Hope, Change, and Fear
President Obama launches his re-election campaign.
Obama was at pains to beat back negative images that have attached to him over his first term. He repeatedly affirmed that he supported business and free enterprise and echoed his inaugural address' insistence that risk-taking in business was crucial to national prosperity. He repeatedly asserted that America was the greatest nation on earth since Republicans seem to think this is in doubt.
The president concluded his remarks sounding a theme that Bill Clinton made famous in New Hampshire in 1992 when he pledged, "I'll never forget who gave me a second chance, and I'll be there for you until the last dog dies." Today, Obama said: "I am asking you to believe in me," reminding voters that he once promised that he "would wake up every single day fighting for you as hard as I know how. I have kept that promise." It was a brief look back on a day otherwise all about moving forward.
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John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com. Read his series on the presidency and his series on risk. Follow him on Twitter.