Communications

Good morning, the president is set to discuss college affordability and student loans today in Michigan but we’ve heard this all before. See the following comment from the RNC as well as stories from late 2011 – the last time we heard this same rhetoric.

“While focusing on student loans and college affordability is important for our country, the problem is we’ve heard this all before from President Obama. As with so many other important issues, President Obama is really good at making promises and is really bad at following through on them. Trying to jumpstart his reelection campaign, President Obama may think he can fool voters by traveling across the country, repeating the same promises he’s failed to deliver on the past three years.  He should give voters more credit. Americans have had enough of the rhetoric, it’s time for results.” – RNC Spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski

Detroit News:  Student Loan Program A Farce

“That's more money than Americans owe on credit cards, huge ... more

• It was abundantly clear that President Obama has given up on governing and used the State of the Union address more as a campaign prop than actual forum to put ideas forth that will get America back on track.

• We’ve heard this all before.

• Despite unfulfilled promises and failed economic policies from previous State of the Union addresses, Barack Obama tried to use tonight as a platform to boost his campaign, but Americans deserve better. It didn’t work previously, and it won’t work again.

• This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, for our campaigner-in-chief:
  • He’s courting wealthy donors for campaign cash across the country, from L.A. to NYC.
  • He’s crisscrossing the country rallying disaffected voters in battleground states.
  • And he’s running disingenuous ads in five battleground states.

• From Day One, President Obama has been concerned about saving his job, not putting forth policies that will actually get Americans back to work and now that the calendar reads ... more
  
  

 MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend Messaging Memo – The Campaigner-in-Chief

Wonder what happens when a president stops governing? Look around.

Three weeks into the new year, over 290 days till the election, the president has gone into full-time campaign mode.

Yesterday’s agenda:

• Visit Disney World 
• Fundraise at a swanky Manhattan restaurant
• Fundraise (a second time) at swanky Manhattan restaurant
• Fundraise at Spike Lee’s house
• Fundraise at the Apollo Theater

Next week’s agenda:

• Campaign in Iowa
• Campaign in Nevada
• Campaign in Colorado
• Campaign in Michigan
• Campaign in Arizona

And, finally, he’s up with a defensive campaign ad in multiple battleground states. (Ironically, the ad, which tries to defend Obama’s ethical lapses, grossly misrepresents its own sources. For more on Obama’s countless ethical failings, see Chairman Priebus’ op-ed, “The Ethics of Audacity.”)

The message from the White House here is two-fold. First, ... more

 MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend Memo – Substance over Style

Substance trumps style in 2012. In this economy, Americans are hurting. They need results, not rhetoric.

That’s bad news for Barack Obama, purveyor of empty slogans and hollow promises. And it’s bad news for a dysfunctional White House that prioritizes the demands of politics over the duties of governing.

“We are the change we’ve been waiting for” and similar catchphrases worked in 2008, but they won’t work today. Now that Obama has proven the hollowness of his 2008 rhetoric, voters are looking for something different. They’ve learned their lesson.

Promises of “hope and change” mobilized many in 2008. In 2012, they fall on deaf ears—the ears of voters painfully aware of Obama’s destructive economic policies. It’s no secret Obama is a skilled promise-maker. It’s also no secret that he can’t keep his promises.

Voters demand an alternative in 2012—a proven leader. Our ... more

MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer (@SeanSpicer), RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend Memo – Failed Promises, Successful Strategy

Promises, promises. The president can make them, but he sure can’t keep them.

Happy Friday. With the Iowa Caucuses this week, the RNC took a look back at the many promises Candidate Obama made in Iowa four years ago. We released a hard-hitting video contrasting his promises with his record, we launched FailedPromise.com to list his Top 10 broken promises, and Chairman Priebus penned an op-ed for the Des Moines Register outlining the “Case for a New President.”

As the Chairman wrote, “Voters judge an incumbent president on one criterion: his record. A president is elected because of what he promises the country; he’s re-elected if he fulfills those promises. And today, even President Obama’s own team knows that he does not meet this most basic condition for re-election.”

Whether it’s on the economy, jobs, healthcare, housing, energy, the ... more

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Team Obama are touting that they’ve got the strongest organization in Iowa, but new voter registration statistics released today show that Iowans continue to flee Obama and the Democratic Party.

SHOT:

@DWStweets: Talking to Shep Smith about how President Obama & Democrats have the strongest organization in Iowa. #iacaucus Photo: http://t.co/x1f6nOE9  

CHASER:

New voter registration statistics released by the Iowa Secretary of State today show another 1,252 Iowans left the Democratic Party in December while Iowa Republicans saw their 34^th straight month of voter registration gains.  (Iowa Secretary of State,  Accessed 1/3/2012)

Graph of Iowa New Voter Registration: http://www.gop.com/images/IowaNewVoterReg.gif

###

MEMORANDUM

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director (@SeanSpicer)

TO: Interested Parties

RE: 2012 Outlook

The Holiday Season is almost over, and for Barack Obama so, too, is the Governing Season.

The White House and Team Obama have been in full-time campaign mode for a while; in some respects, they always have been. But now that the calendar will say 2012, everything will be done with securing the president’s job as the top priority.

That means we now know all we need to about the Obama presidency. 

His record is set. And since the 2012 election is indisputably a referendum on the Obama record, there is nothing more the American electorate needs in order to judge whether he deserves a second term. 

That judgment can and should be made by the very standard that Obama set at the outset of his first term: “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” 

In 2008, President Obama sold voters on promises of economic recovery, cheaper ... more

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director (@SeanSpicer)

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend/Sunday Show Memo

Barack Obama’s true priorities were on full display this week. His threat to veto the House jobs bill summed up his presidency in a nutshell: his job before Americans’ jobs.

This was an important moment in the campaign against Obama because it distills for voters his approach to governance—constantly choosing the politically expedient over the pragmatic. This week, the rhetoric fell away and laid bare the cynicism of the Obama White House.  (See our web video: “He’d Rather Raise Taxes”)

The House bill extended the payroll tax cut (an Obama “priority”), extended unemployment insurance (an Obama “priority”), and would create jobs (an Obama “priority”) through the Keystone XL pipeline project.

But, as RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a Townhall op-ed this week, because of the Keystone Project, “Obama’s liberal activist base isn’t happy, so faced with the prospect of ... more

By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board

Albuquerque Journal

12/15/2011

“President Obama challenged Republicans to come up with a way to maintain the payroll tax extension and extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans.

“The GOP-controlled House of Representatives did just that, and added on a provision designed to force a decision on a much-needed project to boost employment and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

“But instead of welcoming a reasonable fix, the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, are crying foul and promising to kill the legislation — workers and the unemployed be damned…

“The legislation would force the administration to make a decision — not approve, just make a decision — on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which has the potential to add about 700,000 more barrels of oil a day and thousands of new jobs.

“The administration in November announced that a decision on the controversial project… first proposed in 2008 and received ... more

Dear Wealthy Friends—

I never said Hope and Change would be easy.  I also never said it would be cheap.

As you know, my friend Jon Corzine is on Capitol Hill today testifying about how he lost $1.2 billion in Americans’ hard-earned money.  And, unfortunately, that means one of my top campaign bundlers is now out of commission. 

So, with the critical year-end fundraising deadline approaching, I have an important question for you: Will you consider becoming an Obama Bundler today?

There’s something in it for you too.  After all, it is the Holiday Season.

Here’s a sampling of some of my top bundlers who raised $500,000 for my campaign and what they were able to experience since my election.

• Ex-MF Global CEO Jon Corzine (My “Wall Street Guy”): A Personal Call From Joe For Economic Advice AND Political Connections That Helped Delay Regulations
• Venture Capitalist Steve Westly: Direct Access To My Personal Advisor, Valerie Jarrett
• Tech Investor Steve Spinner: A Plush Administration Job ... more