A Change of Tone in Obama’s Campaign

Nothing could be going better for Obama than his new campaign for a second term. The escalation of aggression between the two candidates for the November 6 election has been reaching new heights each day, and Obama has not let go of his prey, Mitt Romney. After Aurora and the suspension of both sides’ campaigns in Colorado, a swing state, one wonders, is this new style a turning point or merely a pause in the action?

The Democrats plan to broadcast a new ad in nine swing states. Adopting a more intimate tone, the president, closely framed, sends a peaceful message, far from the anti-Romney aggression that characterized his earlier communications. This new message emphasizes the essential role of the voter.

The aggressive derision has come to a halt. The last three ads of the Obama campaign attacked Romney on three issues: his predatory activity at Bain and enormous fortune located in tax havens like the Cayman Islands (we hear him singing America the Beautiful); his reactionary position on abortion; and his laissez-faire plan to leave the economy on its own and siphon $18 million in taxes from middle class families.

Now, the message focuses on the will of the electorate. And so we come to the power of the voter. Without abandoning his criticism of his competitor, the 44th president adopts a more sustainable language and posture. The images are those of a man and his American plan, closely framed in an intimate atmosphere that gives his words a sense of closeness and complicity, far from the aggression of the previous messages, which positioned Obama as the critic in chief of Romney’s campaign. This time it’s the president speaking.