Obama's Ad: Pitch Perfect Closer
I didn't like the idea of a 30 minute campaign ad, five days out. I thought it might be cheesy or seem presumptuous. I was wrong. It was very moving, like one of those PBS shows about American history. I felt like I was watching a film about JFK or FDR. It was simply a pitch perfect closer.
I should have learned by now that Team Obama always knows what it's doing. It's like that wonderful web ad people keep sending me. It shows a smiling confident Obama with the inscription: "Everyone, chill the fuck out, I got this."
He does, indeed.
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I've been worried all week that this was going to be a huge mistake. I worked as a salesman for a time, and in the sales business, there's an old saying: "Once you've made the sale, quit talking". So I thought maybe they should just play it safe and run the clock out. But I kept telling myself, "Stop worrying. They know what they're doing." And they do. Boy, do they ever.
October 29, 2008 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! Thank God we were wrong.
October 29, 2008 9:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
PHILLIES WIN!!!!!!!!!
October 30, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
But you see, they weren't focusing on the people who they had already sold. The focus tonight was on that vast number of "undecideds" who haven't bothered to pay enough attention up till now to know who they're voting for.
The Obama camp is hoping to have snagged a whole lot of them tonight and they need to because over the next few days as these people finally get around to giving some thought to the race they are going to be peppered with simple, easy to remember slurs against Obama that will not be countered because apparently the Obama people think they don't need to. Thank God the Republicans managed to collapse the economy a month ago or Obama would have been sunk by now. As luck would have it though, it appears the Gods favor the man from Illinois and that's a good thing.
October 29, 2008 10:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ - how's your 401k these days?
October 29, 2008 9:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not MJ and I don't have a 401k but what's your point?
October 29, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
My wife, not trusting the current "leadership" recently, essentially demanded that we move our 401(k) and IRA to fixed-income securities last January. We missed a little bit of growth during spring, but we're doing just fine now.
Basically we understood the completeness of failure of the financial geniuses, the most "productive members of society". (that's a grand joke, eh?)
Hopefully the correct candidate will be voted into a position of leadership and the real productive workers (small-business entrepreneurs, genuine workers) will see some benefits from their productivity.
October 29, 2008 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
MiddleClassBill,
Aren't you the guy who lost his job and now has to sell some long term investments to pay your mortgage?
Why are you concerned with MJ's 401K?
October 30, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's from his Miami Dolphins post. He claims people who do things to avoid taxes are scumbags. I argued that people who have 401k's do it to get the tax deduction. So all the people who have 401k's must be scumbags. I asked MJ if he has a 401k but I have not received a response.
October 30, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was worried too. And I was impressed by the video.
What struck me was the melancholy tone of so much of it. The music reminded me a lot of the great score for Brokeback Mountain, and you had this series of stories, some of them rather heartbreaking, about people having a hard time in the Bush economy.
I wonder how big of an audience tuned in for this.
October 29, 2008 9:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reminded me of Brokeback's score too, which I love.
Maybe it will get us some votes in Wyoming!
October 29, 2008 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd like to have seen a few more suburban voters and even some of us "anti-American" large city voters. Why do we always have to run away from who we are? I mean would it be so terrible to show a doctor or a scientist talking about the importance of an infrastructure of excellence? A bit too downscale for some Americans I think. Democrats do aspire too. We just aspire for a life motivated by more than greed. I mean I get the swing state rural/small town point but you can over do it.
October 29, 2008 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama has already sold you on his candidacy. This is a message for the last people he needs to reach, rural America.
October 29, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
He needs suburban swing voters too. They may be culturally easier to get than the rural ones.
October 29, 2008 9:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't the very first "real people" profile about a suburban mom?
October 29, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ
First, I love your stuff. Keep up the good work.
But second, I came to your conclusion some time ago. Over the last couple of months I decided that Obama and his team are just better at running a campaign than I would be. Every time I thought they were blowing it, a few days later it turned out they were right (and I was wrong). So I've quit worrying - if they lose (and I'm pretty sure they won't) it won't be because they made a silly mistake. These guys are good!
October 29, 2008 9:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Buzz. I appreciate that.
You know, we're just not used to a campaign this good.
October 29, 2008 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yup--I think everyone thought--how do you make a 30 minutes video resume that isn't horribly self-aggrandizing? But it was very stylish how they wove ideas and images together in a way that reinforced the substance of his message. There was a very reassuring, almost lyrical quality about it.
I know this sounds goofy, but Obama reminds me of this one Spongebob cartoon from years ago. Spongebob has discovered that Jellyfish go wild for music and he lets a ton of them move in with him and they cluster all over his stereo. But they are such music junkies he can't get any sleep so he tries to turn off the music and get rid of them. But they won't go--they go nuts, and start attacking him and tearing the place up--until his pet snail, Gary, starts knocking his eye-stems together in a gentle, constant, soothing rhythm. All the chaos dissipates. All the anxiety dissipates. All the belligerence dissipates, and the Jellies start moving in synchrony, like a Greek chorus; they strophe and anti-strophe across the room in perfect peace and Gary leads them out the door, and they follow, peacefully, and rhythmically.
I know this is crazy. But Obama reminds me of Gary the snail who can tame the wild Jellies...
October 29, 2008 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
c4,
Knowing what Republicans are capable of, I won't feel comfortable until we're 6 months into the Obama Presidency.
October 30, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know if I'll feel comfortable until Barack has served with distinction for eight years and then retires in peace and dignity, loved and respected. I don't know if I'll exhale 'til then.
October 30, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a hilarious but wonderful image. I have some confidence that Obama will be able to tame the mean-spirited rumormongers on the right (I'm thinking of largely the same gang that constantly went after Clinton in the nineties). Perhaps it will be a similar Gary-the-snail maneuver.
October 30, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Geesh! Obama supporters kill me. I always hear that he hasn't closed the deal with certain voters, but sometimes I wonder if Obama has closed the deal with his own supporters. We have seen this guy in action for almost 2 years and yes he has made missteps, gaffes, but he has proven time and time again that he and his campaign know what they are doing. Dems get so caught up with what the Republicans might think that they just shrink into the background. Why hasn't it sunk in yet that Obama doesn't let the haters hold him back? He takes smart risks and thinks BIG! This is what successful people do. No matter what he does, someone out there will find something wrong. He can't run his campaign for that one person. He is trying to reach the very people portrayed in the ad. Moms and Dads working all day, worrying all night and no time to read political blogs, visit his website, come to his rallies, etc. I never had any doubts about this ad and I believed it was long overdue
October 29, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it was perfect pitch we wouldn't have the racism we do.
If, as it seems, Obama wins the presidency with a Rep and Senate majority, the Democrats have to be very careful to fulfill the wishes of the electorate and not disappoint them.
They have to make some measurable achievement.
In 1992-4, they didn't.
Remember?
October 29, 2008 10:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right.
October 30, 2008 12:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
O.K.
1993-95!
October 29, 2008 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sat down to watch a few minutes of this ridiculous 30 minute political commercial. Thirty minutes later I was teary eyed, and more than ever convinced that, with all of Obama's not being the left leaning progressive I wanted, he is going to be the best president of my 72 years of life.
Amazing man.
October 29, 2008 11:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
.
Hey Hey my fellow Californian . . .
YES !
My wife and I have resided the longest on our block, settling here in 1969. We have always felt that we were respectfully looked upon by the majority of our neighbors as the old-timers and throw-backs to the 60s. Tonight we hosted a gathering for these friends and neighbors for the specific purpose to watch Barack's presentation. I was surprised that 34 people took the invite and attended. My wife wasn't surprised.
There was not a person at the gathering who did not express their admiration for Obama's clarity of presentation and his ability to instill a optimistic outlook to our collective road ahead. No one said a word about who they were planning on voting for. But to a person they all said they intended to vote. And I have good feeling that I'll most likely see every single person at our local polling station where I've volunteered for the past 24 years.
In my 62 years I've never attended anything related to politics that came even close to the uplifting feeling our family experienced tonight.
And yes Hoppy ... There were many an eye in the den with tears, even this ol' crusty sailor here.
~OGD~
*Cafe contributor since June 2005*
October 30, 2008 2:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Old,
I was watching Obama work a rope line and I saw two elderly black people there, a man and a woman,
who seemed to be elated, and rightfully so,
and I thought to myself; Obama should win if only for people like this, people who suffered because of race all their lives; and now for maybe the first time in their lives, seeing Obama, all the shit they had to live through might be fading into oblivion.
If Obama wins, the day after the election these two people will awaken to a different world than the one they've known all their lives.
October 30, 2008 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
.
John…
Obama has exhibited to me through his words and actions that he truly believes in and respects the goodness and dignity of every individual's worth.
His primary goal has been to bring people together and to attempt to instill in each individual the basic belief of self-empowerment.
And if you think long and hard about that, he is respecting each and every American's inalienable right to exist ... so to speak.
A far cry from the past 8 years.
~OGD~
*Cafe contributor since June 2005*
October 31, 2008 12:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
So very true.
October 30, 2008 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain/Palin can't complain. Right up until yesterday they were still asking "who is Barack Obama?" Well, he sure answered them tonight!
October 30, 2008 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Me too - good campaign ad - well crafted. Unfortunately (for me) I put too much "theoretical distance" out for a full-fledge groking. "Is this gonna get him some more votes?" I kept think thinking. I think it will.
But the real ass-kicker for me in this evening's political extravaganzas was Bill the President's speech in Florida. Wow. Obama did well afterwards, but you could really see how exhausted our candidate was. Clinton was tremendous - I think he's really liking Obama these days.
October 30, 2008 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I know it got at least one vote. I was just out in the smoking area at work, and a guy who was a two time Bush voter (and still thinks he is not too bad) is now voting for Obama because of the program last night.
He said "Obama laid out his plan and said what he was going to do. McCain never did that. I'm voting for Obama."
October 30, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
.
Hmmmm . . .
What a fly on the wall overheard McCain mutter in the Straight Talk Express bus . . .
~OGD~
*Cafe contributor since June 2005*
October 30, 2008 1:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
It was a great night for our side! Isn't it great to feel like you'd really like to follow an exceptional leader and have the perfect leader to follow? We really need to work hard to get people to the polls and I think all will be well. This is just the beginning and not the end, but what a beginning!
October 30, 2008 1:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lux - to answer your question, MJ thinks people who have 401k's are scumbags because they're doing it to avoid taxes
October 30, 2008 6:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
As far as I know people with 401Ks don't avoid paying taxes, they only postpone them.
October 30, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
zeno,
exactly, a point that escapes our resident pseudo philosopher and financial advisor.
October 30, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Obamamercial was perfect.... I don't know who their ad guy is - but he/she should win a Clio Award... They hit JUST the right note, just the right feel... If ANYONE is left out there who thinks this guy can't run the federal government, look how well is has run his campaign....
October 30, 2008 7:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only one -- Sean Hannity who thought it was "depressing" and actually said out loud that he didn't recognize that America. Ain't that the point?
The brilliance of this campaign and Obama as a leader is astounding. One of the most powerful images for me of Obama's is his "I can take the attacks for another week, but we cannot afford another four years." Leave it to Obama to reinvent the daddy meme in such a profound, comforting way.
I'm going to say this out loud: I think when people walk into the voting booth on Tuesday, they are going to be more comfortable with Obama than they realize. It's a quiet, deep comfort that Obama has built over time. It has driven us crazy sometimes, but he had the wisdom to understand that the comfort level was more important than the attack.
What a leader.
October 30, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
....teary-eyed? not exactly but would give him a A- for overall presentation...the only criticism would be some of the self-promoting parts (the cut-and-paste pre-recorded part where he is speaking at various stump rallies... more testimonials from real voters and how they got royally screwed by the economy (and Washington) could help clinch the remaining so-called undecideds. Does Obama realize how pissed many voters are with Washington--reps from both sides of the aisle....
October 30, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can Republicans honestly believe that Jews, Jews of all people, will fall for that? How dumb do they think we are?
Demagogues always think the people are dumb -- even as they glorify their alleged wisdom. It's the basis of their entire political schtick. Add in hypernationalism, teary-eyed worship of "traditional values" and some pseudo-scientific theories of race, and voila! You have fascism.
All that's missing from the modern Republican Party are the crackpot racial theories -- but anti-Muslim hysteria appears to be a more-than-adequate substitute.
October 30, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
The music in the infomercial reminded me of the Disney attraction SOARING.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDx6v679dbc&feature=related
The best attraction ever, and the emotion of pride as America the Beautiful unfolds before your eyes, PRIDE
The infomercial opening, With it's Amber waves of grain
October 30, 2008 11:29 PM | Reply | Permalink