Obama's "The closing argument"-Infomercial

[jberryhill]

In my country a campaign usually lasts 3 weeks.

Oh, that's not nearly long enough to obsess over scanned copies of your birth certificate, compile lists of everyone who has ever lived near your house, and figure out what terrorist acts you committed when you were eight years old that you might be connected to.

Then, in the bonus round, we have to throw in someone nobody's ever heard of, and rummage through her walk-in skeleton closet.

 

[gdnp]

If you think this one is long; I hear the GOP is planning to start the 2012 campaign late next week.

Only the slackers. Sarah started 2 weeks ago. Didn't you notice?

 

[Undesired Walrus]

A horribly cheesy documentary. They should have brought in Errol Morris instead.

 

[Puppycow]

The O Show was a ratings hit

Preliminary numbers show close to 30 million viewers tuned in to Wednesday's half-hour special -- more than the programs usually scheduled for that time slot.

 

[zaphod2016]

The O Show was a ratings hit

Preliminary numbers show close to 30 million viewers tuned in to Wednesday's half-hour special -- more than the programs usually scheduled for that time slot.

From the Washington Post:

That's a couple million more than watched the "American Idol" finale in May, in which American voters crowned the Coroner Munchkin, a.k.a. David Cook, their new King of Made-for-TV Pop. And that finale was last season's most watched non-Super Bowl broadcast.

I find this simply amazing. I've heard it described as a "fireside chat of the 21st century". I'm totally in favor of direct communication from our (soon-to-be) elected officials, I just hope that if this does become a regular thing, they lay off the sappy stuff in the next episodes.

I think it's actually a good idea: "hello again America. Since the last time we chatted, this is what we've gotten done- point 1, 2, 3- and this is what we need to work on next...". I think this country is starved for leadership at this point- we'll take whatever we can get.

 

[Dragon]

Tired? Yes. But 3 weeks sounds foolishly short to me.

I can't speak for our Danish friends but the Parliamentary system we have in the UK means that the leading protagonists are already prominent on the national stage. When a Prime Minister calls an election we know that choice is between him (or her) and the Leader of the Opposition (ie the leader of the largest opposition party). They will both have been MPs for some years and been through a selection process by their parties. There are no such things as Primaries in a Parliamentary system.

Plus, the calling of an election is rarely a complete surprise - the governing party will have been put on notice by the leadership and have begun preparations for the election thereby alerting the media and the opposition. So the campaign proper may only be 3 or 4 weeks but the parties and the media will have been already gearing up for some weeks before.

 

[ImaginalDisc]

I find this simply amazing. I've heard it described as a "fireside chat of the 21st century". I'm totally in favor of direct communication from our (soon-to-be) elected officials, I just hope that if this does become a regular thing, they lay off the sappy stuff in the next episodes.

I think it's actually a good idea: "hello again America. Since the last time we chatted, this is what we've gotten done- point 1, 2, 3- and this is what we need to work on next...". I think this country is starved for leadership at this point- we'll take whatever we can get.

That would be amazing; a President who talks to us.

 

[rdaneel]

From the Washington Post:



I find this simply amazing. I've heard it described as a "fireside chat of the 21st century". I'm totally in favor of direct communication from our (soon-to-be) elected officials, I just hope that if this does become a regular thing, they lay off the sappy stuff in the next episodes.

I think it's actually a good idea: "hello again America. Since the last time we chatted, this is what we've gotten done- point 1, 2, 3- and this is what we need to work on next...". I think this country is starved for leadership at this point- we'll take whatever we can get.

Maybe he'll start a fireside blog.

 

[gdnp]

I find this simply amazing. I've heard it described as a "fireside chat of the 21st century". I'm totally in favor of direct communication from our (soon-to-be) elected officials, I just hope that if this does become a regular thing, they lay off the sappy stuff in the next episodes.

I think it's actually a good idea: "hello again America. Since the last time we chatted, this is what we've gotten done- point 1, 2, 3- and this is what we need to work on next...". I think this country is starved for leadership at this point- we'll take whatever we can get.

What ever happened to regular press conferences?

 

[BenBurch]

What ever happened to regular press conferences?

Those only happen with Presidents who are not Cowards...

So I expect them to resume pretty directly after January.

 

[Dragon]

Back on topic -

I've seen the infomercial and thought it pretty good. A bit cheesy in parts, perhaps, but he did drive home specific policy points. The clever thing IMHO was not mentioning McCain at all. I suppose you can afford to do that if you're significantly ahead in the polls.
I liked the cut to the live speech at the end - Obama really is a very good orator.
I reckon the Dems achieved what they wanted to with this - keep the base and decided voters enthused to GOTV, dominate another news cycle, demoralise the GOP and maybe sway a few undecideds as a bonus.

It's all but in the bag.

 

[CptColumbo]

Aren't you guys tired of the apparently endless campaign? In my country a campaign usually lasts 3 weeks.

"I'm CptColumbo, and I approve this message."

I just want to watch the occational TV show without seeing an ad with ominous music playing in the background.

 

[ZirconBlue]

Glad to hear I wasn't hallucinating this. Found an article from MSNBC where Obama's tax assignment discrepancies are discussed:



... But the table displayed below that statement, shows a tax increase of $121 for those making as low as $226,919 a year. That seems disingenuous to me.

I thought it was $200K for individuals, $250K for married couples?

 

[leftysergeant]

That would be amazing; a President who talks to us.

And we can understand what he is trying to say.

I thought it was one of the best campaign ads I have ever seen. He is not selling us the fairy tale of how well the nation would be doing if people just believed that the powers that be (the corporate board rooms) already kow how to fix what is wrong. His reliance on showing the suffering of working people, his referrence to the sacrifices of the WWII and Depression generation and what that generation built for us was a brilliant move.

He made the point that government and the people, not the corporations, made America what it was at its best.

 

[Cicero]

His reliance on showing the suffering of working people, his referrence to the sacrifices of the WWII and Depression generation and what that generation built for us was a brilliant move.

I thought Obama championed the non-working people who are suffering?

The WWII "generation" was not one generation, but several. Audie Murphy was not from the same generation of Jimmy Stewart who was not from the same generation of Doug MacArthur.

 

[leftysergeant]

I thought Obama championed the non-working people who are suffering?

In case you haven't noticed, a lot of the people who are not working now are not working because of the narrow-minded petty, self-serving, greedy actions of the people who got the biggest tax cuts under the current idiot-in-chief. Those freeloaders will soon lose a lot of their tax breaks so that we can start doing things in this country that will put people back to work. That is championing the working class.

Now, go over to the toilet, tip your head to one side with an ear over the bowl and smack yourself repeatedly until all that stuff about people who are not employed being lazy falls into the bowl and then flush it before it smells up the house.

 

[Lonewulf]

You mean the people who voluntarily donated money to the Obama for president campaign will be wondering why he didn't give the money to someone else rather than spend it on the Obama for president campaign?

Really?

OMG! He spent the money for what it was donated for!

HOW EVIL!

The true sign that Obama is the evil red communist socialist: He SPENDS MONEY.