October 24, 2012, 8:36 AM Clint Eastwood Stars in Anti-Obama Ad
By Neil King Jr.
[iframe height=363 src="http://online.wsj.com/static_html_files/embed-video.html?guid=996FB1B7-1439-4413-88D5-2D2C2F516930" frameBorder=0 width="100%" allowfullscreen][/iframe] The Crossroads ad is above:
Early this year, in a two-minute Super Bowl ad for Chrysler that raised the ire of conservatives, Clint Eastwood lamented the “fog of division, discord and blame” that had fallen over the country in hard times. It was halftime in America, he said, “and our second half is about to begin.”
But that was before the Empty Chair.
Or the new and much different ad he just cut for the conservative, pro-Mitt Romney super PAC, American Crossroads.
In that ad, set to run in seven battleground states, the man who played Dirty Harry, Josie Wales, and The Man With No Name blasts President Barack Obama for the country’s high jobless rate and the federal deficit.
“Obama’s second term would be a rerun of his first and our country just couldn’t survive that,” he says in his trademark gravely voice. “We need someone who can turn it around fast and that man is Mitt Romney.”
“There is not much time left and the future of our country is at stake,” Mr. Eastwood says ominously, wrapping up the 30-second spot.
The Crossroads spot offers an interesting contrast to his Chrysler ad, which portrayed an American of grit and persistence that could never be knocked back by adversity.
“All that matters now is what’s ahead. How do we come from behind, how do we come together, and how do we win,” he said, predicting “the world is going to hear the roar of our engine.”
The Super Bowl spot, ironically, drew an immediate blast from one of the men who helped found American Crossroads, Republican strategist Karl Rove, who said he was “frankly, offended by it.”
Conservatives criticized the ad as a piece of pro-Obama propaganda paid for by a car company the Obama administration rescued with taxpayer money.
But Mr. Eastwood has since made no secret of where his allegiance lies, first by endorsing Mr. Romney this summer, then by his memorable appearance at the Republican National Convention, when he spoke off the cuff to an empty chair as though Mr. Obama were sitting in it.
The Eastwood ad could be seen as Round Two of the battle of the iconic Hollywood voices: a direct riposte to the pro-Obama ad narrated by Morgan Freeman that went on air earlier this month. In that ad, of course, the message is exactly the opposite of the Eastwood spot. Yes, times have been tough, and there is still work to do. “But the last thing we should do is turn back now,” Mr. Freeman intones. |
