Challenging an incumbent president means finding ways to narrow the stature gap between the Oval Office occupant and would-be president.
Mitt Romney's image makers attempt to do just that in what his campaign calls the first ad of the general campaign called " Day One." The ad's ostensible purpose is to show how busy the all-but-official Republican nominee would be on his first day in the Oval Office.
It sounds like he would mainly be preoccupied with actions aimed at reversing President Obama's agenda. Approve the Keystone XL pipeline, check. Recommend tax-cut legislation, check. Begin the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, check.
Obama made his own day-one promises to reverse the policies of President George W. Bush. In fact, presidential candidates have made such commitments long before the advent of YouTube.
Worth noting in the Romney ad is how it attempts to attune listeners' ears to the words "President Romney." The narrator utters those two words no less than three times. Meanwhile, the current president is referred to only as "Obama."
Here's the script:
"What would a Romney presidency be like? Day One, president Romney immediately approves the Keystone Pipeline creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked. President Romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that reward job creators, not punish them. President Romney issues an executive order to begin replacing Obamacare with commonsense healthcare reform. That's what a Romney presidency will be like."
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