Both campaigns battled over Big Bird this morning, with President Barack Obama’s team releasing a video focusing on Mitt Romney’s comment during the presidential debate that he would stop the federal subsidy to PBS potentially shutting down Sesame Street despite the fact he said, “I love Big Bird.” Mr. Romney’s mention of the beloved muppet almost instantly went viral and the Obama campaign’s new clip showed they have no intention of letting the discussion die. The Romney campaign responded to the Big Bird video with a statement entitled “The Clear Choice: Big Ideas vs. Big Bird” blasting the muppet media blitz as the exact type of “small” tactics President Obama “decried” during the 2008 election.
“The choice in this election is becoming more clear each day. Four years ago, President Obama said that if you don’t have a record to run on, ‘you make a big election about small things,’” Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in the statement. “With 23 million people struggling for work, incomes falling, and gas prices soaring, Americans deserve more from their president. Mitt Romney knows we can’t afford four more years like the last four, and he will lead us to a real recovery.”
The statement went on to include a series of links demonstrating the president’s past statement about “small things,” discussing the release of the Big Bird clip and including news about cost of living increases during the first four years of the Obama administration.
“In 2008, Candidate Obama Decried Small Tactics. … But Today, President Obama Is Running A TV Ad Featuring Big Bird. … As The Middle Class Is “Buried” Under Unemployment, Falling Incomes, Higher Costs, And President Obama Offers No Solutions,” headlines over the links read.
Clearly, the Romney campaign would rather be discussing other things than Sesame Street. What remains to be seen is whether that’s because the attack on Mr. Romney’s focus on eliminating a relatively small federal subsidy while cutting taxes and increasing defense spending is an effective one.
