Mitt Wins One Video War
In the ongoing video war twixt Mitt and Obama, the latest round goes clearly to Mitt.
Mitt Wins One Video War
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
In the onoing, seemingly endless video battle between Mitt Romney and President Obama, the latest round clearly goes to the Mitt-man.
Two new efforts, one an online video from Obama for America, the other a new TV ad from Romney for President and the Republican National Committee, show sharp contrasts in effectiveness.
The Obama video includes annoying 1950's-style TV sitcom music under a variety of scenes of "middle-class" voters checking a hand-held electronic "tax calculator" to compare Romney's tax plan to Obama's.
Not surprisingly, these folks are stunned to learn they'd lose money under Romney whereas the president has saved them money. One of them says he's going to be "really screwed" under Romney.
It's a yawner.
The Romney ad, called "Right Choice," addresses an Obama administration proposal to allow states to seek waivers for federal welfare-to-work rules. It is certain to evoke gut-level reaction from many voters who generally resent welfare.
It shows a series of people working as a narrator explains how President Clinton and a "bipartisan" Congress ended welfare as we know it in 1996 by requiring work rules, but that now Obama wants to "just send you your welfare check."
The ad ends with the narrator saying Romney will restore the work requirement.
The Obama spot has a soft, nerdy element about it. The Romney ad is a sharp jab certain to score with most judges.
This round goes to Mitt.
This comment has been deleted.— Lttim76(2)- Romney requested for the waiver he is criticizing in the ad as governor of MA in 2005.
In short, Romney is criticizing himself in his own advertisement. Poor Romney he wishes he did not have a past or change the past "retroactively" :-)— Seed - Baer: it is important to look at content not just visual effect of an advertisement. Romney should not be allowed to criticize the policies he support just to take a jab at the other guy without informing the audience that he supports the same policy. — Seed
- Obama was completely in the wrong to undo the work requirement. That had support from both sides when it passed.— sadim
- Utah's republican governor asked for the waiver and Obama granted it. Granting power to states to manage their own business should be considered wise as long as the state doen't violate human and civil rights.Obama did not waive work requirement. State governor's decide what they want to do with the power handed to them. (HTML deleted) — Seed
- Willard Romney himself asked for the waiver when he was governor of Massachusetts. Now ain't that a kick in the head!
The White House says Obama's decision last month to change welfare requirements gives states the flexibility they have been asking for to make the program more efficient. Romney was among several Republican governors who signed a letter in 2005 asking for more "waiver authority." Romney is a former Massachusetts governor.— CommonSense in Philly - Romney's ad is a lie. Click the link in the article. The proposal is to allow state's to propose and manage their own programs but they must still adhere to welfare-to-work rules. In fact, the state's need to increase the work requirement by 20%. — MikeP
- The facts have nothing to do with politics, and the media has nothing to do with reality. They prefer to report on the horse race.— Susie from Philly
- its still early, some of that will come out during the national conventions, and the debates.......however you can go to each candidates websites and read about thier plans.......i find mitts to be pretty detailed, while obamas is kind of short and talks about pushing the same types of companies (solyndra) that have failed the first time around— daEagleswindaEagleswin
- "In short, Romney is criticizing himself in his own advertisement. Poor Romney he wishes he did not have a past or change the past "retroactively" :-)"
Seedie-
And Barry didn't wish he could change his past with the likes of Rev. Wright who he quickly dumped when he thought it would cost him votes? Interesting how Libs think someone's personal finances are more important than people who have best friends that are anarchists!! Relationships with communists as mentors and known domestic terrorists like Ayers are much more concerning than all the BS these haters can create.— sarah89 - Romney should win every video war. All he has to do is play an Obama promise and fast forward to today to see the promise broken or unfulfilled. Obama had control of Congress for 2 years and still failed so that answers that argument.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- And during those two years, Republicans complained loudly that Obama was doing too much too fast. They claimed they were concerned that he's doing so much that mistakes would be made. Republicans used that to obstruct and slow down progress in Congress in any way that they could. Now they are saying he didn't do enough. Since the Republicans took control of the House, they've blocked everything in an attempt to slow the economic recovery and are now blaming Obama for that as well. This Congress is a disgrace. They are the true do nothing Congress. — MikeP
- Interesting that in the Willard ad they boast of Clinton working with a bipartisan Congress (despite Republicans in congress hating everything about Bill Clinton). Perhaps Obama would have had similar success (and the country by default) had the Republicans in this Congress been willing to be bipartisan too. But as we know, Republicans in this Congress has said they absolutely would not work with Obama. The new rule should be if you can't work in a bipartisan way, you should get out of Congress.— CommonSense in Philly
- The rule will be if you can't work in a bipartisan way, you will no longer reside in the White House.— Mr. Smith
- Duh....Obama's reputation since being president is that he chooses to be bipartisan and compromise. It's the republicans who refuse to be as evidenced by that conservative loony Murdock who says to him, bipartisan means democrats coming over to the Republican side and agreeing with what republicans want. And as any intelligent person knows that's the antithesis of bipartisanship. — CommonSense in Philly
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
