After weeks of being challenged by Democrats and Republicans to lay out his second-term agenda, President Obama's campaign is releasing a 20-page booklet called "Blueprint for America's Future" on Tuesday and airing a new television ad to support it.
While several of his policy initiatives are not new, laid out in the last State of the Union address and during Obama's convention speech in September, they are likely the basis for his campaign's messaging in the final two weeks of the election.
The 60-second spot, called “Determination,” outlines several policy initiatives the president will tackle if he were to get reelected. Calm and poised, speaking over soft music and images of soldiers coming home, farmers in the fields and manufacturing workers in factories, Obama makes a pitch directly to the camera in the ad.
“There’s just no quit in America and you’re seeing that right now,” Obama says, before going on to lay out several first-term accomplishments. He continues, “We're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the last thing we should do is turn back now.”
Obama then describes his plan: “Making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting American-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. And ending the war in Afghanistan, so we can do some nation-building here at home. That’s the right path.”
Obama asks viewers to compare his plan with Mitt Romney’s, then asks for their vote. Panelists on MSNBC's Morning Joe pointed out that the ad has hints of Ronald Reagan's famous "Morning in America" spot.
The Obama campaign plans on printing 3.5 million copies of the plan and it will be distributed to campaign field offices, Politico reports. The 20-page “Blueprint for America’s Future” booklet will be released at a campaign event in Florida on Tuesday morning.
Like the ad, the booklet highlights American energy production, improving education and private sector growth; continuing to strengthen the health care system and tax code; and protecting safety nets like Social Security.
The Obama campaign has been criticized for several weeks by the Romney campaign and some in the Democratic Party over his second-term agenda. With two weeks until Election Day, the Obama campaign is hoping to ease voter concern over what another four years of his presidency will look like.
The new ad will air in New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada and Colorado.
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