Campaigner-in-chief: Obama’s new docu-mercial

From the man who brought you An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting For Superman…well, another kind of inconvenient truth about the state of the American economy, and an electorate waiting for the president they hoped was Superman, to ride to the rescue. This is The Road We’ve Traveled, directed by David Guggenheim, and narrated by the appropriately gravel tones of Tom Hanks, it’s the story of the Obama years: and, the message seems to say, if you think things are bad, then it could be a whole lot worse.

Do we look at the day’s headlines? Or do we remember what we as a country have been through? The Road We’ve Traveled

The movie, which premiered on the internet on Thursday night, begins cheerfully enough, with images of the glitz and euphoria of that heady election night in 2008. But then, comes the darkness. If you were lookig for all that talk of hope and change which filled the air on that night, you won’t find it in this film. Instead – a dark thunderclap. Scenes of economic collapse. Panic on trading floors. It’s a symphony in bleak. White House aide David Axelrod, talking about a financial briefing, laments: “we might as well have been showing a horror film”.

Symphony in bleak

And here’s Tom Hanks, reminding us all of how bad it was: “Do we look at the day’s headlines? Or do we remember what we as a country have been through?” If you’ve forgotten, that’s an auto industry “days from collapse”, and a financial sector “in cardiac arrest.” There are clips of the Great Depression, and a comparison with the enormous challenges faced by FDR. But just in case you were too scared to peek out from behind the sofa cushions and watch some more, the promise of light at the end of all this darkness.

From Detroit, there’s a whole three minutes, almost a fifth of the film, devoted to the auto industry: saved, it claims, by the President’s bailout. Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel makes an appearance, slamming Obama’s likely Republican rival Mitt Romney for saying “Let it go”, and favouring a managed bankruptcy. The Democrats are hoping to make much political capital out of the issue, with the Republicans repeatedly condemning the bailout as a triumph of big government over the private sector. That’s a hard sell in urban areas like Detroit.

All the president’s memes

There’s a list of the president’s accomplishments, from the Healthcare reforms to the death of Osama Bin Laden, a list designed to fire up those once ethusiastic supporters who feel the White House has lost its lustre. “Let’s remember how far we’ve come”, intones Hanks: the message implying, it could all be a lot worse.

The only negative for me was that there were too many accomplishments. David Guggenheim, director

Records from the Federal Election Commission show the Obama campaign spent more than $345,000 on the film, and the Republicans didn’t waste much time laying into it, producing a mock movie poster declaring that the film did not star “13 million unemployed Americans, three record deficits and a coherent energy policy.” On CNN, presenter Piers Morgan laid into David Guggenheim, demanding to know why there was nothing negative in his film. Guggenheim insisted “The only negative for me was that there were too many accomplishments.” Morgan scoffed back: “Oh, come off it. You can’t say that with a straight face! Come on!”

Social outreach

But for the Obama campaign, it’s not simply about the movie itself, but its role in their social media strategy to reach out to a community which isn’t already engaged. Experts say that in this election year, campaigns will spend around 10% of their funds on the internet: what they’re hoping for is the kind of viral video sensation that will spread their message far wider. When The Road Less Traveled was launched, on the Obama Youtube platform, some three hundred viewing parties were scheduled across the country. The technology makes it easy for people to pass on the video on sites like Twitter and Facebook, and share it with their friends.

Darrell West, from the Centre for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution, told the New York Times why creating trusted networks is the key: “It’s hard to be persuasive through a direct advertisement. But if you can get people to share videos, it adds a degree of credibility, because a friend is endorsing it.” Mitt Romney’s campaign has created a similar Youtube page, where supporters can donate, volunteer or watch content with just one click. For the Obama team, it’s about adding value, and making sure that people don’t just watch a campaign film, but follow it up with action.

Diner diplomacy

Not that the whole outreach effort will be relying on the internet, and what’s sometimes derided as mere ‘clicktivism’. From shaking hands with diners at Texas Ribs and BBQ in Clinton Maryland, to a $35,800 a head party at the house of actor and director Tyler Perry, Obama has hit the ground running on a fundraising blitz. Along with his wife Michelle, the couple have been out to raise more than $5.5million in a single day. Slick, Hollywood style movie nothwithstanding, there’s still room for some good old fashioned retail campaigning in 2012.

Felicity Spector writes about US politics for Channel 4 News