Dreams of My... Grandparents? Obama's Campaign Ad Omits All Mention of His Father

A version of this post was originally published on CJR.org, the website of the Columbia Journalism Review.

On Wednesday, the New York Times ran a story about the Obama campaign’s tightening image machine. Exhibit A was an incident at a Detroit rally on Monday when two Muslim women in headscarves were prevented from sitting behind the candidate’s podium, in an apparent effort to avoid photographs that would fuel further Obama-is-a-Muslim rumors. The Times story followed that example with two other examples of media manipulation, and a complaint about restrictions on press access to the candidate.

Today, the Obama campaign unveiled a new ad that exemplifies its newly aggressive approach to refashioning the candidate’s image. Entitled “The Country I Love,” the spot reintroduces him as a child raised by “a single mom and my grandparents” who taught Obama “values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up.” The Times suggests the ad is partly a response to the same rumors that led to the ham-handed decision in Detroit: “This advertisement tries to define Mr. Obama and his life story in the face of smear e-mail and Internet innuendo about his heritage, questions about his patriotism and accusations about his liberal record.”

For a newspaper that made an issue of the Obama campaign’s increasingly manicured style earlier this week, their ad-check is curiously silent on one of the spot’s most striking features: It makes no mention of Obama’s Kenyan father. This heartland “reintroduction” is all the more striking when compared with Obama’s first time on the national stage—his 2004 keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention—where his speech began: “Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya.” Coming from a man who once wrote a best-selling book entitled Dreams from My Father, the omission is especially odd.

Other news outlets also treaded lightly on the absence of Obama’s father from the ad: The Washington Post fails to mention it at all, while the Boston Globe could even be read as giving the impression that his father was included in the ad’s thumbnail bio. The Globe writes: “[The ad] goes light on his biography as the son of a white mother from Kansas and black father from Kenya, and instead highlights his up-by-his-own-bootstraps story.”

There could be many reasons for media outlets’ failure to note this striking strategic decision. The lede of the Boston Globe’s story may provide one clue, writing that “there aren’t too many Americans who don’t know who [Obama] is by now.” But is that really true? Steeped in the presidential race (for some reporters, perhaps, to the point of being sick of it), members of the press may forget that Americans do not follow politics nearly as closely as they do. Americans tune in notoriously late to presidential elections. While most undoubtedly know who Obama is and what he looks like, they may not be well versed on details of his background. If Americans really knew what they thought of Obama’s story, then why would he need an ad like this to “reintroduce himself?” Media consensus holds that this ad is a defensive response to suggestions that Obama is a Muslim or is unpatriotic—clearly, his biography and his image are still being defined.

Here’s another thought: Outlets might be afraid of accusations that, by emphasizing the omission, they’d be unnecessarily making an issue of race. While it may be understandable that the media is cautious about approaching such a charged subject, race is an inherent part of Obama rebranding story. The Obama campaign seems to be gambling that the candidate’s best hope for connecting to heartland voters is to emphasize the part of the American experience that he shares with them. But it is hard to argue that it is not newsworthy to report that a candidate who once played up his African heritage is completely subsuming it to his Kansas roots in his first advertising blitz of the general election. And it’s hard to understand why the press is letting the omission slide.

Posts like this satirical write-up on Comedy Central's Indecision2008.com reminds us, Obama is dogged by suspicion arising from the combination of his dark skin and unusual name. In that setting, the ad's omission of his father's story may risk giving voters who are not well-versed in his biography the impression that he is hiding something. The ad's pictures of young Obama with his white mother and grandparents are very striking, perhaps all the more so in traditionally Republican states where the ad will air like Georgia and Alaska, where less than one-half of one percent report being of mixed African American and white ancestry.

As polls in places like Georgia show, this doesn't mean voters won't support him. But after watching this ad, voters who do not already know his father's story may be left with the unfortunate impression that he feels he has something to hide.

Comments

[LeaveArtieAlone]

Lester,

Again I must state the OBVIOUS!!!

Bo wasn’t raised by his father or his father’s parents, so logically there would be little to no mention of them when speaking of your UPBRINGING. Putting his father in the ad as part of his UPBRINGING when he rarely saw the man would be a disingenuous at best. Why is that simple FACT so hard for some to grasp? Is it because his father was from Africa? Well let me assure you, BO has no doubt where his father was from, if he did I am sure there would be some finger pointing ‘know it all” reminding him that his father was African. After all, no one would know it by looking at him.

[tbone99]

Man, Obama must have a strong arm - he's thrown so many under the bus , there's hardly anyone left on top.

[Marionnyc]

First the right attacks Obama accusing him of "hiding' his white grandmother, now he's being questioned for putting his mother and grandparents in a spot! He has a very short period of time to tell his story or a part of it, and the important part for him to tell to people who may not already know is that he was raised (mostly) in America by Americans. The ad accomplishes that. So the next time someone who doesn't know him gets an email saying that he's a foreign terrorist, they can remember the ad and think, 'Wait a second, that's not what I heard."

[belmontdevil]

He was raised by his grandparen­ts...not his father.
Focusing on them in this ad makes sense...th­ey , and their middle class / mid-western values made him WHO he is.

It's one of his best counter punches to the "Obama's a Muslim" smears....

[kenyaw]

They were nowhere near middle-class.

[booksnmore4you]

Oh, sorry, given time restraint I guess in your book he should have mentioned his father but not his grandparents.

[MsLiz]

It seems obvious to me, Mr. Feder. One uses ads to persuade, not dissuade. The electorate needs to know that this is not an anti-white candidate, that he is not "the other guy."

Don't worry, the Republicans will be out in force carrying out George Wallace's vow to never be out-N'd again.

[Lisette]

But, his Father was not even someone he knew.
Other than biological,
there is no history there, no memories either.

[kenyaw]

He does have memories of his father and a history. He has notedly said that his grandparents and his mother made a point of talking about Barack, Sr. He wrote an entire book about his feelings on his limited relationship with his father...R­emember.

[ruthinking]

The ad says he was "raised by a single mother." Obviously, he has a black father. Much abo about absolutely nothing.

[XME]

I doubt most will even notice the LACK of a mention. Unlike pundits, they don't parse and analyze every single word!

[lolola]

what nonsense

[devadasi]

Your article is much a do about nothing. Obama's father left the family when he was two years old. It's Obama's decision whether he wants to mention his father or not; not your decision. Don't you have something important to write about. Why are seeking to discredit Obama?

[SMP]

Sen Obama says he was raised by a "SINGLE" mom....wha­t part of "my father wasnt around" did you not get....duh­..........­..........­..that is truth...th­at is fact.....


.seems to me alot of you journalist or citizen journalist have a problem with the "TRUTH"

Sen Obama's blood is not a different color....i­t is the same color of blood that runs trough you and me........­.......so get over yourself.

[AlexVonHussein]

Thats one thing he learnt from Hillary..H­ow to show case his other back ground depending on the map . He cannot go to use the same video in a black majority state. In a black state he would introduce his father and mother and leave the grand parents out. Did you see Hillary Scranton ad, the holiday house and her humble roots in penn the same hillary ad would not work in black majority state. I like the ad cause its focused on a certain voters shows he respects them and does not push them too fast. There many people who voted for hill and Mccain and don't know much about Obama. But watched the Race speech. This video is clear to the people he want to address. He didn't put Michelle or his family or sister in the story.

[kikiva]

Isn't it funny how no matter that the race is over you Obama supporters are still attacking Clinton. That is going to bite you in the GE when your hero loses because of alienated Clinton voters.

[shothot]

kikiva,, it's time to move on and away from the "clinton supporter"drama. the nation awaits you.

[tel8034]

Comparisons are made about Bush, Reagan, Carter and a whole host of persons NOT in the race......­....... So why not Hillary?

Also the MSM seems to think that Hillary is still relevant ..........­.... Not a day goes by when something about her is reported ..........­.. Where is Hillary? Will Obama name her as his running mate? Are Hillary's WHITE voters on board with Obama? Will Hillary campaign for Obama? Who will pay Hillary's debt? ..........­..... And the list goes on.

When Romney, Huckabee, Guilanni and the others dropped out of the running, there was none of this obsession with them by the MSM.

I venture to say that the majority of the so-called Hillary voters who say that they will not vote for Obama, NEVER INTENDED TO VOTE FOR HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE, and their reasons have NOTHING TO DO WITH GENDER.

But conversely, there are millions of Hillary supporters who now say that they WILL vote for Obama ..........­.. After all, they are Democrats and are AGAINST all that McCain and the Republicans stand for.......­......... Yes they maybe disappointed that Hillary did not win but they love this country and want a change from Bush.

[duchampfitz]

There's no attack of Clinton here. He simply uses Clinton's ad as an example of targeted marketing. If anything, he's admiring the Clinton campaign.

[tel8034]

Obama's father left the family when Obama was 2 years old, and he only saw his father once after that.

Obama's ad talks about who shaped his values - Clearly it was his mother and grandparents and not his father.

When Obama mentions his father he is explaining his biological origins - Obama is bi-racial with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya and grew up in Hawaii....­.. that explains his outside, not his inside.

Because someone sires a child and then leaves before the child can barely talk, does not mean that the father's values were inherited - the values one has come from those who raised you - Obama's father did not raise him.

There is nothing wrong with this particular ad , because the message is about VALUES and not DNA.

Stop making a mountain out of a molehill ! ..........­.... Again why is it a must that Obama must be judged at a much higher standard than McCain or even Hillary for that matter? ..........­. GET A LIFE !