Reality Check

Obama's First Ad Gets A 'Reality Check'

DENVER (CBS4) ― Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's first political ad of the post primary season is an interesting biographical spot. Clearly he's aiming at blue collar Democrats. Specifically, working class whites.

AD: I'm Barack Obama. America is a country of strong families, and strong values. My life's been blessed by both.

As you watch the ad, notice that Obama is wearing a flag lapel pin, something he didn't wear earlier in the primary season. Interestingly, just about everybody in this ad is white, except Obama. There is only one still picture containing other minority faces. It appears 34 seconds into the ad. The black and white image shows Obama addressing a group in which several African Americans are in attendance.

Ad: I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents, we didn't have much money. But they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they group up.

The Claim is true. Obama was raised by a single mother and grandparents after his Kenyan father left the family and returned to Kenya. Obama lived in Jakarta Indonesia for several years after his mother remarried. While Obama's mother and maternal grandparents are from Kansas, Barack Obama was born and raised primarily in Hawaii. Although he grew up in a middle class family, he attended a private preparatory school in Hawaii.

Ad: Accountability, self reliance, love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated. It's what guided me as I worked my way up, taking jobs and loans to make it through college.

Accountability, self reliance, and love of country are the kind of buzz phrases that the Obama campaign is using to counter the perception among some voters that he is not patriotic. Much of the damage in this area was caused by the incendiary sermons of Obama's former longtime pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's publicized association with former terrorist William Ayers, and Michelle Obama's public misstep about being proud of her country for the first time.

Ad: It's what led me to pass up Wall Street jobs and go to Chicago instead, helping neighborhoods devastated when steel plants closed.

There is more to the story. Obama didn't immediately go to Chicago. After graduating from Columbia, he spent a year in New York working for a business research company. Then he got into public interest work which did lead him to Chicago. After Harvard law school, Obama returned to the windy city where he directed a voter registration drive for black voters. Then he went to work for a law firm and taught law students at the University of Chicago before he was elected to the Illinois senate.

Ad: That's why I passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes for working families, extended health care for wounded troops who've been neglected.

The claims are true in that Obama played a role in passing each of these bills. He sponsored a welfare reform bill, and co-sponsored a tax cut in the Illinois senate. In the U.S. Senate, Obama's ideas were incorporated into a bill that extended some benefits for veterans, but Obama didn't actually vote on the final version. The bill passed overwhelmingly.

Ad: If I have the honor of taking the oath of office as president, it will be a deep and abiding faith in the country that I love.

Bottom line, Barack Obama is trying to battle the perception among some voters that he's elitist and unpatriotic. He's also trying mightily to shore up blue collar Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries.

Sourcing

Obama's Patriotic Pitch

Obama reintroduces himself in first general election TV ad

Obama Defines Himself

Adwatch: Obama emphasizes family, values in new ad

Obama career stas as compiled by the Washington Post

Milestones: Barack Obama: timeline of Obama's career

Obama Moves To Reintroduce Himself to Voters

Obama Polishes His Resume: His first ad of the post-primary season puffs up his legislative accomplishments.

 

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