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Obama hits Romney on YouTube as convention begins

In continued negative push, Obama's campaign targets the now-official Republican nominee.

 

Justin Franz

Tech

Posted on Aug 29, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 12:02 pm CDT

On the day Mitt Romney was officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, his opponent was continuing an all-out assault on his character and record.

On Tuesday afternoon, Barack Obama’s campaign launched a new ad on YouTube called “Romney Economics: The Infomercial.” Within hours the video had gone viral, with more than 1,800 likes on Facebook and the video’s YouTube view counter stuck at 303 views, a common issue with videos seeing a spike in views.

The video was the second spoof ad uploaded by Obama’s campaign and is a clear effort to try and define Romney as someone who is bad for the middle class. The 90-second video starts by saying: “Looking to make a profit with minimal risks? Tired of all those pesky employee benefits and pensions? Don’t mind seeing jobs shipped overseas? Then the Romney Economics is the business model for you!” The video continues with a series of the former governor’s most notable mistakes, including telling a protester last summer in Iowa that “corporations are people too.” It ends with “Romney Economics is available for purchase on November 6,” and includes a link to RomneyEconomics.com.

On Sunday, Obama’s camp launched a Web ad called “The Do-Over,” which claimed the Republican campaign was an opportunity to try and make Romney more appealing to voters. Within 48 hours, it had gained nearly a half million views.

The new ads continue the Obama campaign’s embrace of negative YouTube videos, which have nearly doubled since 2008. Getting anti-Romney ads out this week is especially critical for the Chicago-based campaign because it helps brand Romney in a negative light as he is the focus of the news cycle and social media attention this week during the Republican National Convention.

If these videos are any indication, the YouTube assault won’t be over anytime soon.

Image via BarackObamadotcom/YouTube

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*First Published: Aug 29, 2012, 8:00 am CDT