A group of Republican strategists have put together a plan, to be financed by a conservative billionaire, to create an ad campaign attacking President Obama by connecting him to the incendiary speeches of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, reports the New York Times. The plan, called “The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good,” is one of several plans Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade, is considering in order to put his money to work in the Citizens United, super PAC era of political spending.
The New York Times has some details from the proposal:
The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”
The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”
The group pitched the proposal last week in Chicago. The Times reports that while the plan has not been approved, it is certainly more than a discussion. In addition to a professionally bound 54-page proposal, the group reached out to conservative black radio host Larry Elder about being the spokesman for the campaign, and even registered the domain name Character Matters.
Both Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney this election cycle have shied away from using Wright in attacks on Obama. “Our plan is to do exactly what John McCain would not let us do: Show the world how Barack Obama’s opinions of America and the world were formed,” the strategists write in the proposal. “And why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president’s formative years among left-wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees.”
The plan is to go beyond TV ads to newspaper, outdoor advertising, and banners to be flown over the Democratic National Convention cite in Charlotte, North Carolina.
