Obama’s half-hour infomercial has just ended, and the Swing State Series – Florida vs. Pennsylvania – has resumed. The McCain campaign responded with a 30-second ad saying Obama is not ready to lead. Is that the best they can do? Why not go for outright slander? Obama hates puppies?
The half-hour Obama infomercial (Obamamercial?) featured Obama’s always-brilliant speaking ability. As I said in the Twitter feed, Obama has a positively Reaganesque ability to address a giant crowd so that you believe he is talking to you directly.
The structure of the infomercial was to alternate the sometimes tragic personal stories of Americans – Americans from the swing states of Ohio and New Mexico, no less – with Obama’s specific policy proposals on taxes, energy, health care, and defense. It was a return to the theme of the Democratic Convention, and the message was clear – Obama wants you the voter to identify with the people you saw in his videos, and to know that he has clear solutions that apply to your situation.
The message was a bit jumbled – he jumped from a man in Ohio who had just lost his pension straight into energy policy. And I’d question the choice of set – it looked a bit too close to the Oval Office and might turn some voters off.
But overall, I think it was a great success for Obama. We’ll have to wait until about Friday to see whether it has an effect in the polls.
2 responses so far ↓
Andy Puckett // October 30, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I agree that it was jumbled. Of course, I was half-asleep as I watched it on TiVo. But when I saw his voters-on-the-street clips, I thought he would segue from their specific needs into his campaign promises that will address those needs. But he never said “Joe the Voter needs health insurance, and here’s how I’m going to help.”
Then again, this message wasn’t for me. I’m already on Obama’s side, and neither rain nor sleet nor snow (most likely) will keep me away from the polls.
Jordan // October 31, 2008 at 9:15 am
I watched it live at 8 PM ET, and I noticed the same thing, so it wasn’t the half-asleep-ness. He had to be a bit careful that he didn’t sound like he was saying “I have the answer to all your problems” – that might have sounded elitist or arrogant.
But he could have done a much better job of organizing his half hour, so that when a voter talked about health care, he was talking about his health care plans.
I also noticed he was careful to avoid certain phrases, even as he was talking about the concepts behind the phrases – the one that jumped out at me was subsituting “carbon” for “global warming.”
I’ll be voting for Obama also, while still trying to be objective in the coverage. What are the odds of rain, sleet, and snow in Alaska on Election Day?