Behind the Ad: CEOs and presidents (and China)

Michael J.W. Stickings / October 3, 2012

By Richard K. Barry (Another installment in our extensive “Behind the Ad” series.) Who: The Obama-Biden campaign. Where: New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada. What’s going on: [...]

By Richard K. Barry

(Another installment in our extensive “Behind the Ad” series.)

Who: The Obama-Biden campaign.

Where: New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada.

What’s going on: Romney has decided that President Obama is vulnerable on the issue of U.S. policy towards China. Obama’s team has decided to respond with an ad, called “Since When,” that came out yesterday and hits Romney on outsourcing jobs to China.

This appears to be an instance of the old James Carville adage that you never let an attack go unanswered. I get that, though I am having a hard time seeing U.S. policy towards China moving many votes.

Perhaps this ad is intended to reenforce the more subtle narrative that while a CEO may only have to care about the bottom line, a president has to care about a lot more. In other words, running a business is not at all like running a country.