. We should welcome a Culture War against the GOPers, and believe me they are waging one, because the Left will win that fight. The middle class is dying for Obama to become their hero and spokesman, which he frankly seems somewhat reluctant to be. He needs to step up and say "The GOP will kill the middle class and here's how they plan on doing it and here's how we prevent that". And make it clear he means business.

  • DAY on June 14, 2012 10:05 AM:

    " swing voters are too stupid to make comparisons"
    No, they are not. But, what they have been hearing from the two candidates is:
    "I'm for Mom, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet."
    "I'm for Dad, Chocolate Cake, and Ford."
    Each speech appeals to one group, and not the other.
    ALL voters have- thanks to 50 years of sound bites and 15 second commercials- the attention span of a flea, and the need for MORE! BIGGER! SEXY!
    Like the mule and the 2x4, first you have to get their attention. Remember the Obama gal from 2008?
    So Obama needs to say "Romney is a mean M F'in' Zombie, and he wants to eat your babies!"
    Or, words to that effect.

  • Diane Rodriguez on June 14, 2012 10:19 AM:

    Peter C @9:41. I agree "reboot" is media speak. Too bad the media doesn't characterize Romneys blather in the same vein "mendacity revisited". However Obama's speech is framed, it's clear that repetition is the most successful tactic. Smart, articulate, accurate loses to repeating yourself, true or not. The media has successfuly dumbed down political messages by controlling the pace, choosing the focus of coverage and not giving a damn about accuracy. In other words, a perfect playing field for the current Republican pols.

  • stormskies on June 14, 2012 10:20 AM:

    To me Peter C, Gulag, T2 and Day have it exactly right. And we need to remember within all this what Rachael Maddow has informed us of: "The beltway media is laughing at Obama's message and campaign based on ECONOMIC FAIRNESS."

    Of course because those same beltway media types are the 'media elite' who have been made into millionaires by the corporations who have hired them to do their bidding. So of course they all are part of the 1% who then 'laugh' at the message of economic fairness.

    So course the 'beltway media' , the corporate media, creates and invents all their 'narratives' and 'story lines' that all have the intent and affect of undermining Obama.

    David "I am not a used corporate condom" Gregory, et-al, knows why General Electric pays him the millions that they do. That's why all of them are permanently bent over, pants down, squeaking 'next'.

  • Patrick Star on June 14, 2012 10:46 AM:

    Just the other day I saw the results of a poll which showed a dismal 40% approval rating for the Supreme Court, most likely the result of Citizens United. If I were Obama, I'd be pushing that angle hard. Nobody but the 1% like Citizens United; the public needs to be reminded of the consequences of a Romney victory to the makeup of the Supreme Court. If it pisses off Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Kennedy, even better!

  • T2 on June 14, 2012 10:46 AM:

    The two or three times in the last year when Obama used the Bully Pulpit to call out the GOP on economic obstruction and present his Jobs solutions were when his poll numbers moved up. He has to be more involved and use his position to force these issues into mainstream Media.

  • david1234 on June 14, 2012 10:51 AM:

    If the Obama campaign has any sense, they will make the election a referendum on the Ryan budget.

    Specifically, the Republicans have made it clear that if they take power it will be the end of Medicare as we know it. People who are under 54 will have to pay thousands of dollars per year to receive the same coverage that people over 55 will receive for free from Medicare. It is hard to believe that that is not an exaggeration. There will be a medical and economic disaster for people who are now under 54.

    This comes from the same party that wants to give tax breaks to millionaires at the same time.

    This is much more important to most people than any vision for the future or the role of government.

    If you must talk about Romney's plan for the economy, point out that it can be summarized as "What's good for Mitt Romney is good for the U.S.A"

  • Sgt. Gym Bunny on June 14, 2012 10:52 AM:

    If I take the Washington Post's Express seriously, Democrats are supposed to be "running scared" of big, bad Mitt. Dadadummmmm....

    I've been away from political media for a couple weeks, and minus the histrionic ticker tape on the Fox News channel (that always happens to be on the flat screen directly above my cardio machine at the gym) I haven't heard much big news. Despite the doom and gloom of the political soothsayers, I seriously doubt I've actually missed anything that actually warranted apoplectic media bout #427 of President Obama's term. If I didn't know any better, I'd've assumed Mitt Romney spontaneously generated a folksy lil' soul to reach out and touch the people...

  • Sgt. Gym Bunny on June 14, 2012 10:55 AM:

    Speeches aside, I'm waiting for the presidential debates. Ding, ding, ding!!!

  • Hedda Peraz on June 14, 2012 11:22 AM:

    Me too, Sarge!
    You're way too young to remember the bulging eyeballs and flop sweat of Ralph Cramden, as he said "Hummina hummina hummina!"

  • Mimikatz on June 14, 2012 11:24 AM:

    He needs to make the case that the economy grows and jobs are created as a result of demand for goods and services, and demand shrinks when people lose jobs, public or private, or get wages cut. Tax cuts for the wealthy don't create demand, nor do "job creators," who after all (as we saw from the medical supply company) respond to demand. This is a pretty simple concept. Tax cuts, especially for the rich just create deficits and shift the burden to everyone else. That's what Romney wants.

  • citizen_pain on June 14, 2012 11:46 AM:

    what is absolutely sad and pathetic is that the president even has to 'remind' voters of the dangers of a RMOney presidency.

    How can anyone in this country with even a milligram of common sense not know that Romney would be a Bu$h on steroids in terms of letting the foxes guard the henhouse??

  • FlipYrWhig on June 14, 2012 12:10 PM:

    This doesn't sound like a reboot by any stretch. This is what Obama consistently talks about. It's not a reboot, it's a boot.

  • DisgustedWithItAll on June 14, 2012 12:33 PM:

    The Obama campaign must tear Romney and the GOP a new asswhole. And repeat it. And repeat it. And repeat it. Over and over and over and over and ....

    And contrast, contrast, contrast... by painting the dystopia that will result if the GOP takes the reins and doubles down on their 30+ years of failed economic ideas that destroyed the world.

    Nothing else is going to work. End of discussion.

  • DisgustedWithItAll on June 14, 2012 12:37 PM:

    @Sgt Gym Bunny: Why the debates. Romney will just look at Obama, the audience, and the camera and ..., wait for it, ..., LIE. Straight-faced, the man will lie. And the media will just be ..., "Republican Romney said '... bullshit, bullshit...'"

    He will lie and it will just be shrugged off.

  • TCinLA on June 14, 2012 1:32 PM:

    Hopefully, this speech will show that Obama has been dragged, kicking and screaming, back into the Democratic Party and that all his Rockefeller Republican dreams are over, and that he has finally managed to learn to recognize the enemy as The Enemy. Sadly, I am not holding my breath, but I hope to be surprised.

    And if he has to "reboot" this late in the campaign, then he really is "struggling," and people who worry about that are right to worry. Perhaps he is finally going to learn the great political truths of Jesse Unruh and Willie Brown: "run like you're ten points down, regardless of the polls."

    I hope, I hope, I hope...

  • Sisyphus on June 14, 2012 2:51 PM:

    Obama will also cast Romney’s policies as a return to the years of former President George W. Bush, which Obama’s team says would include “more budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and fewer rules for Wall Street.”

    I'm not trying to be a troll here, but if Obama means it, then he should show it. Arrest an executive of one of the financial firms that crashed the global economy in 2008, or even let your DoJ investigate them. Stop protecting the financial vultures of Wall Street at the expense of the rest of us. Go on record as saying that anyone who presides over a 2 Billion dollar, predictable loss is probably not a financial wizard. Go on record that investment banks and the entire financial sector with their "innovative" financial "products" are becoming a drain on our economy, and then do something about them.

    And then, if you really want to show you've got some stones, make the campaign about that and the environment. These are the giant asteroids heading towards us, people, and the constant "what can I do to get elected" calculations are the equivalent of raising an umbrella, expecting it to protect you.

  • GUCCI Ø”²¼ on June 15, 2012 3:23 AM:

    С¤µ¤¯¤Æ¾«ÇɤΤ«¤ï¤¤¤¤Å®¤Î×Ó¤¬Ê¹¤¦¤³¤È¤ËËƺϤäƤÎGUCCI Ø”²¼ÐÂ×÷¤¬´ýÍû¤ÎµÇˆö£¡ÖÐÐĤȤʤäƤ¤¤ë¥°¥Ã¥Á éLØ”²¼¤Ï³¬È˚ݣ¡£¡Æ·Ù|¤Ï·Ç³£¤Ë¤¹¤Ð¤é¤·¤¯¤Æ£¡ºÃ¤­¤Ê¤é¤Ð¡¢¤½¤ì¤Ê¤é˽¤¿¤Á¤È¤¤¤Ã¤·¤ç¤ËÒŠ¤ËÐФ¯¤À¤í¤¦£¡£¡