Barack Obama's Infomercial: Closing The Deal?

On Wednesday evening, October 29th, Senator Obama chose to reach out to voters in the closing days of the General Election campaign in a relatively unprecedented way. The Obama Campaign made the decision to purchase 30 minutes worth of airtime on all the major networks with the exception of ABC, in addition to many major cable TV outlets. During this airtime an “infomercial” style film produced and geared towards the broad theme “American Stories, American Solutions” was presented.

After watching this professionally produced production, the Obama campaign’s intentions were made crystal clear. As a monumental piece to Senator Obama’s closing arguments to the American electorate, the intentions of the campaign were multifaceted. In one respect, from a fairly elementary perspective, by identifying four specific cases of American families struggling under the floundering United States financial crisis, Senator Obama has made an effort to hit home in the hearts and souls of blue collar voters, and, on a broader level, to strike a chord with Americans of all socioeconomic statuses. The families shown reflect a wide array of the heartbreaking and brutally trying conditions many blue collar Americans find themselves in.

By showcasing these four narratives Obama and his team strived to show American viewers that uplifting individuals and families like those featured will be a tremendous priority for his administration from the moment he is sworn into office. For instance, Obama chose to shine the spotlight on one white family in Missouri that is forced to meticulously ration snack foods. As depicted via authentic video footage, this family allots a specific area on a shelf in its refrigerator to each member of the family. The individuals are responsible for making sure their “snack food” lasts them the duration of the week. The mother in this family is shown watching her child at football practice in the brutal cold of the night while her husband works tirelessly at a job demanding physical labor despite a serious injury that cannot be surgically repaired due to high medical costs. Another situation highlighted pits an African American couple of retirees in Ohio struggling to afford high costs of medicine. To finance his wife’s medicine, the husband in this family is forced to take a job in Wal-Mart, despite being retired and of old age.

On a more visceral and emotional level however, with this ad, the Obama campaign was on a mission to “Americanize” the Senator and show American voters how beneath his multiple Ivy League degrees, scholarly demeanor, and flashy rhetoric lies a relatable family man who shares their values, worldview, and priorities at this critical point in history. In the production, time is allotted to mention of Obama’s upbringing, including how he was shaped by the guidance of his mother, and the lack of presence his deceased father had in his childhood. Senator Obama shared his mother’s story, the story of a woman “who struggled through her bout with breast cancer” (Rutenberg 2008). He also spoke of “the difficulty she had with her insurance company, to help viewers understand why his health care reform program is what it is” (Rutenberg 2008). This element of personal reflection on the part of the candidate was a tremendous asset to this program. It served the purpose of showing why the notion of healthcare reform to assist those in economic need as well as those who come to the negotiating table with devastating troubles such as preexisting conditions is something that he himself can not only sympathize with, but identify with and truly understand on a heart-to-heart level. In the same way that Senator Obama made himself relatable by telling his mother’s story, he featured his wife Michelle, albeit in a relatively limited role, to explain how he is a family man at heart, and holds nothing more dear to his soul than his two daughters and ensuring futures for them that are brighter and filled with more opportunity than the lives he and his wife have led.

While the focus of this telecast seemingly centers around campaigning to win over voters on emotional and visceral levels, the campaign was careful to also include praise and endorsement of the candidate from colleagues and outside observers who have watched him work both in and outside of the halls of Capitol Hill. Governors Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, both early and enthusiastic supporters of Obama’s provided praise of his ability to work towards tangible results despite the perceived culture of stagnant movement in Washington. Furthermore, Obama’s Vice-Presidential running mate, Senator Joe Biden testified as to how very soon upon entry into the United States Senate, a body notorious for the importance placed on seniority, Obama, a freshmen reached across party lines to work with Republican Richard Lugar, one of the most respected members of the GOP caucus on crucial and groundbreaking legislation pertaining to ethics and later foreign policy.

On the whole, while many critics, namely those close to the McCain campaign have criticized the notion of spending so massively on such a large block of airtime, and have questioned the motivations of the decision for other reasons, the amount of voters reached cannot be disputed. Statistical media analysis revealed that 33.7 million viewers tuned into the Obama Campaign’s half-hour media blitz, only about 5 million less than the viewership that watched Obama’s historic address to the Democratic National Convention on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” It is clear that this production was seen as important and historic in the eyes of many, as it even prompted the Fox Network to negotiate with Major League Baseball to postpone the start of a World Series game to accommodate Obama’s telecast. While the outcome of the election is obviously yet to be decided, it is difficult to imagine how the Obama campaign could be hurt by this cinematically brilliant display of emotion, promise, and strong narration.

By showcasing his own family, along with families of different races and economic circumstances in four different swing states, Obama and his team showed how this election is about ideas far bigger and more powerful than race or other issues that have traditionally been used as polarizing and divisive forces. Our country is in need of leadership that transcends race, class, gender, and other identifiers. Showing how all Americans can rally behind common causes and relate to each other, even if only in minor ways is the theme that will pervade Obama’s closing arguments to the American electorate.






For Further Reading:
Rutenberg, Jim. “Obama Infomerical, a Closing Argument to the Everyman.”
New York Times (29 October 2008): (accessed 29 October 2008).

THE FOLLOWING LINK LEADS TO THE ACTUAL AD DEVELOPED BY THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN AND AIRED ON NATIONAL TELEVISION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtREqAmLsoA

"It's the Economy, Stupid!"

To any observer who has been paying even a cursory amount of attention to the back-and-forth rhetoric between Senators Obama and McCain in the closing stages of this Presidential race, it is clear that economic concerns are trumping all others in the hearts and minds of voters. Concerns surrounding economic relief, financial security, and cost-of-living are specifically relevant to blue-collar, working and middle class voters. These are the voters who live and think paycheck to paycheck, many of whom are struggling to feed and clothe themselves and their families during this time of financial uncertainty. Senator Obama and the Democrats have set out to distance themselves from the economic policies, particularly the tax code that has characterized the Bush Administration, while simultaneously striving to inextricably link Senator McCain and his economic agenda as one in the same with those of President Bush. Conversely, Senator McCain has bluntly characterized Senator Obama’s economic platform as “socialistic,” and as a vehicle to blindly “spread the wealth” in America. The fact that this economic disaster of unprecedented and historic proportions has occurred under the watch of a Republican Presidential administration has opened the door for the Obama campaign to attempt to bring together a wide coalition of blue-collar voters feeling the pain of the financial crisis.

Ever since the primary season began, pundits and journalists throughout the country had predicted an “October Surprise” that would throw a curveball at the two major candidates and serve as a sort of turning point. While it appears that the experts were correct conceptually, at this point, the major turning point appears to have come during the latter weeks of the summer and September with the collapse of the economy and markets. The state of the economy has, in many respects, had a unifying effect on the American electorate, and has created tremendous opportunity for Obama. While at one point in time it appeared that this race could be defined by a struggle by Senator Obama to fight back against attacks on his inexperience in government, lack of foreign policy credentials, and, as put by Senator McCain, “naivety,” the economy has driven the debate. To be clear, this is the direction Senator McCain and the Republicans likely hoped and envisioned the race going in.

A poignant and telling example of the segments of the electorate the economic climate has served to unite was recently discussed in the Detroit Free Press. A number of voters in the Detroit and greater Michigan area were interviewed, and two of the voters profiled voiced support for Senator Obama. These two individuals, Vince Leonatti, a 76 year old who twice supported the candidacy of Ronald Reagan, and Roderick Smith, a 39 year old African American, both identified frustration with the Bush Administration, particularly in its handling of the economy as their primary reason for supporting Senator Obama. Leonatti put it very bluntly when he told the Free Press "I've had enough of Republicans for the past eight years," and referring to Obama as “fresh and intelligent.”

Despite the support Senator Obama is seemingly receiving from blue-collar voters who may not be traditional backers of Democratic candidates, and despite the norm of racial equality that we theoretically have in modern post-civil rights America, Senator Obama’s race, according to many Michigan voters, has been a factor of salience in the decision making process of voters. Mr. Leonatti openly stated, “A lot of people won’t vote for him because he’s black.” This idea was corroborated by numerous other interviews conducted for this same piece in the Free Press. Even in a state, Michigan, where Obama has gotten out to a comfortable lead in the polls, and the McCain campaign has halted additional spending and campaigning, racist sentiments still abound.

In response to the support for Senator Obama in Michigan, particularly from industrial workers and retired industrial and union workers such as Mr. Leonatti who worked for Ford Motor Company, Republican groups have launched advertisements in Macomb County setting out to try and link Obama to his former Minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright as well as a more locally significant figure, former Detroit Mayor and also an African American, Kwame Kilpatrick. The reality is that when there are white voters who are openly willing to admit that they feel that an African American might be deserving of the presidency in “100 years,” it brings into question much of the alleged progress we have made as a nation to be at the point where Senator Obama is widely looked at as the favorite to be the next occupant of the Oval Office.

In order to combat the racism, AFL-CIO union workers have been trained to “disarm prejudice” amongst fellow blue-collar voters during casual conversations. The issues, namely economic relief, are what should be dominating the discussion in the closing days and hours of this crucial election. That is what the Obama Campaign, and surrogates of all statures are trying to accomplish. Obama's closing arguments follow the theme that dominated Governor Clinton's successful 1992 campaign, "It's the economy stupid!" At this point, with current events as they are, Americans hardly need a candidate to tell them about the state of the economy.

For Further Reading:

Christoff, Chris. “Economy tops race for voters along 8 Mile.” Detroit Free Press (7 October 2008): <
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/NEWS15/810070356> (accessed 10 October 2008).