Obama’s campaign team emphasizes president’s ‘regular guy’ appeal heading into 2012 race
At least that’s what the president’s advisers hope Americans who are frustrated by the economy and looking for someone to blame will remember when they vote next November.
His team is emphasizing the president’s “regular guy” appeal, putting him in small-town diners, at roadside pit stops and on Jay Leno’s couch. Those settings are designed to highlight his likeability, a political strength, even as the economy, a political weakness, sputters along a year before the 2012 election.
During his recent bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia, the president surprised lunchtime crowds at small-town restaurants and barbecue joints. He took fielded questions from students at a rural high school. One girl asked him if he knew pop singer Justin Bieber.
While out West last week, Obama talked with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” about his trip to a popular chicken and waffle house in Los Angeles, where he ordered the No. 9 “Country Boy” on the menu. The president also joked about first lady Michelle Obama’s penchant for handing out healthy Halloween treats.
“She’s been giving, for the last few years, kids fruit and raisins in a bag. And I said, ‘The White House is going to get egged. … You need to throw some candy in there … a couple Reese’s Pieces or something,’” Obama said to laughter.
All kidding aside, Obama’s strong personal favorability ratings in polls are the counterpoint to his sagging job approval numbers. Advisers privately acknowledge that’s what is helping his overall standing hold fairly steady in the mid-40s…