President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is running its first television commercial in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Follow me after the jump for the video and annotated transcript.
Annotated transcript:
Male voice-over: Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama [words on screen: “Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama.”]
with ads fact-checkers say are not tethered to the facts. [screenshot from anti-Obama ad appears on screen, along with words “Solyndra Attack Ad ‘not tethered to facts’ ABC News 1/13/12”]
While independent watchdogs call this president’s record on ethics “unprecedented.” [Visual changes to photo of president sitting in Oval Office, talking with two members of his administration. Words below Obama: “President Obama’s Record on Ethics ‘Unprecedented.’ Common Cause, League of Women Voters, 4/28/09]
And America’s clean-energy industry? [footage of two men working on solar panels, then a field of wind turbines]
2.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly. [image of solar panels, with words superimposed on them: “Clean-Energy America Jobs 2.7 MILLION Brookings Institution, 7/13/11” Red arrow pointing upward rises on solar panel, words change to “Clean-Energy America Jobs ‘expanding rapidly’ Brookings Institution, 7/13/11”]
For the first time in 13 years our dependence on foreign oil is below 50 percent. [Image of woman filling up car at gas station, switches to image of offshore oil platform, next to words “America’s Dependence on Foreign Oil ‘below the 50 percent mark’ Energy Information Administration 5/25/11” A red arrow points downward on the right side of the screen, and at the bottom of the screen there’s the Obama campaign logo next to the url barackobama.com/EnergyFacts ]
President Obama. Kept his promise to toughen ethics rules [Photo of Obama sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, signing a document with flags in the background. Words on screen: “President Obama ‘kept a campaign promise to toughen ethics rules.’ Politifact, 1/21/09”]
and strengthen America’s energy economy. [Photo of Obama talking with two men, surrounded by solar panels.]
Obama’s voice: I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message. [Photo of Obama standing at podium, ready to give a speech. To his left, there’s the Obama campaign logo with Obama and Biden. Below him, the url barackobama.com/EnergyFacts appears again.]
Nothing special, but this looks like a fairly solid ad to me. It makes sense to push a message about oil billionaires and clean energy jobs now. Republicans are screaming about Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline project, announced yesterday.
The ABC News fact-check was about a television commercial that Americans for Prosperity is running in several states, regarding federal loan guarantees to the California company Solyndra, which went bankrupt. Here is the “not tethered to facts” piece by Jake Tapper.
ABC posted a fact-check on this Obama commercial here.
Maybe putting Vice President Joe Biden’s name in this commercial will squelch the rumors that Obama plans to dump Biden for a different running mate.
Share any relevant thoughts in this thread.