Monday, August 11, 2008
The Inevitable Reply
Well, the Obama camp has hit back. They have officially labeled McCain as a "Celebrity". Is "Celebrity" the new "Flip-Flop"? Sadly, it appears to be headed that way. While the new Obama ad is certainly correct in it's assessment of McCain's pandering to whichever group he needs to that particular day, I can't help but feel as though that message could have been projected in a different way. Is the American electorate really so dumbed down that the only way candidates can express their message and platform views is by attacking their opponents with frivolous labels like "Celebrity" and "Flip-Flopper"? Wait, actually, I probably don't want to know the answer to that question.
Surely there are better ways to make the "McCain is a political Celebrity" argument than by simply resorting to copying McCain's ad techniques. Here's hoping that the Obama camp can get back to respecting people's intelligence and put out some ads that actually discuss something worthwhile. Leave the "Celebrity" name-calling and dumbed-down ads to the McCain camp, for it's a sign of desperation that he's already resorting to name-calling and it's only August...
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2 comments:
You are right, the level of discourse in this campaign is awful.
The unfortunate truth is that both campaigns, and/or their ad agencies, test ads on focus groups to find out what works. They also monitor polls to see if the other side's latest attack ad is having an effect.
What this means is, the crap being put out for the voting public isn't just the politicians' and their campaign's doing. It's also a function of where the American public is, of what people let themselves be influenced by.
It takes time and effort to find out on the Web or from a handout picked up at campaign office what a candidate's detailed plan for health care, the economy, foreign policy and several other issues really is. Most people don't have the time and inclination.
I think the fact that Obama delayed so long this response is enough to suggest he didn't want to go this route. His people must have seen something in the polling that they felt required a swift and firm reply. I doubt it will shut up the McCain ads of this nature, but perhaps it will at least give the major media something to think about in their write-ups of future ads.
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