Blogs and Stories
Obama's Depressing Infomercial
Though brilliantly produced, the "Obamercial" was too much about American victimhood and too little about American success.
Now we find out. Remember that pro-Obama YouTube mashup, based on Apple’s 1984 Superbowl ad, in which Hillary Clinton’s face on a giant screen replaced IBM as the Orwellian tyrant? As I watched the half-hour political commercial that blanketed the networks, I thought: Hmm, it seems a giant screen before a mass audience is okay, as long as Obama is on the screen…
The “Obamercial” was a brilliant mash-up in its own right. Doing an infomercial alluded to the 30 minutes that John F. Kennedy purchased in the campaign of 1960. The style owed a lot to the Republican Party’s masterful adaptation of Hollywood techniques during the reign of its Hollywood president, Ronald Reagan, who also pioneered the technique of identifying and praising ordinary citizens. The Obama campaign raised this cliché to a baroque level of elaboration by weaving vignettes of struggling Americans among direct statements by Obama to the viewer.
Even the music struck me as sad rather than inspirational, more suited to a telethon raising relief money for victims of Katrina
And lots of struggling Americans, too. Poor John McCain. He is outnumbered as well as outspent. As his symbol of what used to be called the Forgotten Man, McCain has only Joe the Plumber. The Obama ad had, by my count, a wife with a disabled husband, a retiree cheated out of a corporate pension, an elderly couple facing high medical bills, a widow concerned with the education of her children, and a couple facing layoffs and cut-backs at a car factory.
Devoting so much of the infomercial to the stories of these average Americans and their challenges was a brilliant rhetorical move but a dangerous political one. The use of the vignettes accomplished two objectives. It allowed Obama’s talking-head moments to be limited, something that is essential in the age of 900 channels and limited attention spans. More important, it permitted Obama literally to put faces on the Americans he promised to fight for.
The irony of course is that not a single one of those faces belonged to the new constituency most identified with Obama. There were working-class moms and retirees, but not a single hip, wired, twenty-something Millennial. What has been billed as the unprecedented campaign of the young and the Internet closed with a commercial appealing to the classic Democratic base employing traditional rust-belt liberal themes and using the most advanced techniques of Reagan era cinematography.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Justice Clinton?
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
Obama's Midwest Blunder
Michael Lind is the editor of New American Contract at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the author of The American Way of Strategy. He has been a staff writer or senior editor at the New Yorker, Harper’s magazine, the New Republic, and the National Interest.
What He Should Have Said
Michael Lind is the editor of New American Contract at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the author of The American Way of Strategy. He has been a staff writer or senior editor at the New Yorker, Harper’s magazine, the New Republic, and the National Interest.
Stop the Democratic Suicide
Michael Lind is the editor of New American Contract at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the author of The American Way of Strategy. He has been a staff writer or senior editor at the New Yorker, Harper’s magazine, the New Republic, and the National Interest.
Abarbara1
I agree the tone was generally a downer, but Lind fails to grasp Obama's goal here which was to capture the one consituency that McCain is hanging on to--old white people. He's already gotten the young, hip and African-American's so he doesn't have to cater to them. You also didn't mention the tax calculator that showed up on the show--just plug in your income and vola--it tells you will get a $1,000 if Obama wins. This is all just too cynical for me and smells like trying to buy the election.
notaloneinarkansas
I disagree. I found it moving and emotional. I was left with a feeling of hope...of the chance to create a new spirit in this country of working together. I also beg to disagree with the conclusion that the only reason Senator Obama has risen in the polls is because of the economy. I believe the race was close until Ms Palin was announced ~ and then the bounce that came from the hopeful that she was "something new". But along with the crash of the economy, we also saw the crash of Ms Palin. And we've seen the cynical and divisive attitude of the McCain/Palin team. I don't want to Fight Fight Fight anymore Senator McCain.
telluridesandy
Hmm. I enjoyed the piece. I did feel a certain aspect of depression, however, that only served, to me, to underscore the uplifting feeling that, with Obama in office, we have the power to change these horrible realities. Ultimately, I wanted to remind others to vote, to reflect on where we are vs. where we want to go. And I had to think on where we have been, and how that depressing reality of where our country is has so undermined much of our ability to "rise above."
We need inspiration like these 30 minutes. We need to be reminded of how we can not only survive, but thrive. We need to remember that we can surpass this terrible present and usher in a new tomorrow. This IS within our power. Simply, we have not had anyone to help us remember that it takes hard work, a bit of sacrifice, and the energy to get up, every single day, and face that day with overpowering thought that we can always make it better.
May we elect someone who reminds us of our better selves. Please, vote.
zephid
I wouldn't say it was a downer. It was more "what goes down must come back up." His vision of America at present was a downer, that's why his presidency would be the "up" part of the equation.
I don't think you can run with the message of change and say that today is pretty awesome. It kinda undercuts your point.
dcveeneman
You missed a point, and it's a big one. Who was the target audience for this broadcast? Not the young; Obama's already got them. Not the well-educated; Obama's got them, too. The broadcast is targeted at the real blue-collar "Joe the Plumber" folks, who may lean Democratic, but who struggle with the idea of voting for a black guy. I thought it was brilliant; right up there with anything Reagan ever did. We'll find out on Tuesday what the target demographic thought of it.
bothsides
I disagree with Mr. Lind's evaluation. I was moved by the piece, and it underscored, for me, the need to stay aware of what's going in our country. My family and I consider ourselves very fortunate right now because my wife and I both have jobs and can provide reasonably well for our son. However, it stunned me the other day when my wife pointed out to me how fear and negativism seem to be driving my emphasis on saving and cutting back rather than approaching it from a positive point of view, as I used to do. The point is that I can substitute many people and families I know in one way or another for the ones in the Obama piece. I know so many other people who have truly done the right things but who are now suffering because of someone else's incompetence and greed. Those families highlighted last evening reminded me that we better wake up and care about what's happening in this country because my family could just as easily find ourselves in the same situation. Luck shouldn't have anything to do with whether a person can go to a good school or get medical attention. I try to model for my son that it is a good thing to consider carefully certain decisions; therefore, I have tried to consider the merits of both candidates. Until last night, I was one of those undecided voters.
serottaklm
It's interesting Lind finds Obama a downer. The Republican arguement for so long has been that Obama is a dreamer and his message of change is inspiring but unrealistic. He is an incredibly motivating figure whether you agree with him or not.
realbluesky
How ridiculous. Obama's program reflected with honesty the plight of many, many Americans. I suppose you are someone who is more swayed by happy talk than reality.
ericalynn0202
Yes, I'm with Abarbara1: Obama doesn't need to get to the "single hip, wired, twenty-something Millennial." He won these people over on day 1-myself included-and they are media-savvy enough to understand exactly what he's trying to achieve with this message. They tuned in to hear how he would appeal to the undecideds, not how he would reach out to them.
bryanlevi
I have to say I did not watch the piece, nor was I able to read the critique above... I am clearly not the type of person Obama was trying to appeal too, and I did not think it would be fair to me or the campaign to watch and have to feel uncomfortable or want to criticise. I fully accept that even the most pure and well-intetioned politician has to do strange things to get elected these days. It is not fair for me or anyone else to look down our noses at them because we are too cool to be affected by their less-elegant and intellectual appeals... unless, of course, we want to get our asses in there and run for the office and show just how hip and cool we can be when we run a campaign.
dagdavid
How stupid is this comment, "Devoting so much of the infomercial to the stories of these average Americans and their challenges was a brilliant rhetorical move but a dangerous political one." Dude, you clearly like to hear yourself talk.
donatello
I found Obama's program truthful and insightful. Your article I found boorish.
Resolute
This article eats my brain. When Barack Obama first won the primary and for the first month or so after, the press continuously droned on about how Obama was too rhetorical and wanted Obama to, as Lewis Black said, stop "preaching hope." Pragmatism may not be pretty to aloof ideologues like Mr. Lint, but the fact is that Obama had already won all the people that wanted his optimistic message of hope. As a result, he changed his message to more policy-centered items and has tried to avoid that victimization fear by presenting the current government as an impediment to recovery and presenting himself more as an "enabler" than a "savior" (thus, his insistance on the race being about "you"). He could not make a smarter political move by trying to seal the deal on his victory by appealing to those he needs most to win this election: working class voters.
constantine
A little downer is not such a bad thing considering the overblown patriotism, exceptionalism, and hubristic pride
that has been the American opiate for so long. This is a country built on noble ideas ( plus genocide, slavery, and greed ) with an ever widening gap between rich and poor,
a third rate eucational system, a crumbling infrastructure, more citizens per capita in prison than any other nation, frighteningly high infant mortality rates, no medical insurance for tens of millions, a militaristic, anti-intellectual, extremist right-wing of religious zealots, and the absolute, oft-repeated, not-to-be-doubted, god-given certainty that the United States of America is the greatest nation in the history of this or any other universe.
It could be, of course, but first you have to take the blinders
off.
Beethy
"....the opinions that matter are not mine; they are those of the swing voters..."
Perhaps true. Why would anyone try to persuade those who have opposed to Obama to leave their camp, at this late stage ? What could possibly have been left un-said, un-addressed in the past 20 months ?
I watched it too. And, if this you found this "less than inspiring infomercial," you were perhaps not part of the target audience. And it is a bit too late for that, isn't it ?
This was obviously not the right time to address the desperate flurry of charges from McCain-Palin camp, least relevant to the dire economic conditions now.
Rather, I think it was designed to calm a jittery nation, and display steady resolve in face of what we are in today and how best we can get out of it.
I doubt McCain-Palin could have presented a coherent "inspiring" message at this stage: they seemed unable to do that and haven't done that YET.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.