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President Obama's latest campaign ad is entitled "I believe," and it is a 33-second gut-punch to "Trickle Down Economics," or as the President likes to call it, "Top Down Economics." In it, and in his recent campaign stops, President Obama is describing what he has called "Middle Out Economics." A full transcript is below the video.
President Obama: [in full-throated voice] "We're a nation of workers and doers and dreamers ..."
Picture of a man rising from bed at 6:31 am and a couple of guys opening what looks like a barn door as the morning sun shines in.
"We work hard for what we get ..."
A man is driving to his job site, and a woman clocks in.
"And all we ask for is that our hard work pays off ..."
A woman in a business suit advising her client, cut to a man in jeans throwing a bale of hay into the back of a pickup truck.
"I believe that the way you grow the economy is from the middle out ..."
Panning camera shot finally centering on the President speaking at a podium, cut to mainstreet U.S.A.
[building to a crescendo] "I believe in fighting for the middle class because if they're prospering, all of us will prosper."
A family is getting their kids ready for school, the school bus is then loading and now a university classroom.
"That's the idea of America, and that's why America is the greatest nation on Earth."
President Obama emphasizing this with his hands, and panning to a cheering crowd.
"I'm Barack Obama, and I approve this message."
President Obama shaking hands with his fellow Americans, dissolving into a black screen with the big white word, "FORWARD."
Wow. That could have been
lyrics and the video to a song from Bruce Springsteen's "
The Rising" album.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release July 27, 2012 President Obama Signs Virginia Disaster
Declaration
The President today declared a major disaster exists in the Commonwealth of Virginia and ordered Federal aid to supplement commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms and straight-line winds during the period of June 29 to July 1, 2012.
I counted a total of 47 Virginia counties that were affected by the recent storm, as well as a large list of "independent" cities. The "Consoler"-in-Chief is always, always busy. In happier news, let me bring you Michelle Obama! As the American representative to the London Olympics, she showed poise and real leadership as outlined in an excellent diary by
Denise Oliver Velez and republished to ONN. Here's our first lady on video:
On Saturday, July 28th, First Lady Michelle Obama is calling on you to support the 2012 Olympic Games and Team USA, not just by cheering on our athletes, but by getting active in your community by joining in an "Olympics-inspired" Meetup. Get started at http://www.letsmove.gov/...
And then there's this piece published by
CNN a couple of hours ago describing a singular episode in which Michele Obama's skills as a veteran diplomat were directly compared to that of Mitt Romney. Seriously, what did you expect?
(CNN)
– This year's closely watched Olympics rivalry between Team U.S.A. swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte has Americans picking sides, including presumptive GOP Mitt Romney. First lady Michelle Obama, however, is keeping her pick under wraps.
Asked simply to pick "Phelps or Lochte" on NBC Friday, Romney went with probability, rather than passion.
"I think it's more likely to be Phelps but I don't know," Romney said.
NBC attempted to pose the same question to Michelle Obama, who is leading the American delegation to the 2012 games. Weatherman Al Roker, in a moment of confusion, asked the first lady for her "thoughts on Ryan vs. Lochte."
Obama, however, seemed to understand what Roker was getting at.
"Go Team U.S.A.!" she declared, avoiding a choice between the two American athletes.
Michelle Obama knew, intuitively, how to represent the United States of America. Support the team, and pick no favorites. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, looked at Phelps and Lochte as corporations he could take over, and he picked a favorite. The one he'd invest in. I'm sure that made Ryan Lochte feel like Mitt Romney had a "special relationship with him that was special."
Finally, we have an article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek published a couple of hours ago noting how President Obama has gotten nostalgic in recent campaign stops because this is his last go-round. The article provides:
"I'm term-limited," he tells crowds — a flat statement of the obvious that always gets a laugh. "You get a little nostalgic and you start thinking about your first political campaigns."
...
"There were these things called maps, because we did not have GPS," he told a chuckling crowd in Portland, Ore., the next day. "And they were on paper, and you'd have to fold them. You'd unfold them and then trying to fold them back was really difficult."
...
Obama uses his reminiscing riffs to trace a direct connection between his biography and those of the voters he met in early campaigns. The older couples, he says, reminded him of his grandfather who served in World War II and his grandmother who worked a bomber assembly line. The single moms, he says, reminded him of his own mother, who worked to put herself and her two kids through college. The working couples, he says, reminded him of his wife's parents.
"I would be traveling and I'd meet people, and I'd say, you know what, their story is my story," Obama told a crowd in Texas this month.
This, of course, is a great contrast to Mitt Romney, and it serves to further differentiate the President from the man who managed to become the American Borat in less than twenty-four hours on United Kingdom soil.