NationalJournal.com's Ad Spotlight

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Red, White And Blue-Collar

Filed under Barack ObamaFiled under Television Ad
Posted at 2:27 PM
Click here to watch "America First."

With just six days before voters head to the polls in Indiana and North Carolina, Barack Obama seems to have refocused his campaign efforts within the last 24 hours. From his strong repudiation of Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Tuesday to multiple endorsements Wednesday and the release of four TV spots in the upcoming primary states, the Obama campaign has been busy trying to change the media narrative and get back to his message of change.

Obama is up with two new ads in Indiana today. "Next Door" reminds voters that the senator is from the adjacent state of Illinois and thus, the ad suggests, understands Hoosiers.

"All across Indiana and my home state next door, folks know we desperately need change," Obama says, listing a series of economic challenges facing the country. "But the truth is, to fix these things, we've got to do more than change parties in the White House," he says, suggesting that a vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton would not be a vote for change. Addressing the cynics, Obama acknowledges, "Some people say we can't change Washington." But he ends on an empowering note: "I approve this message to say: On Tuesday, Indiana, you can."

The campaign also launched "Inspiring" (subscription) in the Hoosier State today. The spot, which ran nationally in January, features testimony from one of Obama's professors at Harvard law, a Republican colleague from the Illinois state senate and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and it opens and closes with clips from Obama's address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

But Indiana is not the only state to vote on May 6, and Obama hasn't forgotten North Carolina in his new advertising push. Two patriotic messages went on the airwaves in the Tar Heel State today, portraying Obama as a man in tune with American values and ready to be the country's commander in chief.

"In America" begins with evocative images from a small-town parade: veterans marching and a little boy dressed in red staring at a huge tractor under a beautiful blue sky. "Here in America we live by certain values: hard work, community, keeping your word," Obama declares. "But today Washington's got it backwards," he laments, detailing how special interests are running the show to the detriment of working Americans.

Also up in North Carolina is "Return," a spot that debuted in Texas in March and focuses on Obama's plan to maintain "the finest military in the world" by "caring for our troops when they come home."

Obama is also getting some help from the Service Employees International Union, which has devoted millions of dollars to his primary campaign in the form of advertising and get-out-the-vote drives. SEIU's newest spot highlights Obama's foresight on the Iraq war.

"America First" begins with patriotic music playing and a list of accomplishments: "810 schools, 91 health care clinics, 1,047 roads and bridges." "We're building for the future," the announcer says, but the music then stops and the screen goes gray as he adds: "Iraq's future." The spot reminds viewers that Obama was the only candidate to oppose the war from the beginning and promises that, rather than spend America's money on reconstruction projects in Iraq, Obama will "bring our brave men and women home and invest here in health care, education and infrastructure." "Barack Obama. Put America first again," the announcer declares.

Each of these ads focuses on issues important to working-class Americans -- bread-and-butter economics, moral values and patriotism -- and demonstrates that Obama knows which group he must work for in the upcoming primaries, especially after several weeks of Wright and "Bittergate" have taken a toll on the Illinois senator's his candidacy.