Obama’s 2012 Campaign Video Goes Plouffe!

The launch of the 2 min 10 sec video via email and smartphones was very much in the “quiet force” style of former French President Francois Mitterrand. Will it mobilize Democratic troops? The American countryside, the little bell tower, the flag: it’s all there in this video launch for a second term. But the spirit of 2008 is no longer there. And it would seem that David Plouffe, who was already chief campaign manager back in 2008, is applying the same grass roots recipe which led Obama to victory then, without really modifying it. Is what worked in 2008 still relevant?

Right from the title of the video, “it begins with us,” we understand that it is aimed at the grass roots members and activists who will carry the campaign – In other words, general mobilization and total involvement, which worked so well in the good old days (2007/2008). Click on barackobama.com and follow the guide. It is a rewarding way of shedding some limelight on the behind-the-scenes workers, those who will drive the campaign on a daily basis, and give them an important role in the launch. The recipe that turned 2008 into a triumph.

So it’s back to the old trick of the soap powder testimonial which is adapted for the occasion. The voice of Ed (North Carolina), with his light blue eyes, who says that he does not agree with everything that Obama is doing but that he has already done a lot. Gladys from Nevada who convinces us that there is so much to be done and that it is up to Obama to do it. And then, in very short sequences, a Latina who is totally converted and delighted that “it” is finally beginning, a student from New York who is voting for the first time, a well-toned young black man from Chicago, Asian Americans and every other minority with particular emphasis on Hispanics (winners of the census, to be pampered) trying to motivate themselves by reciting the White House’s arguments. Energy, hope, vote, 2012 … great, great, great, here we are. But we have a strange feeling of déjà vu? Or else, times have changed.

And, by email, Obama tells activists and supporters that his campaign will not be launched through extravagant and exorbitant infomercials, but rather that it starts with them, their friends, the ones who go from door to door, their buddies and workmates; in other words: you guys. Phew! But it’s a bit of an old trick all the same. And we wonder why people are talking about a $1 billion Obama campaign. Shocking, isn’t it? Spot the error.