Obama's Campaign Strategy

Obama’s Campaign Strategy

President Barack Obama has faced a tumultuous first three years as commander-in-chief and is now looking at the lowest approval ratings for an incumbent near election since Jimmy Carter in 1980. This obviously stages an uphill battle for Obama’s reelection prospects, and raises the question, what will President Obama’s strategy be for 2012?

Thus far, the president has mostly downplayed his 2012 campaign, stating he is waiting for the republicans to hammer out a nominee before he gets involved in all that. Some closer analysis suggests otherwise, however, as the president has already raised $1 billion dollars via campaign fundraisers (it should be noted that some of this money is from Super PACs which support Obama but are not officially affiliated with the White House). Additionally, Obama’s top advisors David Plouffe and David Axelrod have been on the offensive in the media criticizing any and all of republican candidates for president, and have been particularly hostile towards Mitt Romney who many view as the likely nominee.

Plouffe and Axelrod seem to be the key in predicting the Obama strategy in 2012 as they have been the most vocal. The two have primarily rallied around three main points in all of their interviews and speeches in the last few months: 1) Obama has not had enough time to really accomplish his goals 2) the goals he has tried to accomplish have been stymied by a do-nothing Congress and 3) certainly you don’t think a flip-flopper like Mitt Romney or a Washington Insider like Newt Gingrich would be any better, do you?

The first point is weak as he has had exactly the same amount of time as any other incumbent into his first term. The second position may be more successful, but even so the democrats had control of the House and Senate in Obama’s first two years. The final scheme will likely prove to be the most affective, but Obama will certainly have to prepare for his own share of flip-flopping and Washington insider allegations.

Overall, the contentions are valid arguments, but are a far cry from the uplifting mantra of ‘Hope and Change’ Obama used in his 2008 campaign. Americans were genuinely uplifted by his positive outlook and will likely be upset by the shift in tone coming in 2012. Whether the tone will be enough to persuade voters to support someone other than Obama remains to be seen. What can be certain, however, is that this election cycle will be noticeably more caustic than the previous one.

- Kit

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December 23rd, 2011 | Mara | Comments Off |