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Project title:

Analysing Barack Obama 2012 campaign and its historical consequences

Module: Marketing Politics

Bc. tpn Soukenk

Visiting Erasmus Student

Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, 2012

Executive summary

In this project Barack Obamas re-election campaign in 2012 is scrutinised. First, the political,

economic, social and technological aspects before the elections are presented. Second, key

stakeholders and their impact on the campaign are described. Third, Obamas policy position-

ing, imagery, promotion and place are analysed. Finally, the 2012 campaign is compared with

the historical analogies.

The Givens

Several campaigns have been remembered due to the primacy or dominance in the use of new

technologies. In 1952 the first TV ad in broadcasting was used in the campaign Eisenhower

answers America (Wood, 1990). Bill Clintons campaign in 1992 was the first to use the In-

ternet (Johnson, 2011). In 2008 Obama mastered the state-of-the-art social networks Twitter

with 112 000 followers, Facebook with more than two million fans and YouTube channel

with tens of million viewers (Owyang, 2008; Johnson 2011). This year, Obama cleverly took

advantage of the sheer rise of mobile technologies (BarackObama.com, 2012a; Busi-

nessWeek, 2012).

The sequels of economic crisis which burst out in 2008 had a huge impact on policy rhetoric

in 2012 campaign. Democrats had to strike back the verbal offensive from Romneys team

and they needed to persuade voters that their promises will be kept and they would not knock-

out the American economy.

The important part of 2012 campaign was the impact of Super PACs, independent expendi-

ture-only committees. They were founded after a federal court case known as SpeechNow.org

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vs. Federal Election Commission in 2010 (OpenSecrets.org, 2012a). They supported a candi-

date with donations from companies, individuals and unions and also produced their own

campaigns (InfoPlease.org, 2012). Nonetheless, they were not a direct part of campaigns, so

they could afford to be extremely negative and rigorous. The major pro-Obama Super PAC

was Priorities USA Action. It opposed pro-Romney Super PAC Restore our Future which

gained the most profit of all Super PACs (OpenSecrets.org, 2012).

At the end of October 2012 the eastern coast of the USA was hit by hurricane Sandy. Many

commentators discussed its impact on turnout and popular vote accumulation. For instance,

Nate Silver, whose statistical predictions of the election results were almost precise, argued

that the Sandy influence was uncertain (Silver, 2012). However, as to the exit polls by CBS

News, 42 per cents of US citizens marked Obamas response to the hurricane as the important

factor when deciding who to vote for (Kamm, 2012). The key political specific was the role of

swing states. As a presidential candidate needs 270 votes from the Electoral College, his main

focus and campaign importance has to be given to the states comprising of Colorado, Florida,

Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin (Politico.com,

2012a).

The image no. 1 (The Economist, 2012a)

The Party organization

This year, it has been the first time an incumbent president did not manage his campaign from

Washington D.C. Due to the previous Obamas job as a senator of Illinois, the headquarters of

the campaign was set in Chicago for the reason to get closer to the grassroots and volunteers

(McClelland, 2011).

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Obamas key managerial team consisted of campaign manager Jim Messina, consultant David

Axelrod and lead pollster Joel Benenson. Tens of the others created the whole campaign team.

Jim Messina had already worked for Obama in 2008 campaign as the Chief of Staff. In Janu-

ary 2011 he became a chief campaign manager of Obamas re-election campaign (Green,

2012). David Axelrod played a role of senior consultant with a profound experience with elec-

tion campaigns since managing the successful campaign for Congressman Paul Simon in

1984. Bill Clinton also played a particular role in the late campaign (p2012.org).

Many comments were written about Bill Clintons influence. He endorsed Obama in the TV

spot called Hes got it right. Some called him the Behind the Scene Strategist (Leibovich,

2012). [] President Obamas got it right. We should invest in the middle class, education

and innovation [] and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. Sound familiar? (Time.com,

2012).

As Bill Clintons wife Hillary was beaten by Obama in her effort to become Democrat Party

presidential candidate, many people argued about the relationship between Obama and Clin-

ton. Terry McAuliffe, Clintons close friend, explained that Bill Clinton is [] chiefly con-

cerned with the direction of the country, not his relationship with anyone (Leibovich, 2012).

In any case, Bill Clinton may have helped Obamas re-election in the field of economics with

the reminder of his time of wealthy 90s.

The Controllables

Policy positioning

The negative rhetoric penetrated the campaign from policy vindication to the political adver-

tising (LivingRoomCandidate.org, 2012). Obamas slogan FORWARD was used everywhere

possible. With the connection of the word BACKWARD, Obama promoted and explained his

policy. He used six main topics of his policy issues: Innovation, Taxes, Nation-Building at

Home, Energy, Education and Health Care (BarackObama.com, 2012b). In the sub-sections

of each issue, he argued for his policy and compared it with Mitt Romneys quotes or issues.

However, he cited the sources of the Romneys quotes very shallow as we may see for in-

stance in the Economics section (BarackObama.com, 2012c).

Three presidential debates had a considerable impact on policy explaining and campaign flow.

The major tensions between Democrats and Republicans were in economics, healthcare and

foreign policy. For instance, Obama fought for raising taxes for wealthy people, continuing in

insurance policy and expansion of Medicaid, reset with Russia and engagement with all par-

ties in international relations (Diffen.com, 2012; The Telegraph, 2012a). Especially US-Iran

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relations were the striking point of Romney counter-offensive and Obamas vindication based

on his previous attempts to restore diplomacy and good relations (Council on Foreign Rela-

tions, 2012). In the first debate on domestic policy on October 3rd

, 2012 at the University of

Denver, Romney attacked Obama and won as to the majority of journalists and experts.

Obama was a bit dubious and also presented some false arguments (FactCheck.com, 2012).

However, Obama dominated in the following two debates and especially in the last one where

Romney adopted Obamas strategies and did not manage to oppose efficiently (CBS News,

2012).

Imagery

As to Nimmo and Mansfield, we can judge the candidate images comparing following attrib-

utes: honesty, integrity, intelligence, careful analysis in decision making, reasoned states-

manship and leadership, firm issue stands and a willingness to consult with others (Nimmo

and Mansfield, 1985; cited in Hacker, 2004, p. 32).

Obama has got several attributes which distinguish him from his opponents and which he in-

deed masters. As the alumni of Harvard Law School, Obama proves his intelligence and lead-

ership skills. His rhetoric used to be marked as excellent, though many journalists call him

professorial due to his rigid and austere style of speech (Politico.com, 2012b). Being the

first African-American President of the USA brings him the support from the minorities, es-

pecially the Latin and African communities. Coming back to the foreign policy part, he also

proves a willingness to consult with others, even though he is often described as unflappable

and reserved (Younge, 2010). Joe Biden has been the first vice-president from Delaware,

which he had represented in the US Senate for 36 years (Palmer, 2009). Together with Obama

they formed a core part of the election campaign.

The main part of campaign rhetoric was the slogan FORWARD with the positioning Four

more years set to vindicate the reasons for his continual presidency. Four more years also

became the most popular tweet ever (BarackObama.com, 2012d; The Telegraph, 2012b).

The image no. 2 (Tuoutreach.com, 2012)

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Promotions

President Obama officially started his re-election campaign on April 4th

, 2011. He announced

it on his Twitter channel. He sent the official email to his supporters and publicised a video

spot in which many people advocated Obamas re-election. The important part of the cam-

paign start was that Obamas team set up the headquarters in Chicago, to reach his grassroots

supporters (Condon, 2011).

The 2012 presidential race was the most expensive in US history with estimated cost of 6 bil-

lion dollars. In terms of Obamas campaign, the so-called Bundlers well-connected dona-

tors played the significant role (Berr, 2012; OpenSecrets.com, 2012b). The major Obamas

donators were for instance Jeffrey Katzenberg from DreamWorks and Barry Meyer from

Warner Brothers (OpenSecrets.com, 2012c).

Obamas campaign team used several types of communication tone in TV ads. Both positive

and negative spots were directed to TV and onto the official YouTube.com channel. Some of

them were positive (e.g. Challenges), others negative (e.g. Collapse and Policy where

Obama opposed Romneys policy) and the campaign team also took advantages of celebrity

endorsements [Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, etc. (Youtube.com, 2012a)].

Same as in 2008, social networks and new media technologies served as the key campaign

media types. Obama used his official website BarackObama.com to provide information from

the campaign, bring the volunteers into the campaign and explain his policy and reasons to

believe. Apart of the website, many social networks were used (Facebook, Twitter, Google+,

Flickr, Instagram, Storify, Pinterest, Spotify, Tumblr and YouTube).

The code-name of Obamas 2012 campaign was as to many commentators Operation Nar-

whal, because [] as an Arctic whale with a long spiral tusk [] he merged information

collected from pollsters, fundraisers, field workers and consumer databases as well as social-

media and mobile contacts with the main Democratic voter files in the swing states into a

single massive database (Thiessen, 2012) and the key word of the 2012 campaign to remem-

ber was Big Data or the Power of Data (Issenberg, 2012; Brancaccio, 2012).

The significant focus within the media mix was directed to the Internet and social media in

particular, though other media formats were used and often merged and interlinked [e.g. TV

ads and YouTube (Youtube.com, 2012a)]. Obama also used very creative outdoor adversiting

with claiming that our work is not done (AdsOfTheWorld.com, 2012).

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The image no. 3 (AdsOfTheWorld.com, 2012)

Obamas speeches and quotes following hurricane Sandy had a huge promotional effect (Fell-

er, 2012). We must not forget the Michelle Obamas role in the campaign. President Obamas

wife campaigned actively for her husband and tried to boost his public image (Kantor, 2012).

The last promotional activity to mention is the role of Super PACs and other online activities

some of which were interlinked with Obamas campaign team and some were not. Apart from

the abovementioned pro-Obama Super PACs, the significant promotional activities were done

for instance by microsite Romney Economics (YouTube.com, 2012b) where Obamas team

summarised the most negative facts and data of Romneys previous governance in Massachu-

setts with leading motto 47th out of 50 states in job creation (BarackObama.com, 2012e).

Place

The headquarters of Obamas campaign team was set in Chicago and the most activity was

dedicated to the key swing states where the direct communication within road shows was

made. However, the campaign in 2012 was done by thousands of volunteers who were con-

nected via special part of Obamas social network called Dashboard (BarackObama.com,

2012f). Everyone wishing to cooperate on the campaign could sign up and be connected with

campaign headquarters and other volunteers. The number of registered members on this site

got over 2 million (Dickinson, 2012).

As to the direct campaign, Obamas team made a huge effort in communicating with his pre-

vious supporters from 2008 campaign. At the beginning, Obama sent a letter with saying for

instance that I always said that our last campaign was not about me. It was always about you

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your hopes, your dreams and the challenges you face and the possibilities you imagine.

(Bobnak, 2012). Obamas team used the collected data and worked on the most precise target-

ing they could make to persuade unconvinced voters and maintain good relations with the

faithful supporters.

The historical consequences

When scrutinising Obamas 2012 re-election campaign, we may observe many links to the

history. There are four main circles of analogies described in this part economic environ-

ment, campaign tone, rhetoric and organisational perspective.

In 1936 incumbent Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt opposed Republican Alf

Landon. Roosevelt emphasised the New Deal Programme after the Great Depression in early

1930s. Here we can trace at least four similarities. The economic recession in late 2000s re-

minds the situation in 1930s. Obama was an incumbent president before 2012 elections same

as Roosevelt in 1936. Obama is also a member of Democratic Party (Matthews, 2011). Final-

ly, in terms of the election success both Roosevelt and Obama won their re-elections.

Since Johnson vs. Goldwater campaign in 1964 with Daisy Girl TV ad, a mother of negative

advertising spots, negative campaigning has risen to a rigorous battle. The 2012 campaign

was probably one of the most negative in US history as more than 75 per cents of ads were

negative (LivingRoomCandidate, 2012). With 474 released ads (215 of them pro-Democratic)

it is a significant number (Pringle, 2012). Nonetheless, there were also several positive spots.

Well-known actor Morgan Freeman narrated the Challenges TV ad, saying: Every presi-

dent inherits challenges, few have faced so many. Four years later our enemies have been

brought to justice [] there are still challenges to meet [] the last thing we should do is

turn back now. (YouTube.com, 2012c). The positive tone and impact on continuing the pres-

idency reminds 1984 campaign between incumbent Ronald Reagan and his opponent Walter

Mondale. Particularly it regards the TV ad It is morning again in America (YouTube.com,

2006). Nevertheless, the spot Challenges was more an exception in the strikes of negative

attacks.

In terms of media rhetoric, there are three possible remarks of historic campaigns. First, in

2004 Bush called Kerry a flip-flopper for saying different things at different times about Iraq,

the terror war and economic policies as well (Swint, 2008, p. 4). Similarly, Obamas cam-

paign team portrayed Romney as a flip-flopper due to his varying opinions (Bolton, 2012).

Second, when Obama introduced his re-election campaign slogan FORWARD, it immediate-

ly raised controversy. Some commentators linked it to the legacy of socialists and Marxists

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(Morton, 2012) and others even to Nazis as the word FORWARD in German translation was

used by Hitler Young Troops as a marching tune (Hoft, 2012). Last but not least, we can link

the 2012 campaign to 1996 Clinton vs. Dole presidential race with the comeback of the term

triangulation which was typical particularly for Clinton re-election campaign. Triangula-

tion is a term popularized by Clinton adviser Dick Morris to describe a politician who stands

above traditional left-right divisions and co-opts the arguments of the opposition (Zelizer,

2012). Obama was similarly alleged by using triangulation several times (Frei, 2010).

As to the campaign organisation, the team consisted of some long-serving advisors. For in-

stance, Rahm Emanuel served as a senior advisor to Bill Clinton and also during Obamas

2008 campaign. In 2012 he switched to the leading Super PAC Priorities USA Action to

help Obama from grassroots and lobbying perspective (Gillum, 2012). Last historical conse-

quence from organisational perspective regards to the Bush vs. Kerry campaign in 2004 and

the role of political action committees, interest groups and grassroots support. In 2004 the

527 group special non-profit interest and advocacy groups helped donate the campaign

(OpenSecrets.org, 2012d). Similarly, Super PACs played a profound role in supporting presi-

dential candidates in 2012 as was mentioned in the Givens part of this project.

Conclusions

Obamas 2012 re-election campaign was unique and remarkable because of four main aspects.

First, Obamas team took advantage of data-mining and precise targeting trend called Big

Data which will certainly spread globally to the election campaigns in the next few years.

Obamas team had a huge database of data from social network analyses, online social behav-

iour and lifestyle surveys. Second, the role of political action committees so called Super

PACs played a profound role in campaign financing. The battle between pro-Obama Prior-

ities USA Action and pro-Romney Restore our Future was nearly important as the official

campaign communication. Third, the majority of campaign ads were negative. This trend is

not likely to reverse in the next elections. By contrast and due to the hidden rise of new eco-

nomic crisis in USA (SurvivalAndProsperity.com, 2012), the campaign in the next three or

four years would be extremely negative and vivid. Last, there was a very clever linking be-

tween online campaign and grassroots volunteer engagement. As to me, the Dashboard so-

cial network confirmed Obamas dominance in social media field and predicted the possible

near future of political communication which will try to connect real world with virtual net-

works as effectively as possible.

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