Getting to Know You (and Him): The O-mercial

Jim,

I have already voted. I thought the pols were effective, because these were name brand folks in the heartland and battleground states; as opposed to the Pelosi, Schumer, Boxer/Feinstein brand that you generally see on the evening news.

I thought what worked was no mention of the opponents. This gave more of an impression of substance, than my opponent is a low life etc.

Does the west coast get a different live ending?

I liked it, but I already voted for him so there you are. I doubt its efficacy as a strategy (anyone not seriously considering voting for Obama wouldn't waste 30 minutes watching this), but I found it engaging enough and poignant enough, while trying to counter the charge of "change is just more words" (even though a lot of his proposed solutions were just more words). The pols didn't turn me off, although I would have appreciated a wider variety of professions (the Google CEO and the Ret. Brig. Gen. being exceptions) because I think they mean more than party loyalty. And... that's about it. I feel used, in a good way.

James, How can I contact you via email? I'm currently writing a thesis and would love to get a quote in from you -- it's on this topic exactly.

[...] is the original post:  Reviewing Barack Obama: the 30-Minute Commercial (Time Magazine) Tags:  barack-obama before-the-election election mini-convention obama question six-days [...]

I think it will work a little with undecideds. Undecideds are indecisive. They are the kind of people who listen to everyone's arguments and go "I see what you are saying," but don't ever actually side with one position or another. They want to hear Obama's policy points, but aren't necessarily going to spend the time to go to his website or watch every speech. This gives them an entertaining 30 minutes with the policy points and biography worked in. I think it works pretty well for that purpose. People who have made up their mind to vote against him aren't going to change their mind. You've already decided to vote for him, so you don't care to hear his policy points and biography because you've heard them all a million times before. So you wanted to see more stories of struggling people. But the whole point is to lay out what Obama is offering for undecideds in a clear, easy to understand, entertaining package. Everyone knows we are in crappy times, the question is "what is Obama going to do about it?" It is similar to a convention, but it was a lot more entertaining because conventions are long and boring. The speeches people give are long, repetitive, and mostly pointless, so they had only brief comments from supporters and then they took the points he's been trying to make in his speeches and interspersed it in a way that will keep people engrossed. And I think they were pretty successful at that. Plus it got a lot of hype because it's so unusual, so I think a lot of people will tune in out of curiosity.

Dear Jim

At least I can find an article that analyses the political event from media studies' perspective. I like your article very much and I do agree with you.

It's really hard to believe that campaigns don't do this more often. It really distinguishes him from the other candidate. It sets him apart and it humanizes him.

You can still disagree with him, but you can't deny his reasoning. You can't look at those people and not understand their plight.

It creates an even sharper contrast between his ads and the ads of John McCain. This sticks in people's minds. It combats any of the negativity that might stick because of McCain's robocalls that claim that he is pals with terrorists.

He attacks McCain on the issues while McCain attacks who he is and this plays into that. It builds a brand truly setting him apart from other politicians.

If you can't tell, I've been an Obama supporter for quite some time, but I really was happy about this election. I felt it was a no lose election because I would have been happy with McCain, too. McCain has not run a good campaign and he's compromised his ideals as he desperately flails to latch onto anything that will help him with his bid to win the presidency.

I think I'll remember him as a generally decent man who was just not the right man for the job because besides the fact that I disagree with a few of his policy ideas, he was willing to compromise his ideals in the quest to aspire for his goals.

[...] Infomercial” as the candidate called it on last night’s Daily Show. (Time called it a “mini-convention six days before the election.”) The production leaned heavily on tug-at-the-heartstrings profiles of “real Americans” [...]

[...] Infomercial” as the candidate called it on last night’s Daily Show. (Time called it a “mini-convention six days before the election.”) The production leaned heavily on tug-at-the-heartstrings profiles of “real Americans” [...]

[...] The Land of Lincolner stars in brilliantly-produced half hour of air time on broadcast and cable TV called "Barack Obama: American Stories." [...]

" (Curiously, the one network show Obama did not pre-empt was Pushing Daisies, a highly stylized show with an intense color palette that some people criticize as too precious. Go figure!)"

perhaps because the audience for Pushing Daisies is attuned to and appreciative of artifice, it was the wrong audience for the Ofermercial -- these viewers would recognize the "branding" for what it was, and find it cynical and offensive.

@James - glad you picked up on the "Friday Night Lights" parallels as well. Seriously, was this directed by Peter Berg?
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Gorgeously shot and scored (another amazing side to this), interesting personal stories, heavy on the domestic/economic policy, humanizing...overall, excellent political propaganda (in the good way of using propaganda).
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That being said, I wonder why McCain didn't do the same thing -- reach out in a national way across the country, rather than try to campaign in swing states only in what may be a losing strategy. I'm disappointed (as a "conservative", albeit one who is voting for Obama -- an Obamacan) in the tone of this campaign, largely coming from McCain and some of the independent/right-leaning fringe groups. This campaign could have lifted the whole country and inspired us with ideas and noble leadership....instead we got kindergarten sex ed lies, Ayres, xenophobia, and (from crazy leftists) attacks on pregnant teenagers and accusations that Sarah Palin's youngest child was not her own.

As an average middle class American, I was able to relate to many of the individuals featured in the program.

When the single mom said that she goes to the grocery store and has to decide whether or not to get a gallon of milk or a half gallon....that is my family.

I can also relate to the family whose husband needed to postpone having a much needed knee surgery. The health insurance premiums through my husband's employer is so high that we can only afford to insure my husband and my son, both of whom have medical conditions and need the insurance more than I do. My son needed the knee surgery, but it took us 6 months just to save for the extremely high deductable. He was finally able to get that knee surgery three weeks ago.

My family and I are all registered Republicans who voted for Bush. However, we are more to the center and not far right. We do not recognize this "hijacked" Republican party. It no longer speaks for our ideals. It has become alarmingly negative with no positive message. It is not inclusive of all Americans and has become very hate filled and extremely divisive.

My husband and I for the first time will be voting for a Democrat. I also have two kids who are first time voters and they have also cast an early vote for Obama.

It is my children's generation who do not see race as an issue. They have friends of all colors and cultures. It's a shame that the Republican party can't seem to comprehend that we are All Americans. Instead, they have shown that they are trying to take this country backwards and not forward.

Much effort was put into the production so I guess it needed to be used but all in all it would have been better to leave it in the can. The election is between a President and a mean, bitter, tired,sick old man. Time is best used to rally the faithful for election day.

Caught the whole thing on YouTube. I'm already pretty lefty, but this struck me as heavy-handed. The same thing about the woman with rhumetoid arthritis whose husband had to work at Wal-Mart to pay for her medication...followed by his plan to create "clean energy" jobs?? That left me scratching my head, along with the moments of him with his family. Maybe it's because I've already seen a lot of shots of him with his children, and I've heard Michelle talk a lot about them; but that time would have been better used to talk more about his parents, grandparents, other families, specific policies that he's passed (as in naming the legislation), etc.

I'm curious if the conservatives who are supporting Obama have taken the moment to actually look at his voting record and policies, instead of just listening to him talk like a Republican for the month of October.

With the state of partisan politics, and how polarized the two factions are, nothing actually happens in Washington. Maybe with a Super Senate and the White House, the Democrats will have 4 years to run the country how they think it should be run. Then if we make it to 2012, we can give the Republicans a crack at it

Argh Mike has been renamed by wordpress as sulliclm, i feel so anonymous.

I have to agree with Chaddogg here, it was gorgeous and the score made a huge difference. Way better than the last time this was done by a presidential candidate. (Who doesn't remember "Crazy Uncle Ross Perot's Pie Chart Hootin' nanny Bonanza!") Honestly if you were on the fence about the election and you sat through all 30 min, how can you not vote for the guy now. I agree James that having him as the narrator was a brilliant stroke.

And to take a point that Chaddogg started with about McCain not following suit. I wonder if (assuming this works and Obama wins), this type of "30min ad as a closing argument" thing will become a standard in future presidential campaigns.

@Dave -- I'm a conservative voting for Obama, and I have looked at his voting record. Left of center, certainly, but not disturbingly so.
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Besides, if you really want to see disgusting, wasteful, expansion of government, disregard of constitutional limits, liberal-themed politics run amok -- look at the past 8 years of Bush policies and budgets. I mean, the fact that Congress had to add pork (tax breaks for Puerto Rican rum and manufacturers of children's wooden arrows) to get the BAILOUT bill passed by REPUBLICANS says all I need to know about the fact that the supposed "conservative" Republican party has turned its back entirely on fiscal responsibility.
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And not to put too fine a point on it, but the last balanced budget our country had? Under Clinton. (Yes, with a Republican Congress, but not the pork-swilling, earmark-loving, "spending-like-a-drunken-sailor" Republicans currently in office).

When it started I was getting nervous, but it pulled me in. I started crying during the first narrative about a struggling family, and tears were running down my face the entire rest of the segment. My husband was teasing me but the importance of this election just hit me harder than ever.
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After thinking about it overnite, I think that this really was the best way for the campaign to go. A big McCain/Palin smear has been "who is Barack Obama? We don't know anything about him. He isn't telling us anything about himself, how can we trust him?" Which is nonsense, and designed to scare people who are already nervous about his Otherness, but they keep saying it over and over. And the big complaint that I've heard from folks I know who don't like Obama is "he just isn't saying what he will actually do", which isn't true because his policy plans have been pretty clear from the get-go, but that's basically the fallback response I'm hearing a lot. So, in light of those two 'concerns', this infOmercial covered the necessary ground: 1) Here is who I am, where I came from, and what inspires me to serve You The People; and 2)Here are my specific plans to address the issues that You The People are struggling with.
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I thought it worked fine, he seemed sincere, confident, smart, compassionate, and humble. If more airtime had been dedicated to the stories, and less time devoted to him explaining his policy plans, it would have lacked fundamental substance, and it would seem more like exploiting the families rather than speaking for them and showing the path forward. If he had spent no time on his personal bio, it would be making it too easy for McCain/Palin to respond that "We still don't know who Barack Obama is, he had a half hour on TV and couldn't tell us ONE thing about himself" (I'm expecting something like that anyway, but at least he's done what he can to shield). So I wouldn't have suggested any changes if anyone had asked my opinion, it seemed well-balanced between substantive information and human interest, with a dash of inspiration and hope "liberally" sprinkled throughout. Like I said, I couldn't stop crying until about five minutes after it was over.
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That said, I'm obviously firmly in the O-Camp, have been for awhile, and I'm headed off to early voting this afternoon.

I did think that the music, while beautiful and extremely effective/affecting, was a bit heavy-handed. The only part of the whole thing that I would actually consider heavy-handed. For me, the music didn't distract from the core message, but it was a reminder that it was trying to elicit a particular response, when I thought that what he was saying, and what the struggling families were saying, could easily have spoken for itself. Kind of like why I'm not crazy about laugh tracks in a sitcom. I don't need yet another reminder that all the world's a stage. . .
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I did think that the way he brought out stories of struggling Americans blew the whole "Joe the Plumber and Carla the Waitress and Jeff the Builder and Dora the Explorer" strategy (tactic? now I'm never sure which to use...) out of the water.

rhys1882 - not all of the undecideds are ignorant pushovers for people's opinions - some of us just plain haven't figured out our own opinion yet - i don't agree with the health care plan on either sides and that's a big issue for me so my only hope is that congress shoots the plan of the winning canidate down - then there are several issues everyone else says is small that i believe to be huge that i like one side and not the other making my list of pros and cons about equal bar the healthcare issue where i don't like either one - some times people are just plain undecided and i for one thought the whole o-merical lost obama some points with me - anyone can make themselves sound great for 30 minutes on scripted television

Read the posts here and elsewhere, and notice the women's comments.

Men tend to analyze it. Women tend to feel it.

Various people, here and elsewhere, cite Friday Night Lights. I saw lifetime.

Homerun. Touchdown. Unlike Gore and Kerry who are, as their critics said, pompous and annoying, this is the nice guy next door grown up.

Women and older folk would be moved. And those who expect Obama to be arrogant, couldn't find it here. I suspect some people's doubts loosened.

I expect this thing saves Obama 2-3%. And really puts places like Georgia, ND, and Arizona in play. Those late moving states are just now bothering to check him out. And many will have liked this.

Kristilynn78 wrote: anyone can make themselves sound great for 30 minutes on scripted television

Thank you. That nails exactly why it didn't strike me as this stirring moment in American politics, and why I don't understand how people can be necessarily swayed by the infomercial.