Branding

The beginning of this Century saw both the start of the war on terror and the introduction of the term "branding" into the collective lexicon.  Branding is defined as "the process of creating a relationship or a connection between a company's product and emotional perception of the customer for the purpose of generating segregation among competition and building loyalty among customers."  

Unfortunately customers are a fickle lot and none more so than political customers.  Branding is often unsuccessful as the emotions of the customers are subject to change that no amount of marketing analysis can predict. Political analysis is even less exact, often attempting to homogenize diverse political views amongst individuals into convenient categories.  This is why Eric Cantor lost and others like him may as well.  Creating a brand means cuts both ways, you please some but you also turn others away (sometimes the very ones you thought you were keeping).

The White House and Obama Administration are desperately trying to craft a brand for the President as he finishes out his second term.  His polling numbers are the lowest ever and many Democrats now see him as weak on foreign policy and radioactive to their re-election bids.  Branding causes the company or politician to keep repeating the same message despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary being experienced by the customer.  Case in point is this quote from President Obama during and interview;

"Guard against cynicism. I mean, the truth of the matter is that for all the challenges we face, all the problems that we have, if you had to be -- if you had to choose any moment to be born in human history, not knowing what your position was going to be, who you were going to be, you’d choose this time. The world is less violent than it has ever been. It is healthier than it has ever been. It is more tolerant than it has ever been. It is better fed then it’s ever been. It is more educated than it’s ever been.", President Obama in an interview with David Karp, Tumblr CEO and posted on Real Clear Politics

The brand seems to be that President Obama doesn't watch TV as it is too cynical but knows that "the world is less violent" because of him would be the implication.  The words "the world is less violent than it ever has been" is one of those stupid lines speech-writers put into a speech because it looks good on paper and sounds good rolling of the tongue.  

The first question comes to mind is by measure does the President consider the world less violent?  The effects of the Arab spring have left Libya, Egypt and Syria in extremely violent states.  The favelas in Brazil and clashes with the Brazilian police are certainly violent.  Thailand just had a coup.  Crimea was annexed with Ukraine still fighting the Eastern separatists.  And now the border with Mexico has been breeched by the drug cartels.  But the branding says that the President is making the world safer so we have to stay on scripts

Sticking to the brand script is apparently why Washington has thus far ignored requests, according to the UK Telegraph;

The NYT writes: “Iraq’s appeals for a military response have so far been rebuffed by the White House, which has been reluctant to open a new chapter in a conflict that President Obama has insisted was over when the United States withdrew the last of its forces from Iraq in 2011.”--Telegraph

President Obama famously wanted to pull the troops of Iraq as soon as he took office.  He then had to recant and increase troop strength due to the increased violence.  Now as he has finally pulled the troops out of Iraq, the violence has increased again, this time with no sign of the legitimate government being able to handle matters.

The military attacked fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Saddam Hussein’s former hometown of Tikrit, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad, state-sponsored Iraqiya television reported. In Mosul, the air force struck ISIL positions after they seized the largest city in Iraq’s north earlier this week, Iraqiya said. Al-Sumaria television reported heavy clashes as the army fought for Tikrit backed by air support.--Bloomberg

The less violent world of the Obama brand is probably why he has turned towards "multilateral partnerships" and negotiations to solve world crises.  Diplomacy and negations replacing his, and former President Bush's, penchant for sending in troops.  He has and his minion Susan Rice have much touted the success of economic sanctions against Russia.  But apparently Russia isn't as impressed as we hoped;

Four Russian strategic bombers triggered U.S. air defense systems while conducting practice bombing runs near Alaska this week, with two of the Tu-95 Bear H aircraft coming within 50 miles of the California coast, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) confirmed Wednesday.--Washington Free Beacon

Not only is Russia testing our borders, so are the Mexican drug cartels which are using the President's amnesty program against us.

The massive influx of adults and minors crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador has brought the Customs and Border Protection agency (CPB) past its capacity to provide security at the U.S./Mexico border, according to the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC).--Breitbart

What Obama and his brand management team have forgotten is that others are marketing their brand as well.  Coke will forever have Pepsi challenging their brand and vice versa.  The Obama brand does not exist in isolation.  Worse, so much contradictory information is now flowing that Obama looks like a smug elitist completely unaffected with the concerns of Americans.  The brand experts of his competitors know this and are taking him to the mat.  We are left with the realities of this mess.