The sacrifice-free election strategy | Salon News

Barack Obama too is an honors graduate of the Political Academy of Painless Dentistry. During the Olympics, the Obama campaign has been running a gauzy ad so uplifting that it makes Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" seem like an Edward Hopper painting. As the TV screen glows with scenes of happy workers, the offscreen narrator buoyantly promises, "The hands that install roofs can also install solar panels. The hands that build today's cars can also build the next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles. Barack Obama [will] ... create 5 million jobs developing homegrown energy technologies." The underlying message is that global warming and an Obama presidency will spur the biggest jobs program since Franklin Roosevelt's WPA. As Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, who is not affiliated with the Obama campaign, explains, "One of the most important ways of positioning on global warming is to emphasize the jobs issue, since it appeals to people who you might not otherwise reach with your message."