Hillary's 3:00 A.M. Commercial And Response

HILLARY'S "IT'S 3:00 AM" Commercial --More Thoughts

Those outside of Hillary Clinton's camp expressed outrage the other day at her "It's 3:00 AM" commercial with its punchline of the phone ringing in the White House. The ad ends asking the viewer, who (sic) do we want to answer the White House phone in an emergency at 3:00 AM?

Am I the only one who thinks that conjuring up an image of Bill and Hillary Clinton in bed in the White House is not going to be something to make people run out and vote for her?

Barack Obama quickly retaliated with a response ad. The purpose of the Obama's ad was to say that he would be the better person to be answering the White House phone in the middle of the night.

That was one way to go with it. However, a more powerful response may have been for the Obama people to imagine what it might be like if Clinton became President and that White House phone rang at 3:00 A.M. I imagined the scene might go something like this:

We see a darkened bedroom in the White House, and the alarm clock reads 3:00 A.M. Suddenly, the International Life and Death Crisis Hotline Phone Rings. After a couple of rings, we see and hear Hillary in bed:

HILLARY
Could you get that, Bill? I'm really
tired.

BILL DOESN'T ANSWER, AND THE PHONE CONTINUES TO RING

HILLARY
Bill!

HILLARY TURNS ON THE LIGHT, REVEALING THAT BILL IS NOT IN BED. THE PHONE KEEPS RINGING.

HILLARY
(calling out)
BILL!

STILL NO REPLY

HILLARY
(calling louder)
BILL! It's three in the morning. Where are
you?

THE PHONE KEEPS RINGING. A CONCERNED HILLARY GETS OUT OF BED, PUTS ON HER FlANNEL ROBE, AND RUSHES OUT OF THE ROOM CALLING OUT:

HILLARY
Bill, what are you up to at this time of night?
Bill! Bill! Bill!

WE SEE A CLOSE-UP OF THE PHONE CONTINUING TO RING UNANSWERED AS HILLARY GOES TO FIND HER HUSBAND.

Hey, it was Hillary and her people's fault. They're the ones who brought the image to mind.

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Comments

[BeeOplentee]

Well, it could also be that *she* was in the Oval Office with that handsome young aide and needed to get his blue suit dry cleaned asap. That's why she was up at 3AM, hair mussed and dressed.

[raptor]

"This is the White House. How may I direct your call?"
Or
"You have reached the White House. Press 1 for English, press 2 for any Continental Euopean language, press 3 for Russian, press 4 for Farsi...."

[Countess]

She is so limited in what she can do because she has nothing positive to offer people. Her entire campaign is directed at the worst instincts of people.

[darker]

What a bunch of STUPID GOSSIP!
The NANNY STATE FOR THE RICH & "corporate welfare queens" OWNS AMERICAN MEDIA.

THEY allow Bush-Cheney's high crimes, unaccoutability, irresponsi­bility--on THEIR behalf.

You want THEM back in NOVEMBER??

Get used to being screwed in the America of the NANNY STATE FOR THE RICH because you keep bitchin' and voting for them one way or another.

Either you VOTE THEM OUT as soon as possible or shut up & put up & watch you and your family crash into an ash heap because you'll have no money, security and no rights whatsoever.
GROW UP, already. Republicans are DESPERATE for you to keep bashing H.Clinton; BECAUSE she's the only one who can beat them up. Don't count on Obama to do that job.

[DemandTruth]

Please. You're kidding, right? Clinton talks a good game, but she won't fight ANY of them. Why should she? She's WITH them. Hell, she IS them! Taken a good look at who her biggest donors are lately? Lobbyists. Special Interests. Big Business. Big Defense (MIC). Exactly those people you're railing against above. She won't fight them because she'll owe them for the presidency. She's been wheeling and dealing with them since the 90's! Duh. Wake up!

[Clinton]

HRC is going down. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing".

[BitJam]

It's poetic justice that the Obama team showed with their actions what Clinton's team could not show with their words. Obama had a response ad on the airwaves in mere HOURS.

This dynamic has played out at least twice before: in South Carolina and then again in Wisconsin. The Obama responses were magically fast. I think Clinton's ads would have been effective if they had aired for several days without a response but when voters see the Clinton attack and the Obama response contemporaneously, it seems to work in Obama's favor. He exceeded the poll predictions by double digits in both states.

I'm tempted to say that this is like a chess game and Obama is thinking three moves ahead of Clinton, but the real problem for the Clinton campaign is that they're approaching a 21st century contest with a 1990's mentality. In the 1990's it might have taken a couple of days to produce and distribute a response ad but nowadays it only takes hours. It's like watching a horse and buggy trying to race an automobile, or dial-up versus broadband.

[Clinton]

The cheap shots HRC keeps lobbing at Obama are the reason the responses are so fast.
It's disappointing how lacking the criticisms are, because then Obama would have to think of something really good. As it is, HRC is all too easily dismissed. Still, some of the comebacks are funny, as when one person suggested the phone call was from a lobbyist.

[Thatcher]

I know everyone is talking about Clinton's ad and showing it is a derivative of the 1984 Mondale ad and then people comparing it to the "Daisy" ad. However, I was doing some searching and found this:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid791837069/bclid769433129/bctid1438426856

Which is the original 1964 "Telephone Hotline" ad of LBJ's ...

"This particular phone only rings in a serious crisis. Keep it in the hands of a man who's proven himself responsible. Vote for President Johnson on November 3."

[unitron]

My first thought when I heard about this spot was an opposition take-off where the phone call is followed by the sound of Bill and Hillary's voices squabbling over who gets to take the call.

[MaineMike]

... and once the call is answered it turns out to be a stray robo-call from the Clinton campaign asking for her support.

[MPeter]

She is wearing make-up at 3.00 am and making crank calls to wake people up. She like Tom Ridge. First scare them then run to the rescue. We have seen Bush use that tactic. We will not fall fall this foolish Rovian nonsense; not after we saw you wave fliers and screaming like Leona Hemsley...shame on you...shame on you. You are a power hungry Queen of Mean.

[ALIMO]

Wearing make-up and her yellow pant suit at 3:00AM and where is Bill at this time of night-in the oval office. This was an ad of desparation I must say.

[Clinton]

They're really like firemen with part time jobs as arsonists. First they start the fire, then they put it out, then they call themselves heroes.