Here's the president's launch video.
It seems like a slow start and it doesn't necessarily psych me up for a long, harrowing campaign process. Then again, I don't think this was produced for people like me. But it's a serious effort by a serious campaign, unlike the Republicans who are worse than clownish. (More on that presently.)
Something odd I noticed. A guy in the video says, "I don't agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and I trust him." Yeah, he called the president "Obama," which doesn't express "respect." It's outright disrespectful. The campaign video producers should have specified that the president be referred to as "the president" or "President Obama." After all, he's both, and he's earned the honor of the title.
You might remember an episode of The West Wing in which President Bartlet announced his reelection campaign. Several rally signs read, "Bartlet for President," so Toby had to cross out "for" and replace it with "is." The Obama campaign made a similar mistake with this video. He's the president. Not "Obama."
Here's Sullivan with a different take on the "I don't agree" quote.
That's exactly what Reagan did in 1984. Remember all those liberal commentators who pointed to the unpopularity of Reagan's policies in his first time and couldn't understand why he was leaving them behind in the dust? And just as in 1984, Obama can point to an economic recovery on his watch. For good measure Obama has approval ratings 7 points above Reagan's at this point in a presidential first term.
Meanwhile, here's the typically goofy response video from the Senate Republicans (after the jump)...
Hoo-hoo! ZING! See that? The president is palling around with a Beatle! And there are people in a field doing something silly! Must be the president's fault! RRROOOWWR! Run away!Anyway. Here's what the president really accomplished. I'm looking forward to the video that begins to really sell these achievements. So far, the Obama administration has done a terrible job of pitching its victories.Maybe they could begin with the fact that they cut the deficit with their first budget by $122 billion from the last Bush budget. The biggest one-year drop in American history. That's a fact. But nobody knows about it.