Obama's Tough Sales Job

Despite President Obama’s Taxpayer Financed PR Campaigns, Americans Think He ‘Made Things Worse’SEN. MITCH McCONNELL:“The President needs to face facts. Americans don’t want him spending their hard-earned money trying to spin policies they don’t like.” (Sen. Mitch McConnell, Floor Remarks, 5/23/12)

NBC/WSJ Survey: President Has ‘Made Things Worse’Q: “For each of the following, please tell me if you think this is an area that Barack Obama’s approach has made things better, made things worse or has Barack Obama’s approach not made much of a difference either way in this area?”
                                                                  Better               Worse              Not Much Difference
Gas prices                                                  11                     37                     5
The gap between the rich and poor          17                     31                     50
The budget deficit problem                       17                     47                     33
The division and partisanship in politics   18                     39                     36
The housing market                                    24                     32                     40
The economic downturn                             31                     37                     29
The health care issue                                 32                     43                     21
America’s standing in the world                33                     37                     29         (NBC/WSJ Poll, Pg. 14, 5/16-20/12)

ObamaCare’s Taxpayer Financed Publicity Campaigns: $40 Million +
$20 Million For An ObamaCare ‘National Multimedia Education Campaign’“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has selected Porter Novelli to launch a national multimedia education campaign mandated by the Affordable Care Act. The contract is worth $20 million.” (“Porter Picked By HHS To Conduct $20m Campaign,” PR Week, 5/18/12)

$18 Million For An ObamaCare ‘Glossy Brochure’ That ‘Overstates’ BenefitsHHS “spent millions of dollars printing a glossy brochure and mailing it this week to 40 million Medicare beneficiaries… at a cost of 45 cents each. That adds up to $18,000,000.” (Republicans Criticize Obama Administration Brochure On Health-Care Overhaul,” The Washington Post, 5/28/10)

GAO: “…the brochure overstates some of PPACA's benefits.” (Lynn Gibson, GAO, Letter To Reps. Dave Camp (R-MI) & Wally Herger (R-CA), P.9, 9/9/10)

$3.66 Million Spent On Misleading Medicare Ads“The Andy Griffith ad promoting ObamaCare last year cost taxpayers $3.66 million – including $404,000 in production – according to records obtained from HHS in a FOIA request earlier this year.” (“Crossroads GPS Launches Collaborative FOIA Site,” Politico, 3/23/11)

FACT CHECK: “… just as fictional as the town of Mayberry was when Griffith played the local sheriff.” (“Mayberry Misleads On Medicare,” FactCheck.org, 7/31/10)

$1.9 Million Online ‘Campaign,’ Including A ‘Big Guerilla Campaign Splash’“…an estimated $1,908,960 has been spent under the healthcare.gov contract. As such, an estimated $2,089,968 currently remains.” (Ogilvy’s Margo Gillman, Email To HHS’s Julia Eisman, 2/10/11)

HHS OFFICIAL: “My gut is that the ones we'd really want to push for would be the evergreen radio PSAs and the videos, potentially one big guerilla campaign splash in a targeted area.” (HHS’s Jaime Mulligan, Email To HHS Employees, 12/1/10)

More Spent On Millions Of IRS Postcards“The IRS … began mailing postcards to more than 4 million small businesses and tax-exempt groups with information about a provision in the law that provides tax credits for small businesses.” (“IRS Lacks Clout To Enforce Mandatory Health Insurance,” USA Today, 4/30/10)

GAO: “Fewer small employers claimed the Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit in tax year 2010 than were estimated to be eligible. While 170,300 small employers claimed it, estimates of the eligible pool by government agencies and small business advocacy groups ranged from 1.4 million to 4 million.” (“Factors Contributing To Low Use And Complexity,” GAO, P.2, 5/12)

The Stimulus’ Taxpayer Financed Publicity Campaign: $26 Million +Over $26 Million In Grants To Ogilvy Public Relations Included In The Stimulus, $18 Million Of Which Was To Establish A “Publicity Center”

Project Title: ARRA: Regional Offices; Recipient: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide; Award Date: 9/30/2010; Total amount obligated as of 4/25/2011: $8,613,876.00 (“HHS Research Awards,” GAO, Table 1, Pg. 5, 6/14/11)

Project Title: ARRA Publicity Center; Recipient: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide; Award Date: 9/30/2010; Total amount obligated as of 4/25/2011: $17,999,988.00 (“HHS Research Awards,” GAO, Table 1, Pg. 6, 6/14/11)

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