Update: This video reminds us about the parallels between the media narratives of Ronald Reagan’s and Barack Obama’s Presidential campaigns. And no, this wasn’t put out by the Obama campaign, and though I disagree with some of its implications, I think it’s instructive for us to all take a step back and recognize the ways in which certain themes repeat themselves in the media narratives of elections.
I’ve been blogging elsewhere about the recent McCain ads.
This:
and this:
I wonder how this type of ad plays locally.
The first ad– the one featuring Louisiana’s own Britney Spears alongside Paris Hilton, whose family actually donated to the McCain campaign–attempts to reduce Obama as a generic and vacuous “celebrity,” someone whose fame is either inherited or the result of an ephemeral teenage infatuation.
Ostensibly, the message was about energy policy, but for all intents and purposes, the ad was about framing Obama as an inexperienced, elitist, dilettante “celebrity.”
It’s a big risk. The ad can only work if– throughout the next 90 or so days– McCain can convince enough Americans to believe Obama is inherently unqualified, and that he is, in fact, the only qualified candidate.
This will inevitably raise the question: What does McCain mean by qualified and “ready to lead”? When you’re attempting to raise this question against a candidate like Obama, you’ll run into a wall of information demonstrating his qualifications (which have already been tested and vetted during the primaries).
Regarding the second ad, I agree with David Gergen:
There’s also a big risk in attempting to paint Obama as the “Other” or to cloak him in Otherness.
Certainly, we can all agree that the notions of identity and allegiance and unwarranted “celebrity” (which is, in and of itself a media creation, one in which McCain also benefited from when he returned from Vietnam) have little place in a debate between two qualified, though distinctly different, candidates.
There are much more important and pressing issues– issues that we should collectively feel compelled to debate… which is why when campaigns decide to throw millions of dollars and thousands of hours into broadcasting, supporting, and defending their peripheral attacks, you have to wonder why they’re not waging combat on the actual battlefield.
CenLamar 
please tell me you are not comparing the celebrity that mccain encountered when returning from vietnam after 5 years as a POW and this media created rock star status of obama. you gave me grief over my comparisons and here you are comparing apples and oranges.
Just read the piece in Politico.
and you dont think his handlers have put him up to acting and talking this way. by the way, dont forget your tune up and to properly air up your tires.
Not sure what you mean about his handlers.
Regarding the tire pressure line, I like Obama’s response: Why would anyone take pride in being ignorant?
I think Jefferson deserves to be ousted, but this video is silly and capricious. Amateurish.
you are right, lamar, since obama said we should all inflate our tires i havent seen nearly as many people riding around on flats.
Seriously, dlc, simply keeping your car well-maintained and your tires pressurized, you can save as much as 3.3%, which, collectively, translates into millions of barrels of oil per year. This is a plan endorsed by the Bush administration, Charlie Crist, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and (until recently) John McCain.
Somehow, though, Republicans have attempted to cleverly paint this realistic and wise solution to reducing our dependence on foreign oil as being the totality of Obama’s plan. This is ignorant and misleading. I, for one, admire a nuanced plan that is multifaceted in its approach, and I don’t understand how any informed voter could be duped into believing Obama is as singularly-focused as McCain implies.
you are assuming that everyone is riding around with under inflated tires. do you realize that whenever you get your oil changed that they check tire pressure, air fiilters, etc. the problem i see with this is that you have people out there with no understanding of what damage they can do to themselves or others by over inflating tires. they just hear obama say inflate your tires. they run out to the air pump, pop a few quarters in and start airing. not only is it dangerous to themselves (an exploding tire can and has taken off arms, heads, etc.) but its also a hazard on the road. not only that but it causes abnormal wear on a tire and can turn a 30,000 mile tire into a 15,000 mile tire which in turn causes you to have to buy new tires and guess what? it takes oil to make tires. so to assume that this keep your tires inflated and care maintained is not a substitute for drilling. its a form of conservation, no more, no less.
I respectfully disagree and will take the word of the energy experts. No offense. I don’t think the problem is overinflation of tires. I think the problem is ignorance of proper maintenance and, in this case, willful ignorance in an attempt to cherry-pick one part of a multifaceted plan and hold it up as the entire plan. Deceptive politics. Remember, the Bush administration says the same basic thing about tire inflation.
ill agree to disagree. on a different note go to newmarketinvestors.com and check out fairmont towers. this is i believe an old hotel that was converted to apts. in shreveport. it got me thinking about the bentley. i still think apartments/condo/townhouse is the way to go.
I am not from the USA, but I’m proud to admit that I have a Barack Obama sticker on the bumper of my car..there are those living in Europe who live in hope that the right choice is made and that ‘yes we can’ eventually have a true leader who represent more than just american values. The new President will represent world-wide values, and I enjoy reading your blog Lamar!
What is the problem with conservation? I think that conservation is the most valuable piece of a multi-faceted approach to our current energy and environmental problems. Increasing supply is only second to conservation. Coming from the perspective of someone that has been living in India and Nepal half of the last five years, I am consistently amazed at the simple wastefulness of the American people and their stubbornness to admit it, much less do anything about it. It raises some questions. Is access to various forms of energy a right? Is over-use of energy a right? Is the over-use of energy a crime if it limits the use of energy by others? Is over consumption of energy a crime if we take into consideration market externalities not included in our bill, such as pollution, global climate change, loss of fishery production, coastal wetlands erosion, loss of quality of life for those that are negatively impacted by drilling, petroleum plants, refiineries, etc. These are real questions for those of us who live and invest in Louisiana, are they not?
Watching the McCain ads about Obama make me want to vote for Obama more, actually. I love the line, “we are the people we have been waiting for…”
It’s true: we are.
Geauxbama.
you sound just like michelle obama. we are so greedy and wastefui. boo freakin hoo. go back to india and nepal, and dont let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Michael, take the compliment. Michelle Obama is an incredibly accomplished American and a passionate advocate. It’s ashame that some people like to imply that speaking the truth about America’s collective responsibility for its own energy consumption is somehow un-American. It’s also ashame that some people refuse to acknowledge the way in which America’s energy consumption affects global markets.
Michael, I think Louisiana is a better place to live because of people like you. Welcome home.
McKinsey & Co., the consulting firm that provided Gov. Jindal with his only private-sector employment, recently came out with a study that suggests we could mitigate projected electricity demand up to the year 2030–practically eliminating the need to construct new coal-fired power plants–through increased energy efficiency.
Fuel efficiency standards, undermined by the policies of George W. Bush and Cheney’s energy task force, are now being demanded by new market realities. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) can also be reduced through the intelligent planning of both rural and urban communities. Expanded drilling is a temporary fix; conservation is not.
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/greenhousegas.asp
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/28/energy_efficiency/index.html