Why Obama's Five Campaign Themes Fail

So far, we’ve seen President Obama’s reelection team telegraph five central campaign “themes.”  None of them has anything to do with his record as president, and all of them are nonstarters that are easily refuted by the facts: 

1. Mitt Romney is “too rich” to be president. Mitt Romney’s net worth is almost identical ($250 million) to the Democratic Party’s 2004 nominee, John Kerry ($240 million). If Democrats had no problem with a rich guy running for president in 2004, why now? 

 2. President Obama killed Osama bin Laden: Romney might not have. The Navy SEALS, not Barack Obama, killed Osama bin Laden.  To suggest otherwise is an insult to their bravery and valor.Besides, does any serious person honestly believe that any president–of either party–would not have pulled the trigger when informed that Osama bin Laden was in the cross-hairs? Really? 

3. Young people will vote for President Obama again because he is “cooler” than Romney, as is evidenced by his appearances on Jimmy Fallon. College-age voters are over “cool.” They want jobs and can’t find them.  One out of every two college graduates will soon hit the Obama economy’s wall of reality and join the growing ranks of the unemployed.  Romney may not be “cool,” but he looks like that family friend mom and dad said to go see because his successful company is hiring. Put simply, Romney may not be the “iPod President,” but he sure looks like the “Paycheck President.” And that’s very cool. 

4. President Obama is fighting those evil meany Republicans and their “War on Women.” The Obama economy has been a disaster for female employment. Nine out of ten jobs lost under Obama belonged to women. Female voters are over the “hope and change.” They have kids to feed and family budgets to balance.  They want to work and earn higher wages. Obama has failed to produce either. 

5. President Obama grew up poor and therefore has more compassion and willingness to maintain the social safety net. President Obama’s parents were professors, hardly a destitute upbringing (the Washington Post says Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, Obama’s mother, made what would today be a $123,000 salary–a figure that would place her in the top six percent of all individual income earners).  Romney’s millions of dollars in private charity donations more than demonstrate that he cares deeply about those in need.  In 2010, Romney donated 14 percent of his income to charity. Vice President Joe Biden? An embarrassing 1.4 percent. In fact, it was only recently that President Obama upped his charitable giving.  Before running for president, the Obamas gave just 6.1 percent to charity.  They’ve since upped their charitable giving to match Romney’s 14 percent. 

Bottom line: if Obama wants to win reelection, his campaign team has some serious work to do. The five themes they’ve telegraphed thus far are easily refuted by the facts.