There was a reported 16,000 at the UW Kohl Center to hear Barack Obama speak Tuesday night.
Image is not everything in politics. But it's pretty important. Here are some images following Tuesday's Potomac Primaries. Followed by what would sure to be a substantive policy debate between the two now leading front-runners, Barack Obama and John McCain.
First the visual of the victory speeches. Obama spoke before repotedly the largest crowd ever at the University of Wisconsin Kohl Center. The Washington Post called the candidate "ebullient," and his college crowd "ecstatic."
Read more and view the speech here:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/12/ebulient_obama_rallies_in_madi.html
At 46 on election day, if Obama were to get the nomination to run against 72-year-old John McCain, it would be the largest age difference (26 years) in presidential electoral history, accordng to NBC's Tim Russert.
Meanwhile, John McCain's image exudes experience. He was seen celebrating his victory here side-by-side with former Senate Armed Services Chair John Warner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHwTcOptSQM
Will the inturpreted image be experience, or what conservative commentator Pat Buchanan said, "They gotta change that. He was surrounded by old guys. It looked like, 'Grandpa wants more power.'"
Hillary Clinton moved to her firewall, Texas. She did not mention her three losses at all during her stump speech. With more changes in her campaign, what image becomes reality?
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/C48d
And then on Wednesday there came substance along with the sizzling images. Obama was at a GM auto plant in Wisconsin, where he proposed a $210 billion job creation plan. In announcing his plan, Obama pointedly did not include one of his biggest applause lines, that he would require vehicle manufacturers to raise fuel economy standards. Obama often points out that he delivered that message straight to the automakers during a speech last year in Detroit.
But he didn't mention it on the plant visit that came a day after GM reported the largest annual loss ever for an American automaker - $38.7 billion in 2007.
"I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday," Obama said. "I also know how much progress you've made, how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you're churning out. And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to retool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD8UPLPSO0
The Republican National Committee responded by launching the Obama Spend-O-Meter.
http://www.gop.com/News/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=2be4675a-89a2-49ce-a994-778dc92b9d19
Another image. Bill and Hillary circa 1970. Remember Bill smoked the wacky tabaccy (Dunkin Donuts drug?), but didn't inhale. Barack wrote that he briefly tried cocaine (Latte?) in college.
4 comments:
I have to say style is almost as important as substance. I certainly wish voters didn't prefer flash to dash, but that's human nature. During the 1960 election, Nixon's ideas were more popular, but Kennedy had more charisma. This is why radio listeners thought Nixon won the debates and TV viewers thought JFK won. More recently, in the 2004 race, Bush beat Kerry because Poser-JFK was not an engaging public speaker. You can have a marvelous speech and present very good ideas, but if you look like a robot, people are going to desert you. That's not to say you should try too hard to polish your image. Image can also backfire. All I have to say on that is Michael Dukakis in a tank. Enough said.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/atplay/sertest.jsp?id=atplay_presidenttest
ITs the which president are you most like game...
Song inspired by Barack Obama speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZHou18Cdk
Song inspired by John McCain:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs
Here's an on the ground-guest commentary from Waubonsie Valley grad, and AP government alumnus, Kelly Creech a student at UW-Madison and an intern for the Wisconsin Democratic Party:
"Wisconsin had a very active week last week before the Tuesday primaries. We hosted Obama at our Kohl Center- and I was one of the 17,000 people projected to be in the crowd. What you don't see behind the scenes of a rally, however, is the high security that happens before you can enter the building. The doors to the Kohl Center opened around 6 but most of us got there between 4:30-5:00 to wait in line in the subzero weather to attempt to get good seats after the doors opened. When the doors did open, we found out that there was no large bags allowed (which was a surprise for most college kids that had their backpacks with them, and many had come from Milwaukee to see Obama and did not have places to store them). They were adament, however, that there was no check point for bags and that large bags were a security risk for the candidate.
Pockets were also searched and the security guards also had to go through purses. This made entrance very slow into the Kohl Center and most of us ended up waiting outide for 3 or more hours.
I also attended the Founder's Day Gala were both Hilary and Obama were present to make speeches. I worked one of the rooms that the candidates were to enter, therefore the secret service was present. I found out that depending on the candidate there was to be different level of security. For example Obama had gun threats in the past so every person present in those rooms had to be wanded and have bags searched before entering the room. Hilary had bombs threats in the past, therefore after going past the general security in the front, you did not have to be wanded or have bags searched.
Overall, while going to any of these events security was high, almost like airport security, and it was interesting to see the role secret service played in these events.
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