Sunday, July 19, 2009

This Ad is Devastating and Here's Why

(H/T to Real Clear Politics) I try not to comment on advertisements but this one is so devastating that it warrants some commentary.



In business, and in life, there is a concept that everyone should follow, manage expectations. If you promise someone that something will get done in two weeks and it's done in three you look like an incompetent. If, on the other hand, you promise it done in four weeks and it's done in three you're a hero.

The president made all sorts of unrealistic promises when he tried to sell the stimulus. He promised that unemployment would hit 8% without it. He promised that the money would get out the door immediately. He promised that it would save or create 3-4 million jobs. Instead, unemployment is at 9.5% and climbing. One tenth of the money has been spent in six months. Finally, two and a half million jobs have been LOST since the stimulus was passed, and counting. There's nothing worse than making a series of promises that you don't deliver on. The president is finding this out the hard way.

The reason this ad is so devastating is because it condenses all those empty promises into a minute and a half. The ad is so devastating because it simply captures just how poorly President Obama mismanaged expectations.

31 comments:

  1. It's devastating for another reason: it shows how quickly Obama will change his argument to suit his immediate needs. Therefore, it shows words to mean nothing. And, for a man whose chief accomplishment is speechifying, that is devastating: for all his wordiness, his word means nothing. He's a flim flammer.

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  2. He'd have to have a clue before he could mismanage it. Clueless, scraping for votes...make me Prez...then he's frustrated being in the White House doing the business of the people...oh, strike that, he sneaks out, flys his wife to NYC and Paris for dates, and then...basically tells the people to pound sand, do as I say, because "I WON!"

    He has no clue, no judgment, no desire to be the leader, just the admired one, but maybe I'm just being cynical after 6 months.

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  3. No one ever got rich betting against Obama. Prepare yourselves for a huge Obama re-election landslide in 2012. If you're betting against Obama, you might as well buy the Brooklyn Bridge and lose your shirt along with your pants.

    Please Visit My Blog: Conservatives Are America's Real Terrorists

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  4. No one but George Soros who has been shorting America for a while now. I doubt you will get many takers on visiting your site from here, especially with a fairly weak comment like that.

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  5. Mike: Your comment was weaker than weak tea. Conservatives are short-changing America, not George Soros.

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  6. If your blog is this then there is no reason to visit. Do you have anything to offer but mindless rhetoric? I don't say short changing but shorting. It's an investment term which means you invest hoping that said investment goes down. You see the investment first and buy it back later. That's what George Soros has been doing since before Obama got into office and he has been continuing it into the Obama admin.

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  7. What proof do you have that George Soros has been shorting America? If Soros did that, it would have been a very intelligent investment strategy under Dubya Bush, but not under Obama. Anyone shorting America under Obama will lose his shirt. That person might as well hand all his money to Madoff to invest.
    "Shorting America since before Obama got into office"?
    That would have been under Bush. Back then, shorting America made a lot of sense. But not now.

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  8. Well, Mike Volpe, at least my Blog doesn't block or censor Conservative comments, no matter how dumb they are. Your controlled and censored Blog shows why America needs the Fairness Doctrine restored. You Right Wingers are so afraid of hearing the truth.

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  9. CJP, You missed the classes in advertising to your base in Bus101, eh?

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  10. What ever happened to the phrase, "timely, targeted, and temporary"?

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  11. I guess you haven't heard but the dollar has been crushed under Obama.

    http://www.goldworld.com/articles/george-soros-investments/392

    Soros is very bearish on the U.S. economy and he's putting his money where his bearish mouth is.

    http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-agree-with-george-soros.html

    Look, this isn't ideological. One of my favorite political commentators is Dr. Mark Lamont Hill. I almost never agree with him but he puts arguments together very well.

    You simply spew rhetoric.

    Furthermore, how do you expect anyone to come to your site if you don't mention the site's name.

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  12. Good point, Mike. The site is:

    Conservatives Are America's Real Terrorists
    http://conservativesarecommunistss.blogspot.com/

    Come on down.

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  13. Sybill:

    My base happens to be Conservatives. There are so few sites they can visit to hear the truth about themselves.

    Please Visit My Blog: Conservatives Are America's Real Terrorists

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  14. Warren Buffet has said that "the economy was in free-fall when Obama took office, and it is no longer in free-fall" -- regardless of what this GOP propaganda ad says.

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  15. I said George Soros not Warren Buffett. Soros hasn't merely talked the economy down. He's put his money where his mouth is.

    I doubt your site is visited by many conservatives. In fact, I doubt your site is visited by many people period.

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  16. Why don't you come visit my site, Mike, and find out?
    It gets a lot more hits than The Provocateur does -- mostly from Conservatives.

    Warren Buffet is saying that Soros should stop shorting America now (assuming that's what Soros had been doing). The time for shorting America was last year. Those days are over now, thanks to Obama.

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  17. Have you looked at my stats? How do you know it gets more hits? Are your stats public? If your site is so successful why are you begging conservatives on another site to come visit in the comments section?

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  18. My Stats are public -- available for all to see. I invite everyone to visit my site. I don't beg anyone. I'm not prejudiced against Conservatives. I treat them the same as everyone else. They're just a little misguided, and I'm offering to help straighten them out. They're all invited to visit my site. Who knows? Even Conservatives might learn a few things.

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  19. You've come on to my site for about the span of fourteen hours to say please come to my site. So, I guess your definition of begging is different than mine. We know you want everyone at your site. That's been your message since you wound up here.

    I doubt you will get many conservatives to come given that you call them misguided.

    In any case, this is boring. If you have nothing else to say, I will end this back and forth.

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  20. I went to your site, God help me. Your stats aren't really public. The total is public but the breakdown is not. In any case, you've had a total of 6300 hits. I had 2200 yesterday. I average near 2000 so I doubt you have more traffic than I do.

    you have a couple of articles about how Biden is a truth teller, how Sotomayor is awesome, and how Obama is great. I don't think that this is at all unique on the net.

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  21. The one good, intelligent thing you've said, Mike, is that George Soros was shorting America a year ago.
    Obviously, that shows Goerge Soros is an astute investor and that he clearly recognized the enormous damage Dubya Bush was doing to the American economy more than a year ago. Clearly, being a Conservative, you believe in private enterprise and real investment acumen. Therefore, I'm sure you applaud George Soros for his vision in recognizing the damage Bush and his Conservative policies were inflicting on the American economy, and you congratulate George on all the profits he made by shorting America while Bush was running this country into the ground. I'm sure you are urging George Soros to stop shorting America now that Obama is running things, so that George doesn't give back all his profits. The stock market just went up another hundred points today, so I congratulate you, Mike, on realizing that, thanks to Obama and his liberal policies, the days of making money by shorting America are over.

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  22. "I'm not prejudiced against Conservatives. I treat them the same as everyone else. They're just a little misguided, and I'm offering to help straighten them out." A little patronizing, and not at all intriguing, CJP.

    Also, didn't Warren Buffet say we needed a second stimulus? Why should his opinion be put on a pedestal? He has his own interests to look out for.

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  23. You obviously didn't check my links. They were both from this year. Soros is still betting against America.

    Really, the only point I was making is that there are people out there that are betting against Obama. Soros is no more or less of an oracle than Buffett. Neither is infallible, but to say that everyone believes things are going great is nonsense.

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  24. Well, Mike, the market went up again today -- 70 points. So, whoever is betting against Obama now must be feeling some pain.

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  25. Yes, the market went up 70 points TODAY because of Obama. Are you serious? Do you have a real argument or is this the best you have?

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  26. Mike, you keep telling me that Obama is wrecking the country, and the stock market keeps saying that he isn't. Don't you Conservatives have any faith in the Capitalist system?

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  27. yeah, 2% gain in nearly seven months after the market lost 30% the year previously. That's not necessarily that impressive. The thing about relying on the Dow for your proof of something is that it makes you look foolish more times than not. I don't think an 8900 Dow is proof of all that much.

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  28. For Heaven's sake, moderator, shut that CJP child off. Nothing to say. but "look at me, I've got a blog". Trolls like that make reading the comments like fingernails on a blackboard.

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  29. But, Mike, the stock market was in free-fall under Bush, and now it's going up.

    What is it with you Conservatives? Don't you believe in Capitalism, or don't you believe in facts?

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  30. Actually, that's a bit of a distortion. The market started in free fall in September. Obama took over with the Dow at 8600. It proceeded to drop to a low of 6700 before recovering. It's been between 8000-8900 for about two months.

    It first hit ten year lows about two months into his presidency largely in response to the fear of the spending before it started going back up. Ultimately, it's about 2% for the year after losing nearly 30% the year prior.

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  31. Mike, "Losing 30% the year prior" is not exactly a ringing endorsement of Dubya's final year in office.

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