Obama Announces Reelection Bid

In a video released to supporters, the Obama reelection committee got down to business Monday. The emailed video marks the official open of the president's 2012 campaign.

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

Today, President Obama has made it official. He's running for reelection. Jumping into the race allows the president to start raising money now, and it lets him exploit the advantages of being the incumbent.

But, as NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson reports, there are also drawbacks.

MARA LIASSON: President Obama's announcement came by video on his website mybarackobama.com. Instead of the president's voice or image, it features volunteers like Katherine from Colorado, talking about the next campaign.

(Soundbite of campaign video)

KATHERINE: I think it needs to reflect the changes that we've seen in the last two and a half years. Then, we had an underdog senator that nobody thought that he had a chance. And now, he's the president.

LIASSON: In order to win a second term, Mr. Obama has to fire up his grassroots army from 2008. According to political strategist Tad Devine that will be a little harder this time. Unemployment is still close to 9 percent, and Mr. Obama is now the incumbent, no longer the fresh-faced newcomer with an inspiring message about changing the way Washington works.

Mr. TAD DEVINE (Democratic Political Strategist): You can't be an opposition figure when, you know, the incumbent president.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DEVINE: OK, I mean, that - and I think that's going to be the biggest and most difficult challenges. There's a record that people are going to run against, and there are a lot of voters, independent voters who aren't happy with some of the things that have happened while he's been president.

LIASSON: And today, the Republican National Committee leapt to underscore that fact with a Web video of their own called "Hope Isn't Hiring."

(Soundbite of campaign video, "Hope Isn't Hiring")

Unidentified Man: We need jobs. We need leadership. Yet, you do nothing as we pile up debts we can't afford. It's like you don't even get it.

LIASSON: The average of President Obama's approval ratings is now about 46 percent, and in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups with Republicans like Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee, he's running only about even. The president's video reflects that new reality with sober-eyed comments from volunteers, like Ed, Gladys and Katherine.

(Soundbite of campaign video)

ED: I don't agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him, and I trust him.

GLADYS: There's so many things that it is still on table that need to be addressed, and we want them to be addressed by President Obama.

KATHERINE: I had this perception that politics was all show. It was all soundbites, but politics is how we govern ourselves.

LIASSON: The video also makes clear where the Obama reelection campaign will be hunting for voters. Almost every person in it is from a battleground state, like Colorado, Michigan and North Carolina. One is a college student, but none of them gets as much airtime as Gladys, a Hispanic mother from Nevada.

(Soundbite of campaign video)

GLADYS: We're not leaving it up to chance. We're not leaving it up to, oh, you know, the incumbent, the type of thing - it's an election that we have to win.

LIASSON: In an email to supporters today, Mr. Obama acknowledged that the race might not reach full speed for a year or more, but he said laying the foundation must start today. That means raising money, tremendous amounts of money. Tad Devine...

Mr. DEVINE: I think that's why they announced the committee now, so that he could go out and begin to exploit that advantage and raise a lot of money that is going to take to get his message out; and number two, to build an unprecedented grassroots campaign. And that costs money.

LIASSON: The president's first official reelect fundraiser will be next week in Chicago, his hometown and the site of his reelection headquarters. His aides are aiming to raise a billion dollars overall, a record for a presidential campaign.

Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135121179/obama-announces-reelection-bid?ft=1&f=1003

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