WASHINGTON — Helped by Hollywood, President Barack Obama's campaign is releasing a 17-minute documentary that portrays the president as a resolute figure who confronted a massive economic downturn and the aftermath of the nation's war on terrorism with determination and a series of tough decisions.
The documentary, commissioned by the Obama campaign, provides a window into how his team is trying to sell the president's re-election bid: As a man of principle who faced daunting challenges from the moment he won election but persevered to rescue the U.S. auto industry, begin rebuilding the economy, pass health care reform and authorize the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
"As president, the tough decisions that he would make would not only determine the course of the nation, but they would reveal the character of the man," says actor Tom Hanks, the film's narrator.
Obama's campaign released "The Road We've Traveled" on Thursday at 300 screenings across the nation. The documentary was directed by Davis Guggenheim, whose credits include the Academy Award-winning, "An Inconvenient Truth," about Al Gore's global-warming campaign.
Republicans have dismissed the film, which cost at least $345,000 to make, as nothing more than a slick piece of propaganda that fails to take full stock of Obama's presidency. Critics will likely note that the documentary doesn't emphasize a jobless rate of more than 8 percent during most of Obama's presidency, mounting debt or spiking gas prices.
"The American people don't need a Hollywood movie to know what the president accomplished over the past three years," said Kirsten Kukowski, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman. "Unfortunately Americans feel Obama's accomplishments each and every day after President Obama led our country to higher unemployment, record debt, and higher gas prices."
In the week since Obama's campaign released a trailer for the film, Republicans have pointed to an interview Guggenheim gave to CNN's Piers Morgan in which the director said "the negative for me was there were too many accomplishments" to cite in the film.