But in both the infomercial and his stump speech Mr Obama is also reviving a theme from the early days of his campaign: the importance of changing the way that American politics works, reaching across the aisle to produce practical, rather than ideological, solutions to America's problems.
It's pure fantasyland to believe, in this day and age, that ideological solutions can be sufficiently transformative and sustainable.
In the magazine he is reported as saying he is convinced that a third way emphasis on "strong values, but practical, non-ideological solutions" is "definitely where people are", even if, he argues, "it's often not where political parties are because they want to appeal to their activists".
They want non-partisan, non-ideological solutions and characteristics".
While discussions about homelessness and poverty are often couched in ideological terms, solutions must be funded in a system of resource scarcity and crafted with an empirical understanding of what social interventions actually work.
What he offers is not an ideological or political solution but a willingness to counteract a Republican political machine calibrated to find and exploiting Democrat weaknesses.
Speaking in the House of Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, supported action but called for "an ideological and religious" solution rather than a military one.
Speaking in a separate debate in the House of Lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, supported action but called for "an ideological and religious" solution rather than a military one.
