On Sunday, FOX News re-broadcast Sean Hannity’s one-hour special about “The Hope and the Change.” The documentary is about independent and Reagan Democrat voters who cast their ballots for Barack Obama in 2008 and will not do so in 2012. These voters feel betrayed by Obama’s false promises of hope and lofty rhetoric.
When it first aired in late August, the one-hour special was the most-watched such FOX News special program in the network’s history. It’s re-broadcast may have reminded Obama 2008 voters that Obama has tried to sweet talk them into voting for again in the campaign’s final weeks, despite his false promises and lack of accomplishments.
In the special, Hannity proclaims the movie, directed by Stephen K. Bannon and produced by Citizens United, is “the most powerful documentary I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Pat Caddell, the former Jimmy Carter adviser who has railed against the establishments of both parties for leaving working class Americans behind, consulted on the film, proving the film was not a propaganda piece but a genuine documentary that gave voice to voters so often ignored by both parties and the elite mainstream media.
Caddell told Breitbart News the movie was “meant to give them a voice for why they felt they felt let down after voting for Obama.”
Bannon told Breitbart News that since he “started listening to Obama voters in the focus groups in these key counties in the battleground states,” it was clear they thought Obama was “in over his head” and “they are more inclined to stay home than to vote for him again.”
“And that’s why [Obama chief strategist David] Axelrod avoids ever talking about the issues raised by working class Americans in the film,” Bannon said, noting that Axelrod “knows Obama has no counter” to the basic fact that so many independents and Reagan Democrats think he is “incompetent.”
Hannity interviewed Caddell, Bannon, and David Bossie of Citizens United in special in addition to some of the voters the movie featured.
Caddell said the firm was “by far” the most effective approach to reach these voters who have decided every election since 1980 and emphasized the voters interviewed for the movie were “Democrats and independents” and the move was aimed at “soft Democrats.”
And a focus group agreed with Caddell’s assessment, determining that the film had the greatest impact in convincing them to vote against Obama because the voters in the film reminded the focus group participants of themselves.
Frank Luntz, who ran the focus group, determined Republicans should not waste resources on other movies and instead, if they were so inclined, use the resources to promote “The Hope and the Change” because it gave Republicans the best chance to bring former Obama 2008 voters to their side.
Caddell lamented that the film could have gotten broader play and distribution and did not because so many in the Republican establishment would like to “entertain” themselves than win. he went on to lash out at the permanent political class on both sides for ignoring these “forgotten voters.”
If the Mitt Romney loses the November elections, Caddell said it will be “on the heads” of the elite, Republican establishment in Washington, D.C. who do not know how to effectively appeal to blue collar voters on Main Street.
Caddell said the political elite on both sides of the aisle are “not interested in moving the country” and only “interested in what they can get for themselves,” and Obama appealed to these voters in 2008 because he vowed to fight and change that system.
Of course, Obama has made the system worse, recently admitting to the spanish-language station Univision he could not “change Washington from the inside.”
When the Hannity Special on “The Hope and the Change” first aired in late August, it was the most-watched FOX News special in the network’s history and drew more viewers than the combined viewership of all the other cable news networks in its time slot.
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