Anatomy of an Obama Photo Op
The following piece was produced by HuffPost's OffTheBus.
Obama's Nevada staff pulled off a brilliant little piece of communications magic to keep the Oprah bounce aloft one more day here. As someone who's almost never been around the communications side of campaigns, I was fascinated to watch the process unfold from the event to the nightly news.
A little past noon, right before a closed meeting with student organizers, Obama's staff had him sit down in front of local TV cameras to discuss Social Security with six hand-picked supporters who were mostly in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
Before the event, I watched as the local press dutifully and unenthusiastically set up their cameras and waited for Barack's arrival. These people are amazing: out of 280 million Americans, these reporters and camera people have to be the least excited about the presidential campaign. They had, "I'm so over this" written all over their faces.
In just a few minutes, the room was transformed essentially into a TV set. The cameras faced one simulated reality (maybe of a work room at a policy think tank); and Barack, from his chair on the set, would face another reality: the cynical, bored reporters and camera people who would present his visit to the people of Nevada.
During the event itself, I was thinking, "This is a wash." But that just shows how little I know about the game of communications and the way illusion and truth are conveyed from photo op to television.
Barack seemed almost as unenthusiastic as the camera people. The back and forth between the six supporters and Barack could not have been slower or more low key. I caught at least one of the supporters' eyelids drooping from time to time. Barack asked each person individually about their family financial situation and what was on their mind regarding social security.
I was trained by the people from the same school of organizing that Obama came out of, and so I immediately recognized what he was doing: it was a community organizing meeting, and he was beginning with the standard first step of "listen to their issues."
Each person discussed their trials and tribulations. And after each one spoke, Barack would say, "Well, under my plan..." and spell out a whole bunch of details that I could not follow, and which I doubt any of the supporters could either.
I was having all kinds of conflicting emotions. As a former community organizer myself, I wanted Barack to stop going on about his plan (exactly the wrong thing to do if this were an organizing meeting) and instead to lay out an organizing plan in which we, the American people, could actually fix the problems these folks were brining up.
We all know that "plans" to fix problems as big as health care (which kept coming up) can only work if millions of people fight like hell to make them work. Obama should have been asking these people, "How hard are you going to fight with me once I'm elected?" and "Here's how that fight is going to go..." Not, "Well, in my plan..." Didn't Kerry lose because every sentence he ever said started with those words?
Also, maybe he was just tired from all that Oprah maddness of the past two days, but he really seemed down -- literally plodding along through all his multi-point plans as if not even he cared.
So, as I sat there next to an almost-snoring reporter, I was really feeling like I knew better than the staff behind this operation -- and all the Obama handlers.
But then, when I got home, and turned on the TV, I had to admit I was wrong.
It was the top story on the news, and the low-key policy discussion was the perfect complement to the Oprah madness stuff which (duh!) dominated the story. There was footage of throngs of South Carolina supporters, young people singing and dancing, Michelle and Oprah goofing around at the podium, musicians, etc... And then, just when John-Q-65-year-old-voter watching at home was about to turn off, then up pops Obama droning on very seriously about Social Security and health care.
The TV news piece couldn't have been better for Obama. They repeated his policy talking points about a payroll tax on the wealthy to pay for Social Security and reported that the supporters present said they liked Obama not because of his policies but because, "he is the most trustworthy" of all the candidates. One of the supporters, from the post-interview events afterwards, was shown saying, "I used to support Hillary, really, I did."
In the post-event interviews with the reporters, everything the supporters said was great. But they didn't come off as overly-prepped or to be trying to stick to any talking points. I think the campaign just did a really good job picking sincere, personable Obama supporters. And despite his deadly policy wonking, Barack really did listen to these folks. He listened to them intently, patiently and sincerely, as any good community organizer would.
All in all, the Obama campaign's comms people hit it out of the park with this visit by getting a really solid news story to keep the "O-mentum" going. Let's just hope for his campaign's sake that he was a little more rousing with those student organizers that he met with later.
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ANGHIARI
Wow, read all your letters posted. You're one angry person with an ego that makes Karl Rove seem humble. Please do run for president and show us your brillance and your face. The irony here, we probably know each other -- I spent more than 40 years in politics, left Capitol Hill and happily retired with my heart and soul in tact with no axe to grind.
Obviously, you are a republican and after reading your letters you don't seem to stand for anything, except constant negativity and sarcasm. Blow the chip off. Run a marathon or something. Happy Holidays!
Interestingly enough Obama is the only candidate who met me with me in a non staged event. He just listened too. I bet there is even more going on with him than the media and other campaigns know. I agree that he can really hit it out of the park. Plans come and plans go but brilliant campaigners stick with people. He's going to take a big chunk in the caucus and if it is bad weather, take even more as he has the youth vote in the bag.
This piece indicates how far away from any form of honesty or forthrightness the modern political mass communications game has gone to make real truth also gone.
This author and Obama seem to feel that staged events such as this, making an essential lie out of the truth so as to appear all sweet and nice for the masses, do not mean that Hitler's sidekick's maxim that telling a lie often enough will make it the truth to the masses.
Thereby they make asses out of the masses.
It is time to remind ... Oprah pushed "The Spirit" As far as I know, there are only about 12 people who believe. According to her "passion" The Spirit is the only way to live your life. Do you suppose Obama is her next big fantasy push? Or is she out of her orbit in politics. She is a great speaker, but so was Joe McCarthy.
MY GRANDMOTHER WAS LEFT WITH FIVE CHILDREN WHEN MY GRANDFATHER DIED AT 42...HE HAD BEEN A CPA AND MADE GOOD MONEY IN THE EARLY 1900'S.. SHE DIED A FEW YEARS LATER FROM WHAT THEY CALLED DROPSY AT 42. THE YOUNGEST TWO BOYS HAD TO BE PUT INTO AN ORPHANAGE. BEFORE THAT MY MOM WENT TO WORK AT 14 TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY AS HER SISTER RAN AWAY AND MARRIED AND HER BROTHER RAN AWAY FROM HOME. THEY LOST THEIR 3 STORY HOME IN ELMHURST, NY, HAD TO MOVE INTO A HOUSE WITH NO RUNNING WATER OR BATHROOM AND MY MOM HAD TO LEAVE SCHOOL. THEY ENDED UP POOR AND WITH LITTLE. IF THERE HAD BEEN SOCIAL SECURITY, THEY BOYS WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO BE PUT IN AN INSTITUTION, MY GRANDMOTHER COULD HAVE HAD ADEQUATE MEDICAL ATTENTION AND ALL THE CHILDREN WOULD HAVE HAD AN EDUCATION. THOSE WHO BASH SS ARE FULL OF CRAP UP TO THEIR EARS AND IGNORANT!!
IMO, Obama is done as a serious candidate.
Oprah, well she still is Oprah, she believes in that big head of hers that it's all about her. Pathetic.
How can someone why don't have Social Security for his golden years, know or care about it? It has been congresses favorite money pit for years, and us "Boomers" already know that our children will just read about it and not know what it was.Is that why congress started their own plan? So they could pillage it? Just another way congress pays back its loyal benefactors. Watch your back for a knife! Like Health Care, they have theirs so why care about us? Could we get 1 candidate to answer some unscripted Questions about what matters to us???
A Caucus or a Soap Oprah?
Personal conviction, Oprah claims, is why she supports Barack Obama.
But will that, one can only wonder, play in Alabama?
Is that the same conviction that led her to praise as a smash
a book that can only be described as trash.
A Million Little Pieces was a total fraud
Yet Oprah did not hesitate it to applaud.
She also plugged a book by the wife of a famous star
though its resemblance to another one is truly bizarre.
It did, of course, backed by Oprah’s clout,
sell like the hottest of cakes, as if that was ever in doubt.
How could a grateful author show appreciation?
To a charity, perhaps, make a donation?
No, the wife in question, thankful for the interview,
gave Oprah a $20,000 gift with a twist that was new.
Presented were 21 pairs of designer shoes
of the latest fashion and in many hues.
What words can best such a gift describe?
A lubricant, a payoff or perhaps a bribe?
No matter, Oprah is now on the campaign trail
hoping that with voters she will prevail.
Because Obama presents himself as being black not white
the family that raised him is never in sight.
That is one thing that many find perplexing
as his canditorial qualifications he keeps projecting.
His black father abandoned him when he was just a tot
still tossing about in his baby cot.
Though he never even got to see his little boy play
not a word of reproach is Obama heard to say.
So what hope does a candidate have who is half black and half white?
Will black voters consider him a shade too light?
Will the white think it is a pity he is less than pallid
so they could consider his appeal to be a bit more valid?
Meanwhile with Oprah he will continue to campaign
hoping that sufficient support he will be able to gain..
If he succeeds then Democratic voters can proudly boast
that their nominee was chosen by a talk show host.
Thank God that the Panel WAS hand-picked! Just think how that meeting would have looked if Barack was illustrating his social security plan to say...Sylvester Stallone?...Bill Gates?...a Kindergarten Class? Might have looked a little "Hokey", don't you think? If they had styled this like Jay Leno's "On The Street" segments, do you think the questions and answers he dealt with on a specific topic would have stayed on topic?
Yes, the Obama Campaign Staffs are savvy, but not out of line in any manner! As a viewer that is middle-aged, the Social Security Issues are not my top priority Campaign Issue, but gathering a fuller understanding of both, the Presidential Candidate's perspectives and plans, and a specifically affected Group really gives me insights and perspectives on the overall issue, and helps me decide not only on my choice of President, but also how my future financial-based personal plans will lay out. On this basis, this Campaign Strategy works for me. I'm a Barack Obama Supporter, and have also studied other Candidates' Social Security Plans, and find Obama's as the plan that makes the most sense for me and my Family.
***Obama's staff had him sit down in front of local TV cameras to discuss Social Security with six hand-picked supporters who were mostly in their 40s, 50s and 60s.***
Wow. Wasn't he worried that being in the same room with six baby-boomers would turn him into a turnip, or a platypus?
This is the most naive feature I have ever read. All political events are staged to some degree. You think this is promotion genius? What was all the screaming about when a Clinton staffer planted a question with a college student in Iowa. Huge double standard on the part of the media. That tactic is commonplace from every town council election to the presidential. He and his handlers are no more "honest" than anyone else running. If Obama can rise up in Chicago politics, one of the dirtiest political spots in America, he is no innocent. It is politics, they all play to win.
As for the Oprah blitz ... she is the Obama snakeoil factor. After a weekend of madness and hype, Obama is no more experienced to be president than he was last week. Beware America ... don't nominate a rookie. The Republican machine will eat him alive. They know no equal when it comes to opposition assasination. The difference between Clinton and Obama when it comes to who is electible ... Clinton has been through two gubernatorial campaigns, two presidential campaigns and two senate campaigns, Obama has been through ONE senate campaign. Their policies put forth are very similar. Their experience is not. So if you want a Republican president, go Obama, if you want a Democrat in the White House, go Clinton.
It disturbs me somewhat that Obama feels he must hand-pick participants in campaign videos, but I can see why it is necessary to make the best use of time and money. I find him to be a uniter and an extremely brilliant man who will be able to handle the job as president, which is why I support him with money and my vote.
I watched Oprah at Obama's rally in Iowa and south Carolina but I haven't seen any reporting on her "language". It seems to me that her speeches were in the style of her race. I have nothing against Oprah but when Hillary spoke to a group of Southerners a while ago there were many comments about her speaking style. Any of the Democrats would be better than any of the Republicans.
The prospect of having Barack Obama as president is one in which the USA may finally be recognized as a truly "democratic" nation. A country which actually does believe that "All men are created equal." A republic that recognizes the potential of a leader sprung from the most unlikely of backgrounds. One hears the voice of historical bigotry when Obama is labeled a "Muslim" or "Islamist" instead of the naturally preferred "N" word. The potential for actual "change" in the DC Beltway manner of doing things with the election of this man might just be realized. The Democratic Majority elected in 2006 has been highly resistant to any change of course and has done little to rebuff the administration. Perhaps, just perhaps, with the election of Obama, they may be finbally able to see the errors of their ways.
Oprah has transcended race, particularly among the 55 year and older demographic of white American women, an almost natural constituency for Hillary Clinton. Her backing of Obama is being used to influence those women who are under her spell. No individual rises to her level of wealth and influence without a strength of character and will. She and Obama know exactly what they are doing in trotting her out on the campaign trail, as she attracts crowds of potential primary votes for her candidate of choice.
OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN PEOPLE CHOSE "HANDPICKED PEOPLE" TO ASK QUESTIONS??? GEE, SOUNDS JUST LIKE BUSH DOES EACH AND EVERY TIME HE SPEAKS TO THE PUBLIC..ONLY IT'S NOT THE PUBLIC...IT'S ESPECIALLY CHOSEN STAUNCH REPUKE/BUSH SUPPORTERS...TO ASK QUESTIONS AND WHATEVER!! NOW, DO WE WANT A REPEAT PREFORMANCE OF THE LAST ALMOST 8 YEARS?? NO NO NO....NO MINIPULATION WITH QUESTIONS OR AUDIANCES PLEASE!!!
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