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Obama seeks reshaped image for 2012 run By <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/reporter/Susan+Page> Susan Page, USA TODAY Updated 13h 19m ago | <http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2011-06-08-Obama-brand-economy-campai gn_n.htm?loc=interstitialskip#uslPageReturn> 1675 | <javascript:;> 9 <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250> Share <javaScript:RightslinkPopUp()> Reprints & Permissions WASHINGTON -The Obama Brand in 2008 was pretty simple: Hope and change. * <http://i.usatoday.net/news/_photos/2011/06/08/Obama-brand-economy-campaign- AT5C222-x-large.jpg> Obama pushes to revamp his 2008 brand. AP photo; Illustration by Ramon Padilla and Jim Sergent, USA TODAY, based on poster by Shepard Fairey Obama pushes to revamp his 2008 brand. EnlargeClose AP photo; Illustration by Ramon Padilla and Jim Sergent, USA TODAY, based on poster by Shepard Fairey Obama pushes to revamp his 2008 brand. Ads by Google Washington DC Coupons 1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. It's like doing DC at 90% off! www.Groupon.com/Washington-DC Repeal Obamacare Should Congress Repeal Obama's Policies? Vote Here Now. www.newsmax.com/surveys Official Obama Website President Obama's campaign is up and running. Join us today. www.BarackObama.com Then things got complicated. The jobless rate on Friday ticked above 9% again. The housing market nationwide continues to fall. Gas prices are straining family's summertime budgets. <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government+Off icials,+Strategists/Executive/Barack+Obama> President Obama's signature health care law to expand insurance coverage doesn't command majority support more than a year after it was signed into law. Washington negotiations on reducing the budget deficit are as polarized as ever. Now, preparing for next year's re-election campaign, Obama is moving to refurbish a political brand that has been defined for the worst by his Republican opponents, dented by the realities of governing and battered by a faltering economy. He is going on the road to Americans' workplaces to argue he's made tough decisions that will pay off over time. Even so, good news that has boosted the president's standing in USA TODAY/Gallup Polls - the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden and the controversial <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Political+Bodies/Rep ublican+Party> GOP plan to overhaul Medicare - haven't been enough to offset the impact of bad news about the economy. Surveys taken before and after the demise of the al-Qaeda leader show a spike in approval of Obama's handling of terrorism and some increase in views of him as a strong leader. More than 6 in 10 say he has "the personality and leadership qualities a president should have." News from On Politics <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/index> On Politics Latest posts from USA TODAY On Politics blog . <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/06/santorum-to -run-for-president-/1> 7:44 AM Santorum to run for president . <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/06/sarah-palin -paul-revere-defends-herself-/1> 10:24 AM Sarah Palin defends her take on Paul Revere's ride . <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/06/michele-bac hmann-planned-parenthood-presidential-race-/1> 6:09 AM Bachmann slams Planned Parenthood at faith event . <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/06/sarah-palin -paul-revere-midnight-ride-/1> 4:42 PM Sarah Palin gives her account of Paul Revere's ride . <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/06/john-edward s-indictment-affair-/1> 2:23 PM John Edwards: 'I did not break the law' <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/index> Read all On Politics posts But his approval rating on handling the issue Americans care about most, the economy, has dipped to a dismal 37%. Asked whether the president deserves re-election, those surveyed by 51%-47% say he does not. "It was an extraordinary event, a courageous decision and an important step forward for the country," <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government+Off icials,+Strategists/David+Axelrod> David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, says of the bin Laden operation. "Was it a transformative political event? I can't say that. Ultimately people view these elections through the lens of their own experiences, and right now that's the economy." For the president, the economy is "the whale in the bathtub," says political scientist <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Steven+Schier> Steven Schier, editor of Transforming America: <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government+Off icials,+Strategists/Executive/Barack+Obama> Barack Obama in the <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Places,+Geography/Landmarks,+Landf orms/White+House> White House. In the May poll, after bin Laden was killed, 36% said Obama has been a weaker leader in the White House than they expected; 21% a stronger one. That reflects some improvement from the April survey, taken before the Navy SEALS operation. Then, 44% said Obama had been a weaker leader than they expected; 17% a stronger one. The soaring expectations that surrounded Obama's election haven't satisfied everyone: 24% say he's done worse as president than they expected; 14% better. On one critical measure, a majority now say they disagree with him on the issues that matter most to them - a turnaround from just before the 2008 election. On ideology, too, some voters who had believed Obama agreed with them have concluded he doesn't. Liberals by nearly 2-1 see him as more conservative than they expected; conservatives by more than 3-1 see him as more liberal. The surveys of more than 1,000 adults each, taken April 20-23 and May 12-15, have margins of error of +/-4 percentage points. <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Linda+Brown> Linda Brown, 59, a retired history teacher from Baltimore, is an Obama fan who plans to vote for him again. She boasts the bin Laden operation has made the president's critics "revise their weakling comments" about him. But she adds, "The political realities have sort of forced him to temper his plans, his original plans." She calls him a weaker leader than she expected. "He has a tendency to lay out a very, very broad framework and then wait for Congress to fill in the blanks, but I really don't think that's very effective," she says. Michael Codini, 25, a medical student from <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Laguna+Beach> Laguna Beach, Calif., who leans to the GOP, says the bin Laden operation "really showed him as a strong leader and one devoted to the military and the U.S. military mission." However, Codini says economic issues will do more to affect his vote. Obama's initial presidential job-approval rating in January 2009 was 64%, the highest of any new president in more than a quarter-century. In the daily Gallup survey, his approval rating was a middling 46% just before the bin Laden raid, then rose to 52% within a few days. In the three-day rolling average posted Sunday, just over a month after bin Laden was killed, Obama's approval rating had ebbed to 47%. The perception that has developed among some - that Obama has been a disappointing leader and a Big Government liberal who hasn't effectively addressed the economic issues that matter most - provides a road map for the Republican campaigns against him next year. "We gave someone new a chance to lead," former Massachusetts governor <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government+Off icials,+Strategists/Governors,+Mayors/Mitt+Romney> Mitt Romney said Thursday when he formally announced his presidential campaign at a supporter's farm in <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Places,+Geography/States,+Territor ies,+Provinces,+Islands/U.S.+States/New+Hampshire> New Hampshire. "It was a moment of crisis for our economy, and when Barack Obama came to office, we wished him well and hoped for the best. Now, in the third year of his four-year term, we have more than promises and slogans to go by. Barack Obama has failed America." Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus says the election will be a referendum on Obama. Axelrod says it will be a choice between Obama and his Republican opponent. Promise and results "Brand" is marketing shorthand that reflects the promise of a product or service and the results it delivers. Former president <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government+Off icials,+Strategists/Executive/Bill+Clinton> Bill Clinton's brand was empathy. <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Historical+Figures/Ronald+R eagan> Ronald Reagan's was strength. By the end of his shortened presidency, <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/People/Politicians,+Government+Off icials,+Strategists/Executive/Richard+Nixon> Richard Nixon was branded by scandal. "Brand Obama in 2008 was brilliant," says consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin, author of Branding Only Works on Cattle. His approach was fashioned to appeal to an electorate disenchanted with Bush's tenure. "Change is a powerful branding message in every election, and his in '08 was elegantly clear," Baskin says. "All you had to say was, 'I want a change.' That led you directly to 'I'm going to vote for Obama,' irrespective of the other half of the ratio," his record of delivering. Baskin says Obama lost control of his brand once he took office. "As a marketer, it blows me away how poorly he has defined and marketed his brand over the last two years. He didn't tell people what he stood for and what he was going to do," he says, adding that the president didn't respond effectively to Republican efforts to fill in those blanks, including their attacks on the health care law as a threat to American liberty and the well-being of seniors. "You can't argue 'death panel' with a 20-minute explanation of the merits of elder care," Baskin says, referring to accusations about provisions affecting Medicare. Pollster Stan Greenberg in an analysis for the left-leaning Democracy Corps criticizes Democrats for offering "a jumble of messages" over the past two years. Strategists in both parties agree Obama needs to recapture the energy that marked his last election, especially to build a grass-roots organization and engage the younger voters who played an important role for him in 2008. In a cheer-leading video sent to the president's supporters, Obama campaign manager <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Jim+Messina> Jim Messina declared: "We ought not to act like an incumbent. We ought to act like an insurgent campaign." However, the president's team acknowledges that Obama can't simply reprise his 2008 brand. As the incumbent, "change" this time might mean replacing him in the White House. He can't ignore the record, both the accomplishments and the setbacks, of his first term. His strength is his base: In combined Gallup polls taken in May, he held the approval of 88% of African Americans and 57% of Hispanics, 88% of liberal Democrats and 58% of those under 30. His vulnerabilities: His approval rating sinks to 42% among whites, 44% among seniors, 38% among independents who don't lean to either party. Axelrod rejects the notion of a political brand - "We're not an iPod or a box of soap," he says - but agrees that in elections candidates have to articulate and convey their values and priorities. He calls the 2012 campaign an opportunity for the president to address American voters. "I do think that a campaign gives you a chance to talk to people without these very cloudy filters that one speaks through in a normal course of business in government," Axelrod says. "You can speak directly to them through advertising. You do it through the debates. . You get a chance to communicate your story in a much more pure and authentic way than you would before." Preparing for re-election, the president is spending more time on the road and outside the Beltway, including a trip Friday to to tour a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, where he acknowledged "bumps on the road to recovery." At political fundraisers, he presents himself as an older, wiser version of the candidate he was in 2008, showing a few more gray hairs and scars but with the same impulses and principles. Fighting a national funk "They've started a little bit to sell the notion he's done what he said he would do, and he's done it slowly and methodically," says Democratic consultant Jenny Backus, who had worked in the administration on health care. She says the president "always has a long view on things, and he's always taken his time to make his case." Even so, she worries: " It takes a long time to fix problems. Sometimes you don't get the credit in your political cycle." The nation remains in the sort of funk that has rebounded against incumbents in the past. A 55% majority of Americans said in the April survey that the nation is in recession or depression. Half thought the two parties are doing such a bad job that a third party is needed. For the first time, most thought the next generation wouldn't have a better life than their parents. Just 22% were satisfied with the way things are going in the <http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Places,+Geography/Countries/United +States> United States. That is significantly more negative than the nation's mood at this point in the first terms of the past four presidents who managed to win re-election (Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush). Among those satisfied with the country's direction, 88% approved of the job Obama is doing. Among the 75% who are dissatisfied, his rating was a dire 35%. For his part, Obama needs to fire up his supporters and convince voters in the middle that he offers a "brand" they want to back. In 2008, Jens Andersen, 43, a systems administrator for a defense contractor in Scottsdale, Ariz., says he saw "a real change in the face of history" that reflected "a neat, page-turning moment, possibly," for the nation. But Andersen, who calls himself a liberal, has been distressed by Obama's decision to expand the U.S. troop deployment in Afghanistan. "I actually think in some ways he's not what I would call a liberal," he says. He says he'd consider supporting a third-party candidate. Janice Boynton, 50, of Jacksonville, N.C., looking for work as a computer programming analyst, doesn't see much to like in the GOP but is disappointed in Obama. "He's tried," she says. I think he has some very, very great ideas. He's showed a lot of promise. But there was just no way he could bring this to fruition. . He definitely had the charisma, but he doesn't really have the drive." She isn't sure whether she'll bother to vote next year. 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