The New York Times-20080125-Obama Delivers an Anticorporate Message
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Obama Delivers an Anticorporate Message
Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, is running three new advertisements in six states ahead of the multistate primary on Feb. 5. This 30-second commercial, Need, is running in Connecticut, Delaware and Utah.
PRODUCER Obama media team
THE SCRIPT Mr. Obama says, I'm Barack Obama, and I approved this message. Then, addressing a town-hall-style event, he says, This administration has further divided Wall Street from Main Street. You got C.E.O.'s who are making more in 10 minutes than ordinary workers are making in a year. In an interview, he continues: The bedrock, the foundation of our economy, is our workers. And the middle class have been treading water or worse. My plan says: 'Let's return some balance to our tax code. Close these corporate loopholes the lobbyists put in, and let's make sure that tax breaks are given to people who really need it.'
ON THE SCREEN The advertisement opens with a black and white photo of Mr. Obama, then switches to video of him speaking at the forum in Oak Park, Ill. Mr. Obama then speaks to the camera, with cuts away to scenes of him meeting voters and a photo of him with someone wearing a Jobs! Worth fighting for T-shirt. Beneath is text highlighting his economic proposals, including Close corporate tax loopholes, $1,000 tax cut per working family and No taxes on seniors making under $50,000. It ends with information about how to vote in the state in which the commercial appears.
ACCURACY The gap between executive pay and worker compensation has been on the rise, but is not as great as at its peak in 2000, said Kevin J. Murphy, a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. The average top executive at a Standard & Poor's 500 company now makes 550 times what the average worker makes -- not quite the 10 minutes mark, Professor Murphy said, although you could obviously find an example that would make that right.
SCORECARD The campaign's decision to run the anticorporate spots in Connecticut and Delaware, centers of the hedge fund and banking and credit card industries, respectively, could be seen as risky. During the first three quarters of 2007, Mr. Obama received $489,234 from employees of hedge funds, second among Democrats only to Senator Christopher J. Dodd, who is no longer seeking the nomination, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions. Those states do have many middle-class homeowners who could be feeling the squeeze in an economic downturn.
SARAH WHEATON
