Communications

President Obama is headed to Hollywood to hobnob with celebrities while the middle class continues to be squeezed by Obama’s policies. For three and a half years we’ve had a celebrity president and based on new polling in Ohio and Florida where an incumbent president is tied and his approval remains below 50 percent, Americans agree that it hasn’t worked out as everyone had hoped. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has a blog post on Red State discussing Obama’s celebrity risk and RNC Research has a good piece “A Day In The Life.” The Wall Street Journal has a good article analyzing the West Virginia primary results where a prison inmate won 40 percent of the vote against Obama. It’s all about Obama’s energy policies and we’re guessing it doesn’t stop in WV – we’ll be watching VA, PA and OH.

A couple takeaways from yesterday’s news – it’s clear politics drove the president’s decision with an immediate fundraising email from the campaign and a Biden mistake drove the timing. Today the RNC ... more

Looking at the headlines, it can’t be a great morning in Chicago. President Obama lost 10 counties in West Virginia to Federal Inmate No. 11593-051 who also got 41 percent of the vote. RNC Research has a great piece and photo. And this is the campaign that supposedly has the best ground game operation? On top of that, nearly 21% of North Carolina Democrats voted for a guy named “no preference” in the primary against Barack Obama. Also of interest, an Obama aide is taking the stand in the Edwards trial, Jon Lovitz doubles down on his anger at Obama for failing on Hope and Change, Biden steps in it on Iran and Joe Manchin continues to refuse to commit to voting for Obama. Politico has a good piece today about the marriage vote continuing the drip drip of problems for Obama in North Carolina (a state they barely won in 2008).

RNC Research has a piece on Obama’s energy policies making it harder for middle class families. Chicago is out with their strategy showing just how vulnerable ... more

Team Obama didn’t have a great day yesterday with a lot of headlines showing the internal and political issues surrounding the president’s apparently still evolving stance on gay marriage. In case you missed it, some of the more interesting headlines today note Obama’s ad released yesterday omits his signature accomplishments in Obamacare and the Stimulus and another Obama primary opponent stands to get a delegate from West Virginia.

Today the president is in New York – we’re still wondering why the venue was changed, but Governor Pataki and NY GOP Chairman Cox held a conference call this morning to discuss. I’ll send around a transcript shortly. The Senate will vote on student loans today – see the RNC’s research piece “Obama Plays Election-Year Politics While Students Get Squeezed.” The RNC is holding a pen and pad with our Hispanic Outreach team at 11 this morning at the RNC. Stop by if you can otherwise conference call details are below. What else we’re watching today ... more

President Obama kicked off his campaign Saturday after a full year of campaigning on the taxpayer dime. A couple things we learned: people just aren’t that into him with smaller crowds than 2008, he’s moving the goal posts now saying it’s not a question of being better off four years later and even Obama and his supporters agree that Americans aren’t satisfied after 3.5 years of Obama in the White House. Overall a Failure to Launch. Now the Obama campaign is up on the airwaves with a new ad that tries to employ his “Forward” slogan even though they spend much of the ad looking backward. See the RNC response and research piece below.

This week we’ll be focused on Obama and his policies leaving the American middle class feeling squeezed after years of broken promises. See today’s research piece and stay tuned for more.  There are two new polls out today showing Governor Mitt Romney in a great position coming out of the Republican primary. Not only does Romney have more Republican ... more

A quick recap of the Obama campaign’s Failure to Launch this weekend…

Obama’s campaign “kickoff” Saturday (really, they have been campaigning on the taxpayer dime for over a year), was exactly what you’d expect from a president whose economic policies have been unimpressive, uninspiring, and undeniably at odds with reality.

Negativity was high. So were the number of empty seats.

And when it came to the core question of this campaign: Are we better off? Obama tried to kick the can down the road.

In 2008, President Obama said, “The real question is ‘will this country be better off four years from now?’” But four years later, he’s desperately trying to move the goal posts. (See our video, “Are We Satisfied? No.”)

Some more of the lowlights from Obama’s Failure to Launch Follows:

NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press:

“[T]hey don’t want the question to be, ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago?’ So they came up with this new question...‘Will you be better off four ... more

Following the president's campaign event in Ohio it appears he wants to be judged not by his record, instead planning to further kick the can down the road after 3.5 years of failures. Please see the following statement from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

“Three and a half years after running on hope and change, Barack Obama kicked off his campaign with more divisive rhetoric and showed us he really is running on hype and blame. Obama talks a lot about moving forward but has he forgotten he’s been president for the past three years? President Obama’s policies have left American families with soaring prices at the pump, increased tuition and health care premiums. He failed to change Washington as he promised and unlike 2008, he will have to answer for his record. Barack Obama is right, American’s aren’t satisfied and that’s why we can’t afford a second term.” – RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

Enthusiasm Problem? Maybe It’s the Message…

Obama Campaign Kickoff 2012

Hype and Blame: divide ... more

MEMO
FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director
TO: Interested Parties
RE: Weekend Messaging Memo – Hype and Blame

Tomorrow, President Obama will visit Virginia and Ohio to “kickoff” his campaign. But we already know what to expect from him in the two battleground states: hype and blame.

After more than a year of campaign-style “official” events and a record number of fundraisers, the campaign announced this so-called “kickoff” on a conference call last week. But they did so without offering any rationale for the candidacy. There was no vision for a second term or defense of the Obama record.

That’s because they have nothing positive to run on--no successful incumbent, no impressive record, and no thriving economy. So they have resorted to distraction and division, diversions and excuses.

They threw out “hope and change” along with the ’08 bumper stickers. Now, the campaign is all about hype and blame.

It is a “campaign about nothing,” completely “devoid of ... more

Not even a taxpayer-funded  campaign rally by President Obama to the University of Iowa could boost the flailing Obama Campaign or the Democrats sinking voter registration numbers.   After surpassing the Democrats for the first time in six years, Iowa Republicans increased their voter registration advantage yet again in April. 

If these numbers show us anything, it’s that Iowans are tired of Barack Obama’s broken promises and his record of more debt, fewer jobs, and higher gas prices.  Three and a half years after he sold Iowans on hope and change, Iowa is and tired of the hype and blame, and now they’re ready for new Republican President.

View the Iowa GOP release here.

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One by one members of the Obama coalition are coming to the startling conclusion – Obama is a political huckster who is better at being a politician than president. You know it’s bad when the Preezy is making Huffsy and Milbanksy uneasy.

Yesterday: Huffsy for playing politics with the death of Osama bin Laden

Today: Milbanksy for playing politics with the taxpayer’s money

President Obama, campaigner in chief

Washington Post

Dana Milbank

May 1, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/president-obama-campaigner-in-chief/2012/04/30/gIQATAfbsT_story.html

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The Obama campaign is out with a new web video called “Forward,” that ironically begins with doom and gloom news clips from 2008. Team Obama left out a few things Americans can look forward to because of Obama’s policies:

• Under Obama's budget, Americans can look #FORWARD to $1.9 trillion in higher taxes.

• Under Obama's budget, Americans can look #FORWARD to $6.4 trillion in cumulative deficits between now and 2022.

• Under Obama's budget, Americans can look #FORWARD to a projected debt of $25.9 trillion by 2022.

• Under ObamaCare, Americans can look #FORWARD to $491 billion in higher taxes.

• Under Obama's leadership, Americans can look #FORWARD to never getting back the $535 million given to #Solyndra.

• Under Obama's leadership, Americans can look #FORWARD to their share of the national debt increasing.

• Americans hope that #FORWARD doesn't mean what Obama's already done: more poverty, more "missing workers" and more people on food stamps

• Under Obama, young Americans look ... more