Obama Chooses Joe Biden as VP

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by BreakABone

As an aside saw Obama's speech yesterday and maybe it is I watch too much wrestling, but the whole thing had a WrestleMania feel to it.

Huge set piece. Outside. Titantron. Fireworks going off the top of the building. Confetti.

MAybe he did smell What The Barack is cooking.

On a non-partisan note, I thank that spectatcle was a big mistake. It only does more to feed the McCain advertising machine when it comes to painting Obvama as an out-of-touch elitist celebrity, and those ads have been very successful.

Obama needed to give a state of the union address, heavy on substance and not spectacle. He added a little more policy to his acceptance speech, but he should have done much more. I think he was overly negative about the plight of the American people as well. A lot of middle class won't want to hear how bad they're doing, especially if they're not doing all that bad.

[The Germanator]

Originally Posted by Professor S

On a non-partisan note, I thank that spectatcle was a big mistake. It only does more to feed the McCain advertising machine when it comes to painting Obvama as an out-of-touch elitist celebrity, and those ads have been very successful.

Obama needed to give a state of the union address, heavy on substance and not spectacle. He added a little more policy to his acceptance speech, but he should have done much more. I think he was overly negative about the plight of the American people as well. A lot of middle class won't want to hear how bad they're doing, especially if they're not doing all that bad.

While I don't necessarily disagree with your criticisms of his speech as I would like to see more substance as well, I think the the "celebrity/elitist" ads are absolutely ludicrous. Maybe you can help me with this, but what exactly is that ad campaign even trying to accomplish? "Look at all of those Obama supporters!! Haha! THEY REALLY LIKE THEIR CANDIDATE!! Hey guys, look how popular this guy is, don't vote for the really popular guy that everyone likes!" I patrol the Fark.com forums and when the Republican trolls (not saying you are one of them by any means, they are far worse ) have nothing better to say they just say something like "Ooh, look at the Obamesiah and his followers, etc, etc...The best you can do is attack the guy because people like him? It just seems totally transparent.

I suppose it could be more effective for an independent, but I feel like McCain has lost his "elitism" angle anyway. In this race we have a black guy who was raised by a single mother in a middle class family who worked his way up to go to a good school. This same guy turned down a higher paying job to go into public service. And this guy is an elitist?! I'm sorry, I thought the gray haired white man who can't remember how many houses he had fits that bill. I'm very thankful the Obama campaign hit him hard on that as well. If there is one thing Republicans do better it is to attack worthless tidbits better, but I'm glad the Obama campaign latched on to the "7 houses gaffe" along with the "not rich until you make 5 million line." I don't know, I just see that whole ad campaign as grasping for straws from McCain, and I hope that independent minded voters aren't idiotic enough to fall for something that can be seen through so easily.

[Professor S]

I never said the Obama elitism attacks are necessarily valid. I'm saying they are EFFECTIVE, and they are. McCain has been steadily gaining on Obama since they began, and the star-studded stadium spectacle that was his aceptance speech only fed into that image McCain and Co. are trying to create.

Also, the chanting of O-BAM-A in the ads is meant to play on the fanaticism that has followed Obama's campaign, with the fainting women and all, and create nervousness about it. Its been effective as well, especially since Obama is the more unknown out of the two candidates. McCain is McCain, and he has a long record that makes people more comfortable. Obama is still a relative unknown, and there are a lot of people that are uneasy voting for a political unknown for President. Like my wife, and she's a life long democrat but is voting McCain this year. And trust me, it has nothing to do with my influence. She never listens to me anyway...