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Mitt Romney’s New Ad Presents Unemployed Americans As Obama’s Roadkill

video

by Frances Martel | 3:32 pm, June 13th, 2011

» 25 comments

It’s not quite “Demon Sheep,” but it is certainly the eeriest ad of the 2012 election cycle so far. In anticipation of tonight’s CNN debate, Mitt Romney has released an online spot attacking President Obama for his handling of the economy. It’s a trim ad– there are no concrete facts or technocratic details– just the pathos of watching Americans line up to tell their economic tales of woe after being metaphorically run over by the Obama Economic Recovery Wagon.

The video consists of two spoken sentences, music that would not be out of place in an installment of The Legend of Zelda, and a series of otherworldly images of people from all walks of life. Text in the desert sky begins the ad, explaining that President Obama described the current impasse America faces in terms of economic well being as “bumps on the road to recovery.” That phrase leads to the image of a line of people lying down in the desert, as if to form a track– the classic “damsel in distress” positioning villains in Westerns use to attempt to murder the heroine. No, Romney does not fly down and cut off the cords tying the people down, because there aren’t any– the people rise up themselves. Chanting the mantra “I am an American, not a bump in the road,” each person stands up with a card in their hand chronicling their economic woes since President Obama took power. Some signs do not even have stories on them, but simply say “Where are the jobs?” The ad ends with the words “Believe in America” emblazoned in the sky.

It is quite a bizarre ad for several reasons, paramount among them that it is a pure attack ad with not even the faintest attempt to compare or contrast the candidates. It could have been made by any other candidate, and Romney’s name isn’t even mentioned until the end, as required by federal election laws. But the choice to interpret the “bump in the road” comment as referring to the people suffering from the recession and not specific situations that hurt the market is a bizarre one, until one evaluates the rhetorical landscaping both Democrats and Republicans have been working on since President Obama passed the halfway point in his tenure.

In many ways, using the phrase “bump in the road” to invoke the image of President Obama physically running a car over everyone struggling to find work in America is the natural progression of our national discourse. For one, it isn’t the first time that one political faction is accused of wanting to kill all Americans instead of solve actual problems, literally or otherwise. That trend, one could argue, rose to prominence in the Obama administration thanks to former Congressman Alan Grayson, who, with the help of some trusty poster boards, proclaimed to the House floor that the Republican health care plan was for the infirm to “die quickly.” Grayson, at the time, was verbalizing an attack Republicans– namely Sarah Palin– had deployed that summer in noun form: the “death panel.”

While the death talk never rose to presidential level, President Obama did add the automobile element to the debate, often using his analogy of America as a car that Republicans had driven into a ditch and “now they want the keys back.” When Republican won control of the House of Representatives, he modified the analogy by telling them to “sit in the back” lest they hurt someone, a metaphor that, naturally, someone or another found a race angle to. Romney’s is a hybrid of the two lines of attack, subconsciously or otherwise: President Obama has been driving the car since 2008, and running over millions of unemployed Americans in the process. Republicans may have crashed into a ditch, but they never ran anyone over.

Whether the complex propaganda piece will work rests far more heavily on Romney’s performance in tonight’s debate than the number of online views it receives– equating the work the Obama administration has done to fix the economy with reckless driving is the sort of rhetoric that has no impact if the candidate has no alternative plan to prevent the accidents. However, the goal of such an ad, while superficially to bring down the President’s economic pedigree a notch, is far more profoundly linked to those sharing the podium with Romney tonight (and Gov. Gary Johnson, who CNN excluded from the debate for nebulous reasons). Romney is competing with masters of nuanced extreme rhetoric like Rep. Michele Bachmann and not-so-masterful, not-so-nuanced extreme rhetoricians like Rick Santorum. Romney has yet to prove he is anything more than Tim Pawlenty with a serious health care reform blight on his resume to primary voters, and one-upping his competition by calling President Obama a mass (economic!) murderer without really doing so gives them all fair warning he is not afraid to shed his moderate image this time around.

Below is Romney’s campaign video. Romney will be debating on CNN tonight at 8PM in New Hampshire:

2012 elections, barack obama, campaign ads, CNN Debate, Death Panels, Democrats, Mitt Romney, Republicans, roadkill

tatboy

Those of us out here trying to make sure feel like road kill.
http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

“It could have been made by any other candidate, and Romney’s name isn’t even mentioned until the end, as required by federal election laws.”

Romney’s name is on every piece of paper they hold up.

I think it’s a pretty good ad. Mostly because it points out the ridiculousness of Obama’s over used, tired and laughable metaphors and analogies.

It’s certainly a hello of a lot better than the Paul Ryan look a like throwing granny over the edge of a cliff ad.
Big Eddie

All any candidate has to get across is the thought that Obama would have no brakes on whatever he decided to put over on the American people if he did not have to worry about reelection .
What would he do to us with 4 more years ???
rubberneck

It’s effective.
Dem4Ever

WHOA!!! Sick’m Romney!
TillieGlockenspiel

GOOD AD!
Thelonious Funk

Sounds more like Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan
dougx

Americans as roadkill. Perfect analogy.
hyenas

It’s not a good ad because it doesn’t propose any positive alternatives. What would Romney do that is any different than Obama. Ron Paul has actual answers, like ending the wars, ending the FED, cutting our government down to a reasonable size so that we can live within our means. Romeny and Obama are Republicrats, from the party of Status Quo. Ron Paul 2012
http://constitutionallibertarian.co.cc DavidKramer

Nice of the author of the piece to state that THIS ad is propaganda.

Tell me, if you believe this to be a propaganda piece Frances, what did you think Obama’s statements about driving the car into the ditch or get in the back were?

I know, I know, you are a Libertarian supposedly and do not back Obama. But why is it that 2.5 years of Obama doing teleprompter speeches are not propaganda and all of a sudden this piece is?

I wonder if the people in South Carolina feel like road bumps to the communist in chief’s NLRB?
I wonder if the people in the Gulf feel like roadbumps?
I wonder if the people paying high gas prices and high food prices feel like roadbumps?
I wonder if the people in Texas feel like the lizards are driving the cars running over them?
You get the idea.

For someone that is supposedly a Libertarian, you surely attack conservatives and libertarians a lot.
cjd ohio 1

almost sounds like frances doesn’t approve of this
david r

I don’t see that as a great ad, like the Willie Horton ad, or the one with the old Democrat driving the car until it runs out of gas. A snoozer in my book.
teccec

Missed opportunity. The spot should have opened showing a lonely desert highway with heat wave blurred lumps in the road ahead, followed by into text as the camera continues down the road, then as it comes up to the first lump you see its a person (lets say a white male) and you hear what appears to be a white male describing their hardship, then the camera continues along the road till the next bump, which appears to be another gender and/or ethnicity with matching voice over. Such a commercial could go on and on, so I’d have dozens of “lumps” in the (up to) far distance with muted and shorter or overlapping voiceovers as the closing text shows on screen. Maybe its just me, but that’d be damn dramatic.
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LOGICandREASON

I hate to say this, but if Romney is mistakenly nominated, we automatically have 4 more years of Obama which is a huge tragedy for the beloved Republic.

Always remember this: Some things are irreversible!
HeathMccann

I like Romney, he’s alright.
GoneFishing

LOGICandREASON said:
I hate to say this, but if Romney is mistakenly nominated, we automatically have 4 more years of Obama which is a huge tragedy for the beloved Republic.

Always remember this: Some things are irreversible!

I gotta agree. Romney is nothing more than Dole+McSame / 2, now is shirtsleeves with his collar open to show hes ‘One of Us’…no one is fooled. We need a conservative in the white house…not Obama-lite. Our problems cannot be ‘Fixed’ by any more half-measures. http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/06/10/when-government-jumps-the-shark/
seek

A good ad. Very thought provoking and effective.
pdubVin

Americans don’t feel sorry for themselves. It’s harder to get work, but it’s out there. People can’t think that graduating and submitting an application will get you a job. It takes strategy, lucky, pursuit, and confidence.
Nachi

His vision is occluded by his Garments. Upon closer inspection, he found that what he sees is one of Murcuh’s most spectacular footnotes: a chunk of oily residue left on the pavement after BushDrunk’s giant Hummer was hauled to the trash heap. It shall remain with us for decades.
http://www.snowspot.net Snowspot

What’s the point?

Obama can’t do anything without Congress, the right’s constant blaming of Obama probably is helping them lose their supporters.. why? The Republican party just sits around complaining all day, they don’t provide any solutions, they just make grandiose statements like : Obama has destryoed the economy!.. Uhh no he hasn’t, he’s just one guy and what he wants can’t even pass through congress without support from both parties.

The blaming Obama BS is really just a scapegoat… and it’s getting boring.
Azarkhan

Snowspot said:
Obama can’t do anything without Congress

Obamapig controlled both Houses of Congress from his election until Nov 2010, during which the Democrats passed a great deal of harmful legislation. I know you are an ignoramus, but that’s a pretty stupid statement, even for you.
http://www.snowspot.net Snowspot

Azarkhan said:
Obamapig controlled both Houses of Congress from his election until Nov 2010, during which the Democrats passed a great deal of harmful legislation. I know you are an ignoramus, but that’s a pretty stupid statement, even for you.

Yeah and Bush did “signing statements” so he didn’t have to go through congress.. which Obama HAS NOT done.. you really have no clue what your side looks like huh? Obama is working his ass off while you sit around and complain, which I guess is typical of the average welfare recipient.
Azarkhan

Snowspot said:
Obama is working his ass off playing golf while you sit around and complain,

I didn’t know playing golf was work.
seek

Snowspot said:
What’s the point?

Obama can’t do anything without Congress, the right’s constant blaming of Obama probably is helping them lose their supporters.. why? The Republican party just sits around complaining all day, they don’t provide any solutions, they just make grandiose statements like : Obama has destryoed the economy!.. Uhh no he hasn’t, he’s just one guy and what he wants can’t even pass through congress without support from both parties.

The blaming Obama BS is really just a scapegoat… and it’s getting boring.

Well, they had to start blaming him – blaming Bush was more than boring. So, who’s to blame do you think?