Posted on behalf of Tom Keith:
As a liberal, my initial reaction to the selection of Sarah Palin was one of belittlement and condescension. Did the GOP really think that Hillary Clinton supporters were either stupid enough or bitter enough to vote against the core of their beliefs because of a vice presidential nominees gender? Surely their Rove era arrogance had not reached this point.
Sadly I was wrong about McCain and the GOP. They were not gunning for Hillary Clinton supporters. They were taking sharp aim at the conservative base and in the process hijacking the political narrative of “Only in America” from the Obamas.
The fact is, in the world of political media and image making a young, attractive female governor with hard right values and an intriguing family narrative is something possible of igniting conservatives for the first time in this race. And in an all telling twist her teenage daughter is pregnant.
One would rightly assume that the liberal media would be frantic trying to get a hold of a story about an illegitimate pregnancy in the campaign. The McCain camp counted on this and used it to jab Obama on claims he wasn’t keeping his promise to deliver a new kind of politics. Obama and Biden both released very pleasant statements regarding how families should not fall victim to the magnifying glass of election season.
So in essence on a kitchen table level McCain has literally done the impossible. He has stolen the conversation from Barack Obama who might be the most compelling candidate since John F. Kennedy. In both of my political science classes the discussion was Palin and that is why McCain picked her, she gives him buzz which he could not produce to save his life.
Now with the polls split almost dead even, Palin has served as a GOP political wrecking ball, changing the game literally. Obama is now back on his heels for the first time. For the next 60 days the battle for political narrative, media image, and simple hype will be escalated to epic battle. Obama will be waiting for the moment Palin’s story begins to bore us so he can take back the conversation. But if she continues to provide news, personal or political, it might become more difficult than he thinks.
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7 comments:
Sarah Palin has taken over the spotlight from Obama after the DNC, as John McCain intended with the timing of his announcement. Also, McCain's announcement kept his birthday out of the spotlight as well. The last thing he needed was to draw anymore attention to the fact that he's a member of the AARP club. As was already said, McCain has stolen the conversation away from Barack Obama with the introduction of Sarah Palin. What is interesting, however, that there is really no response/attacks on Palin from the Obama campaign. As Waterman states, rival politicians (in this case, Obama) need to influence how the public perceives and judges the president/vice president and have a great incentive to portray them in some not so flattering terms (127). But where is Obama? I have not heard in the media any of Obama's attacks on Palin. Is he not making any because he is afraid that attacking someone who has become the nation's darling overnight would badly affect his popularity? It might. Especially from a candidate who promised to make changes to the general negativity of the political campaign. Even if Obama has made any attacks against Palin, he hasn't said them loud enough for the media to hear it. Obama seems to be relying on the Democratic Party in general to sound off attacks against Palin for him. He wouldn't want to hurt his image by doing it himself. Biden also has a reputation for being a bulldog of sorts, so perhaps Obama will rely on Biden to put Palin on the defensive. The vice presidential debates are certainly going to be interesting.
An overwhelming and constant theme in this week’s reading was that of the politician as a celebrity, in terms of coverage, behavior, lifestyle, and image. With the selection of Palin and her interesting, to say the least, speech last week image has become such a major factor. As explained in “The Image is Everything Presidency” that we read this week, image really is well-everything. At the part in the readings when they discuss the imperativeness of good, and CAREFUL public speaking, I finished watching her speech feeling as though she went a little bit, no actually way too overboard in her attacks. I wonder how a woman in her situation can attack so freely and wholeheartedly and make fun of community organizers when she in fact, is one of them. I left thinking that they need to focus less on attacks, and stop focusing ALL their attention into McCain being a Maverick and a war-hero . . and more on what he can do in the FUTURE, NOW, not in the past. With all comments and conclusions drawn from Palin’s recent controversies, I feel that Obama’s camp has done a superb job in focusing on the issues at hand and not on personal attacks. So, why did she so vehemently and personally attack Obama? We get it, McCain is a war hero – now what are YOU going to do Palin? Other than contradict yourself.
I was shocked to see that McCain is now ahead in the polls. I find it hard to put my finger on just what it was that was done, or said that made Americans change their minds. I think Obama has his work cut out for him. With his momentum from the DNC dying down – we have to keep a close eye and open mind on the debates. I need to see more from Obama, other than just the hype.
I also find it SO interesting that throughout the process Obamas theme has been "Change" and then, how many times McCain and Palin have started using the term - it just wasn't there before!
I just hope Palin settles back a little bit, and loosens her “pitbull image”. We get that you’re a woman, we get that you are qualified, we see that your dynamic – but we want to se more from YOU, and how you will help McCain win, and what you will do when he does win. We don’t want to hear about the past. The gender boundaries and roles are so hard to comment on, but I think she is coming off A LITTLE bit too strong, too soon.
It is sad that the GOP did believe that they would be able to sway the voters with the appointing of Sara Palin, however they have done a very good job at stealing the spotlight away from Obama after the DNC.
Palin is exactly the type of person that many people were looking for to run their country, she is a mother who also has very strong ideals and knows how to balance work and home life. There are many families in this country who struggle with those same issues. I am in no way endorsing or supporting Sara Palin, but I do believe that what McCain did was a bold and intelligent choice.
By bringing Bristol's pregnancy into the picture, it is doing nothing but help her campaign, but having Palin in the spotlight for as much as possible it is allowing the country to see how she is as a mother and how she can handle these such situations. It is obvious that the Palin's are not the only family in America going through something like this at this very moment, but the fact that it is so public and they are taking it all in stride is helping the GOPs campaign. It is like the saying "all press is good press", there are things that could potentially turn this into bad press, however at the moment it is all being used in a very good way.
I agree with Thomas in saying that McCain has done the impossible by stealing the press away from Obama, who is a very compelling candidate, but because McCain appointed a woman as his VP choice, he is slowly but surely bringing the election back to the debate of a black man or a woman.
By announcing the news of Sarah Palin at the time the Republicans did was a very strategic move. It took away the buzz that would have been surrounding Barack Obama's speech.
I do not personally beleive that McCain chose Sarah Palin because she is a woman. I beleive that John McCain chose Sarah Palin because she could help this country and contribute her experience. For the democrates to say that Palin is inexperienced would not be a good move because that can and is easily said about Barack Obama.
After the announcement was made regarding Palin the media went into a frenzy. She is currently on the cover of the new People magazine discussing her family struggles. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20223201,00.html. For anyone to say that Barack Obama is becoming a celebrity could now also be said about Sarah Palin.
Celebrity status aside it is now time for the candidates to get down to business. Show us citizens what you will really be able to do for this country. And please be pratical because we are not stupid (for the most part) and can identify false promises. The better the debates are the more positive media coverage that that particular candidate will receive.
I think that the election of a woman candidate for office should be a celebration in the eyes of most women in the country, despite ones political party because it means that we are evolving as a country. That being said, it was very calculated and almost sneaky what McCain did.
I think that had Palin's name been mentioned in the past, perhaps a couple of months ago, just as Obama's campaign was really heating up, there would have been a lot of buzz around it, just as there is now. However, I think that some of the buzz would have died down a little as the months went on so that if we were at this date today, the Obama and McCain campaign would be viewed strictly as the Obama and McCain campaign and not as the Sarah Palin show which it has become. Timing is everything and McCain's party knew that by announcing a woman candidate for VP so close to the election would cause quite a stir, and Republicans would say, right at the appropriate time.
I think the media needs to start focusing less on Palin's personal life and more on the election, as it previously did two months ago.
I think I agree with lea here.
I don’t see what the big deal is about this Sarah Palin character. Ok so she’s a mom of five. Good. She doesn’t have a whole lot of experience in politics game. Great! She was hardly ever heard of by anyone in the states until recently. Big deal!
I just don’t understand why this woman has excited the media as much as she has. If everyone would just take a deep breath and focus on the politics of the situation instead of Palin’s personal life I think all of us at home would get a clearer picture of this political race and the candidates behind it.
Not that I have a strong opinion about Palin either way. I just think that it’s strange Obama and Mccain have escaped all criticism when they have plenty of (political) flaws of their own…
For instance, Mccain could die tomorrow and Obama has a family of his own to deal with. It’s almost as if no one really gives a hoot about the actual campaign or what any of the candidates are saying. Our news media would rather report on the kind of stuff you see in the tabloids than putting out actual news.
WOW. what a shame. I find this kind of stuff pretty depressing.
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