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Ron Paul Campaign Ad Calls Him 'The One.' Sound Familiar?

Rep. Ron Paul.
Charlie Neibergall
/
AP
Rep. Ron Paul.

Fresh off his strong second place finish in Iowa's Ames Straw Poll, Ron Paul has a new campaign ad called "The One" in which he is portrayed as an entirely different type of leader than the"smooth-talking politicians" he's competing against for the presidency.

Done in the form of a movie trailer, the highly polished ad begins:

"It's the story of a lost city, lost opportunity, lost hope. A story of failed policies, failed leadership... One man has stood apart, stood strong and true... Ron Paul, the one who will stop the spending, save the dollar, create jobs, bring peace. The one who will restore liberty..."

You get the picture.

Back in 2008, the term "The One" was used in another political ad. That humorous and sarcastic ad, done for Sen. John McCain's presidential team, mocked then-Sen. Barack Obama as "the one," a faux messianic figure come to save America, nay, the world.

It was based on the two words a perhaps overly enthusiastic Oprah Winfrey pinned to her fellow Chicagoan when she endorsed him.

Interesting to see that "the one" has gone from being a phrase used in a McCain political ad to mock Obama to being used in a Paul ad, apparently without any intended irony, as a badge of the Texas congressman's uniqueness in the 2012 race and present-day Washington.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Frank James joined NPR News in April 2009 to launch the blog, "The Two-Way," with co-blogger Mark Memmott.