SkimIt
Young Voters Speak Out: Each day, RR.com will spotlight politically minded youth writers from throughout the U.S. speaking their minds on Election 2012. First-time voters, student journalists and new graduates will debate the Obama vs. Romney race to the White House. Young Democrats, Republicans and ‘Undecided’ Americans are eager to play politics and choose the next Commander & Chief.
Read Justin Tepper's thoughts from a moderate perspective:
A Change from Hope
The 2008 Presidential election was filled with such optimism. We all wanted a brighter dawn than what we had had for the previous eight years. Candidate Barack Obama was an orator who moved the masses and conjured up thoughts of an idyllic republic, one that was surely better than our own. That is what makes this so sad: to remember four years ago and what this man did and just how far he has fallen. The new attack ad featuring Joe Soptic, a laid-off steelworker, crosses a line, which is deplorable. I didn't think political propaganda could be so vile and outrageous nor did I believe it would come out of the Obama administration. I am dumbfounded and the only words I can manage are, "I was wrong."
The Worst of the Worst
President Obama's new attack ad featuring Mr. Soptic is truly breathtaking. The man had been working in a plant owned by Mitt Romney's Bain Capital and eventually lost his health insurance when the facility went under. The ad is very macabre, and the tone is gloomy. The most disturbing part of the piece is when Mr. Soptic explains his wife's death from cancer and the rapidity in which it took her. He proclaims she did not want to go to the doctor at first because they did not have health insurance. When one watches the ad, there is no mistaking the implications of his words. If Romney had not closed the factory, then Mr. Soptic would have had health insurance, and his wife would have detected the cancer sooner and she might have lived.
Tell me Lies
There are so many things wrong with the ad I don't know where to begin. First, it's so immoral of the Obama campaign to be associated with this propaganda. Secondly, they're misleading the American public. Mr. Soptic's wife was diagnosed with cancer five years after he had lost his job. She wasn't covered by his health insurance but by her own employer's. Thirdly, by Obama running attack ads, it proves he himself does not believe he can run on his record. Overall, this is one of the most despicable things a presidential candidate can be connected to.
Implausible Denial
While the President's campaign his tried to distance themselves from the ad, there is no mistaking his fingerprints are on it. The political commercial was produced by the democratic super PAC, Priorities USA, but Mr. Soptic has been featured before in another advertisement and was included in a May conference call with reporters for the candidate.
The End of an Ideal
Barack Obama's 2012 campaign is even more depressing in the context of his 2008 effort. His speeches used to draw you in and make you believe in all the cardboard dreams he described. The attack ads he has been running dispel whatever notions of positive change Obama tried to convince us of just four years ago. The Joe Soptic ad is disgusting, and there is no rationale for it. I really am an independent and vote for the man not the party. I used to believe Obama was a more principled candidate than Mitt Romney now I'm not so sure. A leader once thought to be cast in gold has turned out to be nothing but gilded iron.
