One of my favorite political advertisements is one from recent memory that truly struck me, an Obama ad from 2012 titled “read my plan.” I’m a big fan of this advertisement because it succeeds at doing what most political advertisements truly try to avoid doing. In the advertisement, it is Obama who is speaking the entire time, and specifically about his plans for the future. He does not offer blank promises or poetic words of hope, as he is more known for. Instead he truly focuses on the politics of the time in a way all Americans could grasp. He begins by stating that if he could sit down in American family’s living rooms and go through his plans with each one of them, he would. He then proceeds to succinctly explain his largest economic initiatives, all within about a minute. It is emphasized in this advertisement that Obama does not work towards partisanship, but instead works toward goals everyone could get behind.

Rather than attacking Romney, as he does in other ads, Obama focuses entirely on policy. He references how his policies pulled the country out of crisis, and that Romney’s propositions resemble those of the past that were problematic. He does not attack Romneys character at all whatsoever. This altogether makes him seem extremely competent, cool-headed, and politically aware. At the time, I am certain it is advertisements like these that largely contributed to Obama’s eventual second victory.