Obama campaign ad tars Mitt Romney as puppet of Big Oil

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/03/obama-campaign-ad-tars-mitt-romney

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Who

So it begins. After a long, long Republican campaign (still going on) the Obama camp finally takes a swing at the man they now believe will be their opponent in November. Newt Gingrich! No … wait, that was wishful thinking. It's Mitt Romney who is the target of this TV ad from the Obama-supporting Super Pac called Priorities USA Action. That is the first time Team Obama has gone after His Mittness by name, rather than just focusing on the GOP field as a whole. It will be the first shot of many.

What

It is a TV buy airing in eight states. That means it costs big bucks (but it's a Super Pac ad, so they have cash to throw around). It's fun to look at the states involved to get a sense of where Democats feel the battle will be this year. They are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia. No real surprises. Ohio and Florida are always battlegrounds. The rest are states Obama won in 2008 and needs to keep hold of. That makes it a conservative spend about holding ground gained. The omission of North Carolina is slightly surprising. Or perhaps a sensible saving of money in a narrowly won southern state almost certain to go back to being red.

When

It is up now and coming to a TV station near you (should you live in one of the eight states). It's called Mitt Romney's Big Oil Trail.

Why

It is a telling ad on many levels. The first is the fact that it specifically goes after Romney. That's final confirmation of what most pundits (and the Obama campaign) have always expected: Romney will be the nominee. But the subject matter is the main surprise. There is no attempt to paint Romney as out of touch. Or a lap dog of the elite. Instead, it is all about oil. The ad seems to be a direct response to Republican Super Pac ads that have blamed Obama for high gas prices.

That would seem to suggest Obama's team takes that situation very seriously indeed. First, as a very real threat to a nascent recovery which, if the economy continues to grow, should make Obama a firm favourite to win. High gas prices put that in danger and so the ad has to take swift action to deflect the blame. And second, as a serious propaganda point that the Republicans could score some points on even if the recovery continues.

After all, in a car-dominated society gas prices are something almost every American feels in their pocket on a weekly basis, even if US presidents have little control over the international petroleum markets (except by, for example, bombing or not bombing major oil producing nations).

How

The ad begins with a clip of an anti-Obama ad and the words of a typically gravelly voiced narrator asking the question: "Who's behind this ad smearing President Obama?" "Big oil. That's who!" comes the response. Not exactly "hope and change" is it? Call me naive, but when you start an ad by referencing another ad that was nasty about you, the average swing voter (who probably has not even seen that negative ad) is likely to feel the sort of unease you get when you open a door and walk straight into the middle of a heated domestic dispute.

But I digress. The Obama folks know what they are doing. Maybe. The ad continues with a picture of Romney looking smug. "The money Big Oil makes from high gas prices is going right into Mitt Romney's campaign," the ad informs us. That's a good line reminding people that – when you think about it – the people to actually blame for high gas prices just might be the people charging the high prices for gas and who make billions from it. "Big Oil executives have pledged $200m to help him, and Romney's pledged to protect their record profits," the ad says, which is the sort of scary stuff that should get people's attention. "These guys all profit, you pay the price," it concludes.

The final shot is of a grinning Romney stuck in a gas station forecourt where he appears to be asking: "Cash or debit?". It's not a bad ad. If you were looking for reasons to vote for Obama, there is nothing here. But if you want to pick a reason to dislike Romney then there's plenty to chew over. That's not necessarily inspiring. But it does show – perhaps learning the lessons of the 2004 John Kerry campaign – that Team Obama will not not take attacks lying down. It will hit back, immediately and dirtily. In an age of Super Pacs you probably could not act any other way. But it just might be a depressing sign of things to come in 2012.