It's 'Morning Again' -- in the 2008 Election
Why is it that a Republican campaign filled with blunders, chaos, gimmicks, an out-of-touch candidate, scandals, and lies -- succeeds? Believe it or not, the answer is probably not the RNC convention or John McCain's vice presidential candidate or any of the tabloid nonsense that has taken over the media's collective brain since last week. The answer just might be found in a political ad -- from 1984.
In that campaign, Reagan ran a now infamous ad called "Prouder, Stronger, Better" in which he took credit for all the economic 'success' his administration had created in the country. The ad was an outright lie. Reagan's 'trickle down' policies had created unprecedented disparities in wealth, a huge rise in severe poverty, and a rise in grotesque wealth. As a result, the country was in the midst of a cocaine epidemic, a spike in the divorce rate, rising crime, declining health, a jump in hate crimes, corroding schools, decaying public works. 4 years of 'Reaganomics' had started the country on the path to economic collapse. Reagan described everything as the exact opposite of what it was -- and it worked.
Why? Was it because Americans are 'stupid'? No. Was it because the media did not call out Reagan on his 'lies'? Maybe, but probably not. The main reason the 1984 Reagan ad worked was because it set a big story -- and that big story is still with us, today.
Here is the transcript of that old ad -- see if you can spot the big story:
It's morning again in America.Today more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history.
With interest rates at about half the record highs of 1980, nearly 2,000 families today will buy new homes, more than at any time in the past four years.
This afternoon 6,500 young men and women will be married, and with inflation at less than half of what it was just four years ago, they can look forward with confidence to the future.
It's morning again in America, and under the leadership of President Reagan, our country is prouder and stronger and better.
Why would we ever want to return to where we were less than four short years ago? (link)
What's the big story: The American Dream -- a dream of a perfect dewy morning in an idealized Anywhere, USA.
In that place, kids go to school on perfect yellow buses, boys and girls get married, families buy houses, we have kids, we move furniture, old people have gardens and are happy and healthy, boats sail down the river, sprinklers flutter on the lawn. Americans love that story. We all love it. We want it to be true, we just disagree with whether or not it is true and for whom at any given time, and the best way for it to become true for more people. Ahh...boats.
I once heard legendary ad man Bill Hillsman explain why that ad worked. After seeing it, Hillsman said, Americans everywhere would get a warm, familiar, and comforting feeling -- the kind of like the feeling that small babies get after they've just wet their diaper. It was a feeling that lasted for only a minute, and when it was over, you wanted it to happen again.
It was a funny description, but it was spot on. Hillsman's point was simple. Sure the ad lied, but it was the lies that made it work -- and it was not the 'truth' that could have beat it. What made that ad work was the way it made Americans see and feel something 'familiar,' 'comfortable,' 'warm.'
Here is the actual video of the ad -- as you watch it, think about Hillsman's point:
For me, the key moment happens about 15 seconds in to the ad, as the narrator says, "nearly 2,000 families today will buy new homes, more than at any time in the past four years." First, we see an image of a man holding the front end of a rolled up carpet, then we see a young boy holding the back end -- his son. We are watching them through the trees, over a white picket fence. We see them as if they are our neighbors. In the background, beyond the next white picket fence, an elderly man walks in the opposite direction wearing a white cap and a blue sweater. The frame expands to include the mother, now, walking behind the son and carrying her tote bag. Then a young girl skips into the scene behind the mom. She's carrying something -- her Teddy Bear, a doll, a book. 'Hey, wait for me! I want to help!' The whole scene lasts 5 seconds., but we already know that families entire life before we even see it. They are the model American family. We are the neighbor looking on. We aspire to be them. We envy them. We embrace them. We resent them. They are the beginning of America. They are the end of America. They are the source of our happiness. They are the source of our frustrations. We embrace them. We reject them. We love them. We hate them. We know them. We -- understand.
To really see what that ad does, we need to realize that from that point forward the election of 1984 was not so much about votes looking at Ronald Reagan or Walter Mondale. It was about each person looking at an idealized image of the perfect nuclear family, surrounded by a white fence, in a state of perfect bliss while doing the most mundane and ordinary things -- and it was about which party they thought about when those feelings came over them.
That 1984 ad was so effective that I suspect it is the real reason why Barack Obama has not been able to pull ahead of John McCain in the polls. There are still millions of Americans fixated on that ad -- millions of voters who, when they look at the 2008 Presidential election, do not see John McCain or Barack Obama or Joe Biden or Sarah Palin. They see the white picket fence, the old man in the blue sweater, the perfect lawn, the blissful little girl skipping along.
The big story in that 1984 ad was so effective at defining how the Republican Party makes people feel in Presidential elections, that a great number of Americans are going to make their decision in this election -- a decision about the future of this country -- based on that old feeling. Unless, of course, they are given an alternative big story, and a new opportunity to feel something more compelling.
What is that alternative? Well, that is for Barack Obama to decide. John McCain has already shown that he has nothing more to offer than what the Republicans already gave us in 1984. For an alternative to 'Morning Again,' the ball is in Obama's court.
One place to start in terms of building that alternative might be a speech that I often read whenever I am trying to think myself out of right-wing framing: FDR's First Inaugural Address (1933). It is a great speech to read, no doubt. But what I love about it is how it makes me feel. It makes my heart race. I keep a copy of the speech on my iPod and sometimes listen to it while riding the subway. Whenever I get to section below, my heart swells, I sit up straighter, and I get an incredible desire to stand up and shout in agreement:
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now. (link)
Yes!!! What Americans want to hear -- what we need to hear -- from Obama in this election is not the details of policy or the familiar rhetoric of 'issues.' All that is available on the campaign website in painstaking detail. The question to answer to get started is not, 'What are the issues?' but 'What is happiness?' and 'How do we get there -- again?' We want to hear the big story of what 'happiness' means in America. That is not just any big story -- it is the American way of explaining who we are and how we should get there.
Despite all the rhetorical highs that have filled the 2008 election up to this point, the election is now entering the 'end game' where the candidate who manages to define the big story will win. So far, neither candidate is stepping up to do that, but the Republicans of yore--way back in the olden times of the mid-1980s--did such a powerful job that their work is still helping their candidate. Either Barack Obama will offer an alternative to the Republican's 'Morning Again,' big story, or the election will remain stuck in 1984.
If that happens, John McCain will likely win. The feeling we will get if that happens will be familiar, but it will not be warm and comfortable.
Crossposted from Frameshop.
Follow Jeffrey Feldman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyFeldman
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It would be nice if Democratic politicians spoke the truth for a change. But they don't, because that might actually win elections. It is abundantly clear that Democrats in Congress do not want a majority. They LIKE being the minority party -- they see it as win-win. They get rich on the Republican agenda, they keep their careers, they don't have to work very hard, and they can keep playing the good -cop, bad-cop charade to their constituents. I'm sick of their repeated failures to rally votes. 80 percent of Americans have wanted universal health care for years now -- but Congress won't let us have it. I blame the Democratic leadership for the corporate tyranny we are living under, because they WILL NOT SPEAK THE TRUTH, and they will not twist arms or organize. We need to replace Pelosi, Reed, Emmanuel, Kerry, Shumer and all their ilk with real Democrats.
Reagan America is myth fueled by propaganda. In 1984 I, watched my gay brothers die inhuman deaths from AIDS by the thousands. The Reagan administration stayed silent and did NOTHING while genocide happened here in America. We lost two generations. Even when Regan's good friend Rock Hudson died; Reagan could not and would not utter the name of the disease. We're we better off. NO! it was propganda.
cross focus on Obamas resume, real happiness comes from serving others, making others happy.
Take the american Dream as a threshold, and walk through it with Obama and his legacy. Show Republicans mocking community organizers, and spend 10 seconds showing how community organiers help people across the racial divide. YES, RACE IS A BIG ISSUE IN THIS CAMPAIGN. NOT BECAUSE BARACK OBAMA IS BLACK, BUT BECAUSE OF HE HAS SERVED Black people. Think about it!!! . 900,000.00
Somehow you have to show Barack Obama focused on giving, giving giving, serving all Americans, and bringing back the American dream to all Americans.
gary
Sarah Palin is just a bully and a fraud, and like most bullies, she's also a liar. She lies about being a bully, and tries -- along with the rest of the McCain campaign -- to bully those who call her on her lies. She hasn't been, and likely won't be, in politics long enough to become an artful liar. Unlike, say, Dick Cheney, she is painfully obvious about her deceptions. They're both power-mad and vindictive, but where Cheney's hunger is financial in intent and global in scope, Palin is recklessly parochial. Prior to her coming-out party, her greatest talent had been using her authority to strike fear in the hearts of her neighbors and rivals, and the presumed enemies of her family.
But Palin's a quick study when it comes to the prevailing tenets of Republican campaign strategy. You take a seemingly bad situation -- say, an unwed pregnant teenager -- and you find a lie that makes it not only palatable, but somehow advantageous. You repeat the lie over and over, ad infinitum, and even embellish when possible, so that refuting the lie -- in effect, telling the truth -- becomes a foreshadowed afterthought.
She's Willie (Wilhemina?) Stark, in high heels and bouffant. Like Stark, Palin is paranoid and mean, and has already proven herself dangerously vindictive. It is this relentlessly small-minded attitude that will condemn her to failure, not only in politics, but in life.
How can Obama win? For one, stop attacking Palin. If what I have heard time and time again is true, women are (were?) the majority in the Democratic Party. We truly believed Hillary Clinton would be given the nomination for President of the USA because that's we were led to believe from the time she was still First Lady. Then, fast foward to now, instead the Party insiders decide to go with an inexperienced male. His number one stupid decision? Not even considering Clinton as his running mate. Probably because he would have been compared to her and the focus of the election would have been her, as it is with Palin. They made their bed, let them lie on it. Maybe he'll get lucky. I certainly hope not. Many people have tried to make this election into a race issue when it is not. It's the disrespect given woman by the Democratic Party. I am mixed race myself I know most American as no longer racist. It's about a woman not being equal to the men, regardless of how intelligent, experience and well prepared they are. Ask Clinton. Sure she did not have much experience as an elected official but it is no secret she has been a member of societies that make it their business to know more about our society and that of other countries than the vast majority of our American community know. Mentioning that would then set her up for more attacks.
"Maybe he'll get lucky. I certainly hope not."?! So it's better to have four more years of rich white oligarchs padding their bank accounts and racking up the national debt at the expense of the poorest and the middle class just because Hillary's not on the ticket. I for one have never tried to make this election a race or gender issue, I've been focusing on picking the best person for the job out of the choices on my ticket. Anybody that votes republican just because their favorite democrat is not the nominee is not a democrat and shouldn't have participated in the primaries. If there was ever a perfect opportunity to use the metaphor cutting off your nose to spite your face......
Britt's 14 Elements of a Fascist State: No. 6 — A controlled mass media.
Bush and the Republicans have waged a long campaign against journalism — denouncing it, infiltrating it, faking it, extorting it, distorting it, planting prostitutes in it and telling every manner of lie about it.
Spring-boarding off right-wing radio ranting, in 1996 a propaganda TV news channel, Fox News, became the Pravda of the Bush White House. Even Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan admitted that corporate media reporters had willingly rolled over for the Bush lies that caused war.
The rescue of Private Jessica, the “enemy attack” slaying of Pat Tillman, the fall of Saddam’s statue, the WDMs — all were lies planted by the Bush administration. To fake news, they added fake journalists.
They bribed columnists. Local TV stations aired propaganda generated by Bush PR hacks, pretending it had been prepared by real reporters.
The real mission of the corporate media is to reassure the public about the benevolence of corporate-welfare capitalism and to justify both inequality and the dominant role of the corporation as the provider of income and benefits.
Jeff,
Hal Riney himself would have been stunned by your assessment of his ad’s impact. I’m confident he considered it to be a great ad, but only one message among the thousands required to shape the country’s perception of the Reagan years. There is little pertinent information to be gleaned from that 20 year old spot and looking for rational explanations for irrational behavior is a mistake. With all due respect to yours and Mr. Hillsman’s well informed opinions; it’s important to identify them as such, valuable opinions. But the fact remains that if Mr. Hillsman actually KNEW what made the ad work, he would be capable replicating its results and doing it consistently. And that trick would catapult him from legend to national treasure. It’s likely he’d have been rendered to the basement of the C.I. A. where he'd currently be heading up their Morning in Afghanistan campaign. I don’t mean to bust your chops here, but I fear you’re perpetuating the myth of some secret marketing spell guarded by the heirs of Atwater. Its bunk but too many Democrats already let it screw with their heads. And the Republicans love it, because one thing they do know is that when Democrats are focusing on Republicans the aren't focusing on Democrats. So they're not talking care of the things that can actually help; like getting out the vote and community organizing. (provided there’s no actual responsibility involved)
A NEW COMMERICIAL
----------
My Name is Barack Obama and I Approved this Message
That's the ad - John McCain saying these words - with his mouth moving like that baby on the etrade commercials.
And Barack Obama's voice coming through.
VOICEOVER:
Saying something - doesn't make it true.
John McCain will say whatever words are put in his mouth by a skilled team of political operatives. From the people who brought you eight years of Bush-Chene
Because in trying to eclipse Obama's true change message, McCain MUST be exposed for who he is.
The next frame in the commercial: that clip of John McCain in the capitol proudly stating that he supported President Bush 90% of the time.
Next frame - the Bush/McCain hug
VOICEOVER:
Republicans are good at campaigning - they are just bad at governing.
Then over the Bush-McCain photo a series of one liners-
WHAT MATTERS?
The Economy -------
Your Job Loss ------
Education for your children ----------
Affording College ----
Quality Health Care that is affordable--
Declining US Dollar---
Our standing in the world---
And the ad ends with Barack Obama staring into the camera and the LARGE words on the screen---
ENOUGH
As Obama says:
"I am Barack Obama and I approved this ad because for 20 months we have been having a conversation with the American people about changing the way this country is governed. The American people will not be fooled - again. We have had enough."
"Its twilight for America, and your government has failed you.
We sleep at night with the Republican fable of
peace at home for any price.
But 9-11 showed us how we can no longer ignore our effect on
the rest of the world.
Foreign countries have given us up for the fellowship of
more reasonable, responsible nations.
The economy is dominated by war profiteers.
The American empire is failing, and has spread
aggression, poverty, and death.
We can do something to restore reality
to the illusion of the America we love.
Vote the Republicans out, vote Obama/Bide
YES, THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE. We need to change the language. Instead of cowering when they throw the "L" word, we need to redefine the "C" (Conservative) word. The conservatives have had complete control of our government for almost 8 years. Conservatism has failed in Iraq, Conservatism has failed in Pakistan, failed in New Orleans, failed our economy, failed our national debt, failed our military, failed our ecology, failed our working families, failed honesty in government, failed our excercise of democracy, failed our relationship with the nations of the world - conservatism has failed, failed, failed. Conservatism is a failed philosophy of government and we need and deserve change. It has sprouted the most corrupt government in US history. This theme can and should be developed ad infinitum. This theme must be repeated and repeated until it becomes an article of faith to every voter.
What a great post! I hope you won't mind if I copy this and memorize it and use it when my "conservative" (I prefer the term "radical wingnut") acquaintances start going off about liberals and their "failed" policies.
First Obama gets slammed for offering only narrative and no substance. Then he gets slammed for focusing too much on the issues and not painting the big picture. Either way, he'll be slammed. Who cares? Different voters want different things. None of this criticism matters one bit. What matters is which candidate gets out the vote.
Obama is doing it all: he's painting the big picture, he's inspiring people to care and to get involved, and he's demonstrated time and again a solid mastery of the issues. He also has tremendous organizing skills and is recruiting armies of volunteers to register new voters and to make sure they show up.
Bottom line: if you want him to win, what are you doing about it?
http://my.
I kind of recognize some of this in what McCain attempted in his failed speech...t
But PLEASE work hard and donate to Obama. I liked the article on HuffPost about the oddsmakers showing Obama winning with 2/1 odds. Screw the polls. And, consider the source. We have very, very misinformed people who vote on the wrong facts. Liars succeed in the Republican party, but until people recognize it....I wish there was a way to charge the $10 trillion deficit directly to those who voted for Bush in 2000, again in 2004, and now support McCain. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" but a closed mind is a terrible thing to impose on other people.
This time around, having nothing more to run on but their own abysmal record of the last 8 years, the Republicans have resorted to their usual fear-mongering. They tell us that John McCain, because he spent 5 years in a POW camp, will be able to defend us from all the terrorists whom they assure us, are just lurking in the national woodwork, waiting to jump out and strike. To this limited message in this time of economic crisis, he adds the Sarah Sideshow to attract the same right-wing evangelicals who helped propel the inebriated cowboy to POTUS. Add Americas constant problem with racism to that list and you've got your reasons why Obama is not doing better in the polls.
The far the biggest contributor to Republican success is the huge numbers of eligible voters, so turned-off and apathetic that they never vote. If Obama has mobilized this legion of people, whom no one ever bothers to poll, he could well pull off a victory in November.
So America is a "wet diaper" country? That explains a lot.
Republican sophistry and Democratic obsiquiousness are poised ,once again to deliver us into the hands of defeat. Yes, I agree ,that in the end , we will get the government we deserve .I still have some hope, but I fear that that the current polity will continue its oppressive oligarchy and we will march ever onward , in serried rows of sheeple towards Fascism.
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