Why Obama could lose Florida
07/07/2011
Ending with car crashes and a train wreck, the new Republican National Committee ad being shown in Florida more than suggests that the Obama administration has wrecked America.
And the ad takes Obama's 2008 campaign promise of "change" and thows it a back at him. You can see the ad on the next page. Here is the text of the voiceover:
He promised to change direction - $800 billion in stimulus. Trillions for government health care. Two million jobs gone.
Left turn after left turn. America's headed the wrong way fast.
Six million foreclosures. Fourteen trillion in debt. $500 billion in higher taxes. And the worst long term unemployment in generations. Don't let Obama drive us to disaster. Change direction.
This RNC ad basically asks the same questions that Ronald Reagan asked Jimmy Carter during the 1980 election. One week before voters went to the polls, Reagan closed the deal with voters by asking: "Are you better off than you were four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment...than there was four years ago?"
Those questions are usually reduced to the simpler, "are you better off than you were four years ago?'
Florida Democratic strategists are worried. Several have told Crowley Political Report that they think 2012 could be very difficult. And for good reason. There has been little sunshine in the Sunshine State since Barack Obama won the White House. Unemployment remains high. Job propects remain gloomy and signs of an economic recovery are few.
If Obama loses Florida in 2012, he loses the White House. And if Obama goes down in Florida, he is likely to take Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson with him. Should Nelson lose, the Democrat's tenuous hold on the Senate will be in jeopardy.
Floridians could also be forgiven for asking the question - where is Obama? The president has spent far too little time here. His appearances have tended to be quick media opportunities on his way to a fundraiser or two.
Since Reagan's victory in 1980, Florida has only voted for a Democratic president twice, Bill Clinton in 1996 and Obama in 2008.
In 2010, Florida Republicans made solid gains in every level of political office. Democratic office holders in Tallahasssee are an endangered species.
When you talk with Democrats about 2012, often the conversation about a potential Obama second-term revolves around the hoped-for weakness of the GOP nominee. That is thin gruel and not the kind of stuff to bring Florida Democrats and independents to the polls.
The RNC ad, in its silly, overdramatic way, hits the right notes. Obama has his work cut out for him in Florida
Now the video:
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Art by Patrick Crowley
All these things that the Republicans claim are Obama's fault are the result of the last 8 treasonous years of the bush administration.
Posted by: Russell W. Owens | 07/10/2011 at 04:04 PM
So, you are saying in your piece that President Obama is completely responsible for jobs in Fl? That Voldemort (R) is doing such a great job himself, and all his little helpers (R) are helping so much, that Fl voters will vote for Romney or Bachman? Really? And, what is with the cigarette?
Posted by: Marilyn Brown | 07/08/2011 at 07:12 PM