Obama for America (OFA), the Obama-Biden reelection effort, asked for feedback in an email likely sent to millions. I expect that many provided substantive feedback. Below the fold is mine.
I took the opportunity to take this seriously.
What worries you most about the possibility of Mitt Romney being the next president?
That he will speed the nation and humanity toward disaster by trying to live up to be “Mr. Coal, Mr. Oil, Mr. Natural Gas”.
ow would you rate the performance of the campaign so far?
I rated “3” out of 7.
Why?
1. The absence of climate change, in a meaningful way, from the campaign’s messaging. The most important issue facing humanity and, well, a winning political issue according to the political polling analysis. (see, for example, here, here, and …). The campaign should END THE CLIMATE SILENCE! ASAP! Such as by the President in tonight’s debate.2. I am saddened by the Obama-Biden campaign advertisements related to coal. Coal kills — the campaign should focus on Romney’s Romnesia of once speaking the truth re coal and now seeking to put on ‘black face’ of coal ash rather than seeking to portray Romney’s past honesty on coal as something, seemingly, bad. If worried about coal-state jobs, there are positive messages about guaranteeing rewards to those heroes (individuals and communities) who have been literally risking their lives and sacrificing their health to power the nation through mining coal but we can now do better even while we have to assure that we do better by these heroes. It is time to move off coal — not celebrate it.3. The President, in the town hall session, seemed to be fighting to have the mantle of “super pro-fossil fuels” rather than talking about climate change. Compare his language in 2012 to 2008 — he has moved backward, in his discussions, to what I would have expected to hear from John McCain. Chris Hayes laid this out very nicely.4. The campaign’s messages, in the advertisements that I see on TV, are 100% attacks on Mitt Romney. They present zero positive vision for the future. There is nothing about the President’s/Administration’s real achievements. It is all why Romney is “bad” rather than why President Obama / the Obama-Biden Administration is good. The President’s stump speeches, such as that at GMU this past Friday, are much more balanced. President Obama delivers telling blows to Romney falsehoods and misrepresentations and Romney’s dangerous plans (to the extent that we can figure them out) while also firing up the audience with discussing substantive achievements from the past several years. I cannot recall a single cable/TV ad from Obama-Biden that was positive message about President Obama’s speeches. (They might exist but, well, my household isn’t seeing them amid the 1000s of advertisements …) I am sorry, a 100% negative message doesn’t work. The advertisements need to be reflecting the President’s own words / statements.
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1 The power of translation: @BarackObama’s #climate rage emerging // Apr 26, 2015 at 8:28 am
[…] silence“. From inadequate media coverage, to absence in the 2012 Presidential debates, to gaps in OFA calls for action, to commentators’ failures to associate climate when discussing things like […]