And so it begins…

Today President Obama filed papers to officially launch his re-election campaign. He’s the first official candidate from either party in the2012 US presidential election.

Around a dozen Republicans are said to be planning to run for their party’s nomination, while there are no known serious challengers among Democrats. At this same point, 20 months out from the election, George Bush had plenty of official Democratic challengers lining up to take him on.

Supposedly, the delay in Republicans declaring is because they can raise unlimited and unregulated money until they declare, at which time rules kick in. Some pundits also say that many of the supposed Republican candidates are actually trying to make more money or raise their profile, but they have no intention of actually running.

In my opinion, this video is actually pretty masterful. First, it touches on many of the electoral bases that helped propel Obama into the White House in 2008, especially women, minorities and young people.

But the video also seems to break a cardinal rule: Don’t say anything negative about yourself. Despite that, it shows “Ed” from North Carolina saying “I don’t agree with Obama on everything…” That’s precisely one of the barriers Obama’s got to take on: Conservative independents who’ve been suckered in by rightwing propaganda AND liberals who have been bleating merrily away can both identify with someone who doesn’t always agree with the president. But, the video goes on, there are things we want addressed (as “Gladys” from Nevada says immediately afterward). It’s designed to turn a negative into a positive.

This video is just a start, of course. I think this campaign will be fascinating to watch. Naturally, I’ll be doing more than just watching, but, for the most part, I’m going to put all that off for a while yet. It’s a little too early even for me.