On Monday, November 21st, Mitt Romney released “Believe in America,” a controversial, misleading campaign ad, in New Hampshire. His first paid commercial delivers a very flawed attack, raises his own character questions, and gives Democrats ample ammunition to respond.
The first 22 seconds serves as a flashback to Barack Obama campaigning for Presidency in October of 2008. Sound bytes wrap the first quarter, combined with oversized texts such as “HE FAILED,” “GREATEST JOB CRISIS SINCE DEPRESSION,” “RECORD HOME FORECLOSURES,” and “RECORD NATIONAL DEBT.”
The footage shows clips of Obama in New Hampshire and clusters of civilians enveloped in an overwhelmingly dark, clouded atmosphere, delivered in lightening speed to Jaws-like music that evokes a sense of impending doom onto the viewer. The darkness then clashes and is defeated by the bright fluffy white clouds and the hopeful, gentle voice of Mitt Romney. Soothing symphonic music accompanies his inspiring words to the viewers, along with nearly an all white male audience throughout his clips.
Walt Disney mastered the art of subliminal advertisement. Go back to your tapes of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, etc, and you will hear off-color sound bytes and subtlety vulgar animated backdrops that your conscious mind misses but your subconscious grabs onto and conveniently stores them. Big business has been using this technique for decades and Mitt Romney is no different.
I almost missed the few nanoseconds [about 20 seconds in] that Romney inserted during the scenes of Obama that reveals a seated congregation of Black citizens. Moreover, if analyzed closely, the viewer will notice that the nearly blacked out portions of the footage consist primarily of Black civilians. Romney does an excellent job of covertly linking minorities to terms such as “debt,” “crisis,” “foreclosure,” and “lose” – thereby, trying to create an “Us” versus “Them” mentality.
Let’s focus on this “all black segment” when President Obama’s words are heard: “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” Romney intentionally chopped down the sentence from its entirety of: “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’” It is a huge oversight for Romney to take the then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 statement and attribute it to 2011 in a desperate effort to convince the public that he has been dodging the economy.
First, President Obama has been addressing concerns about the economy since he took office. If not, then why did he sign into law The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009? Why is he and Michelle Obama tirelessly campaigning for the passage of his American Jobs Act? Second, Romney cleverly juxtaposes the races through the placement of images and lighting, failing to include minorities in his own footage. He presents President Obama as “The Other” and further reinforces this notion by solely reaching out to blue collar factory working middle class white men throughout “Believe in America.”
Perhaps Romney’s team got what they wanted – the media is continuously talking about the campaign ad and he is receiving that much sought after attention, but at the same he is losing credibility, his character is under question, and Newt Gingrich is climbing his way to the top in New Hampshire. He is treading dangerous water by not only delivering misleading information, but also by combining it with heavy racial undertones.
Instead of Romney trying to sell his ideas like a popcorn and soda commercial at your local Cineplex, he should focus on delivering honest, quality, and inclusive messages.
