A few days ago, I read Obama’s Twitter feed, and this was the message:

“The real question is not just about how we’re doing today, but about how we’ll be doing tomorrow.”

My reading of this is he has just put his stake in the ground and given himself a real marketing challenge.

Traditionally, the question has been – in Presidential campaigns – “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

By positing that the real question is not “Are you better off today?” but instead “Do you anticipate doing better in the future with me as President?”, the Obama campaign is essentially admitting that people are not better off now than four years ago, and they generally don’t think what he has done is working.

To change such an entrenched and traditional paradigm is a bold move and no small feat. But he appears up to the task.

In rolling out his “Life of Julia” campaign, he follows the life of the fictional “Julia” from birth through 67 years of her life. It appears her life begins right now, which means that after she’s four, Obama will no longer be in office.

But given the nature of the piece, it appears the Obama administration assumes their policies are going to affect our lives at least 63 years beyond his presidency. In case you’re laughing at that notion, consider how we’re still dealing with the affects of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s “Great Society” – especially as the Social Security you’re paying into runs out before you get to use your money.

So they’re obviously making speeches and supporting materials that look well beyond today to support this new line – “Will you be better off tomorrow?”

It’ll be interesting to see how far he tries to take this line of thinking and if the American people consider and buy into the notion.

– My name is Jon Friesch, and I love to look at politics through a marketing lens.