Can Hipster Glasses Save the GOP?

A new Republican ad campaign lets young people know it's OK to vote Republican.

It's now conventional wisdom that if Republicans are going to compete in future presidential elections, they must carve out pockets of Barack Obama's coalition — and particularly young voters. That has proved difficult with issues like gay marriage, marijuana legalization, and immigration reform, where the GOP's views differ from those of many young Americans.

But what if they can could stick to their core values and still make inroads with the younger generation? What if, as part of a six-figure cable ad buy, they could get a mustachioed twentysomething or thirtysomething in a leather jacket and tortoise-shell glasses to proclaim he's for an "all of the above" energy strategy and therefore a Republican?

Enter Scott Greenberg, who, employing the patented Michele Bachmann strategy of never looking directly at the camera, proclaims he's all for using "solar, wind, shale, gas, oil "¦ whatever!"

Scott seems like a very nice guy. He lives in the D.C. area and does PR for the Washington Ballet, or so we've gleaned from the Internet. He's also a recent homeowner (congrats man!) and tweets things about St. Vincent and We Were Pirates and stuff!

The bit about him saying he's a Republican because he believes in an "all of the above" energy strategy, however, is just strange. That's Obama's line! Or at least he's repeatedly called for an "all of the above" strategy, even after green groups demanded he ditch the rhetoric, as National Journal's Ben Geman reported.

Republicans insist that "all of the above" was originally their phrase, and a cursory tracing of the phrase by The New Times reveals that they did in fact coin it. (John McCain and Sarah Palin were using it on the campaign trail in 2008 and Rep. Fred Upton picked it up again when he became head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee after Republicans took back the House in 2010.)

But White House spokesman Clark Stevens has dismissed the notion of catchphrase appropriation, telling The Times that Obama embodies the idea Republicans popularized. Republicans dispute that on that grounds that, for instance, his EPA regulations are anti-coal.

Another thing! Greenberg is reportedly vexed over gas prices, but prices are actually down from where they've been in the last two years. Broaden the timeframe and it's true that prices are up from where they were 10 years ago. But Greenberg shouldn't know that. He's a millennial!

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