A new ad released Thursday by the conservative super-PAC American Crossroads seeks to use President Obama's "cool" status against him, appealing to the youth vote by asking how America's "biggest celebrity" has helped them find jobs.
The ad evokes an anti-Obama ad released by the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that hit Obama, then the Democratic nominee, for being "the biggest celebrity in the world" but not ready for leadership. It was one of the most memorable campaign ads in the election cycle.
"Four years ago, America elected the biggest celebrity in the world and America got one cool president," the text of the Crossroads ad begins. The ad features clips of Obama dancing on the Ellen DeGeneres show, "slow-jamming" the news on Jimmy Fallon's late-night show, singing at a fundraiser and drinking beer.
The text continues: "After four years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?"
The ad then shifts abruptly to bleak statistics about the high level of unemployment and student loan debt for recent college graduates, numbers that have recently served Mitt Romney's campaign in its attacks against Obama as well. Obama this week visited several university campuses to urge Congress to prevent the federal subsidies of Stafford student loans from expiring July 1. Both candidates have launched an intensive outreach to younger voters this week, a voting bloc expected to play a key role in November. Obama won 66 percent of the youth vote in 2008.
American Crossroads, the outside spending group backed by Karl Rove, announced this week that it has nearly $25 million cash on hand, a huge amount that demonstrates the power the outside spending group could have in the election.
