SALT LAKE CITY, February 8, 2012—One of the best Super Bowl ads of all time is coming under fire in conservatives quarters. Chrysler's "Halftime in America" offended many on the Right with innuendo about the wisdom and effectiveness of government bailouts to Detroit.
Instead of griping about the tastelessness of Chrysler's ad, conservatives should co-opt it.
"People are out of work and they're hurting, and they're wondering what they can do to make a comeback."
We need a comeback because Barack Obama has done such a poor job. Three years ago, almost to the day of the controversial ad, Obama said, referring to the economy " if I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition."
There are nine million fewer people working now than when the president took office. Foreclosures are up. Gas prices are up. The deficit is spiraling out of control.
Nearly everyone agrees that the Halftime ad was well-produced, stirring, and contained sentiments that are hard to argue with. Yet many Americans, including influential conservative opinion leaders like Karl Rove, saw the ad as a sloppy wet kiss to the Obama Administration that bailed out the American auto industry.
Without conceding that it was—which Chrysler would never do—so what?
Instead of whining, Republicans should own the ad and its message. Claim victory, take the endorsement. After all, it was tailor-made for the conservative platform.
Under images of Americans working hard and being quintessentially American, Eastwood explains that people are "wondering what they're going to do to make a comeback."
Anybody who knows sports understands that a comeback is not accidental, and it rarely comes from doing the exact same things put a team behind in the first place.
Yeah it's halftime. And we're down. Our quarterback was supposed to be a game changer, but his flashiness hasn't delivered, and it's time to make adjustments.
In football, halftime is really the only chance a team has to regroup and make meaningful changes in a game plan. There are several ingredients to a comeback: it takes an almost irrational confidence, patience, and a winning scheme, among other things.
Sometimes it takes a new guy at the helm. Usually, a quarterback will stay in the game. But usually, that quarterback has a record of success, and the backups are far riskier than leaving in the starter. But sometimes halftime is the opportunity to give the new guy a try. The Republicans have two men who have a track record of outperforming President Obama.
If it's halftime in America, Republicans need to press voters on their strategy for changing the outcome of the game. Are we going to continue with the same strategy that hasn't been working? Or will we make the necessary adjustments?
Eastwood continues in the ad, "After those trials, we all rallied around what was right, and acted as one."
Americans are likely to come to their senses and fire the most divisive president in modern times. They will rally around the ideas and principles of government that have been proven right so many times before.
Bailout or not, the imagery of the Chrysler ad is not of government bureaucrats, EPA regulators, or college professors putting their shoulders to the wheel. It is of old fashioned work, middle class Americans, and family. These are all conservative principles.
Eastwood has said that the ad was in no way an endorsement of Obama, his administration, or its policies.
Neither is it an endorsement of Republicans. But Republicans should act like it is.
Learn more about the author at Rich-Stowell.com
Rich is a teacher and a soldier. In addition to writing the "Rich Like Me" political column at the Washington Times Communities, he is the author of Nine Weeks: A Teacher’s Education in Army Basic Training; Tunnel Club; and Not Another Boring Textbook: A High School Students’ Guide to their Inner Conservative, which you can follow on Facebook.
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