It is hard to remember that joyous day in Grant's Park when the Obamas walked out to receive the thunderous ovations for a remarkable election victory. Among those interviewed that night was a tearful Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said, "Barack Obama is like Jackie Robinson." My reaction at that time was an image of a prematurely white-haired Jackie Robinson who had to endure intense and vitriolic racial abuse in his years as a Brooklyn Dodger. Or my best memory of that night was Bishop Desmond Tutu, exclaiming, "You are crazy! Americans are so crazy! You disappoint us and then turn around and surprise us."
The film took us into the big decisions President Obama has had to make and was suitably persuasive that these were, in the immortal words of Jose Biden, "Big F***king Deals". The film was assisted by Bill Clinton chiming in on the auto bailout and the decision to go after Bin Laden. Joe Biden did a good job of setting the situation up--"He was all alone. All by himself." If he failed he would be a one-term President.
I was glad that the film incorporated the idea that President Obama went forward on health care reform, despite his advisers, because of the memory of his mother's sickness with ovarian cancer. It always seemed to be the most salient explanation of why he kept pressing this issue when he faced and still faces intense resistance.
Obviously directed and scripted for a political campaign. That's why you got to see so much about the bailout of the auto industry and what it actually means.
If you add up all the different accomplishments so far, President Obama would still be a great President, even if it were for only one term.
The missing dimension to the story about this film is its use tonight around the country in meetings of Obama supporters and contributors. And the linkage with various social networks. In short, the film was leveraged for maximum political and financial effect to bolster the Obama base.
You can tell the concern this had among Republicans. Karl Rove, the master of stepping on other people's message, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today expressing concerns about the Obama campaign's "burn-rate" of money, noting that Democrats are concerned about their ability to match Republicans this year and that the film was a waste of precious money. Clever. Karl gets to step on Obama's message and then obscure the fact the story of the day is that the Romney campaign has squandered its money and is now totally dependent on SuperPac funds. It is also true that Obama's fund-raising does not look like it will hit the $1 billion he and his aides predicted the campaign would cost. But then you have to compare it to his rivals, whom he eats for lunch.
Or perhaps Karl Rove was concerned about another aspect of the film. It severely wounds Rove's image of President Obama as Jimmy Carter, an indecisive commander-in-chief. I never thought this would work but the Republicans keep repeating it until it might become true.
My bet--the film will more than make up its cost. Nice job.
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