Comments from the root, "President Obama officially launched his re-election campaign on Monday, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission and releasing “It Begins With Us,” a video pitching his 2012 bid as a grassroots effort powered by the people. It worked once before, so why not try it again?
The president himself is absent during the two-minute spot, which instead focuses on supporters who make up his target demographics. Gladys, a Hispanic mother from Nevada, stresses that many issues must still be addressed in the country, and that she wants President Obama to be the one to handle them. Mike, a white college student, is eager to volunteer. Ed, a white man from North Carolina, says, “I don’t agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and trust him.” Katherine, a white woman from Colorado, explains that re-election will be determined by individuals at the grassroots level.
Then there's Alice, a black woman from Michigan with only this to say: “President Obama is one person—plus, he (sic) got a job. We’re paying him to do a job, so we can’t say, ‘Could you take some time off and get us all energized?’ So we better figure it out.”
As the only African American featured in the video, and compared to the optimistic voices from everybody else, Alice’s argumentative tone struck an odd note. The message that comes across, whether intended or not, is that black folks better motivate themselves to vote for Obama again because he’s too busy to ask for our support. It’s not the most inspiring selling point. Moving forward, a better tactic might be to acknowledge the jobs and housing crisis disproportionately facing African Americans and illuminate what he’s actually doing about those issues.
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