Their choice of words and imagery is a reminder of how powerful undercurrents of identity, wealth, race and religion are shaping this election.
The man looks incredulous, his voice rising in exasperation as he tells President Obama to stop demonizing small-business owners. “We need somebody who believes in America,” he says, right before viewers hear, “I’m Mitt Romney, and I approved this message.”
Minutes earlier on the same local NBC station here, anyone watching commercials between rounds of “American Ninja Challenge” would have seen Mr. Obama’s latest attack. As Mr. Romney sings a monotone rendition of “America the Beautiful” at a campaign rally, headlines flash on the screen describing how he put his fortune in foreign bank accounts and shipped jobs to China and Mexico.
As the presidential campaign has become a clash over a host of issues — from tax cuts to foreign diplomacy to claims of words taken out of context — Mr. Romney, Mr. Obama and their allies have started trading accusations over a much more delicate and personal question: Are you an American like me?
Their choice of words and imagery is a reminder of how powerful undercurrents of identity, wealth, race and religion are shaping this election. These surface in subtle and not-so-subtle ways as two candidates who can have trouble connecting with voters on a personal level try to define each other as detached from mainstream American life.
By Mr. Romney’s telling, the president has a “strange” and “foreign” political philosophy.
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