Obama Unveils Campaign Slogan
Volunteers make signs at President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign headquarters. (Photo: AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Every political campaign has a mantra. One of the more famous ones is former President Bill Clinton’s “It’s the economy, Stupid,” which has been co-opted by a wide variety of people in and out of politics. Obama’s 2008 “Yes, We Can!” became a rallying cry for voters who found themselves suddenly believing that real change could be more than a dream.
For his 2012 re-election bid, the Obama campaign motto is “Respect. Empower. Include. Win” and it is printed on a sign at the entrance of his new campaign headquarters. The space fills 50,000 square-feet on a single floor in a Chicago high rise that looks out onto Millennium Park. In addition to blue Obama 2012 signs, there also are colorful hand-written inspirational notes written by volunteers and staffers and maps of key states.
Obama is the first president in decades to operate a re-election campaign outside of Washington, D.C. Perhaps he is hoping that the decision keep his headquarters in Chicago will help him maintain just a bid of an outside-the-beltway edge.