1. Persuasive Campaign-
As every voter should know, there are two main parties in the United states that people chose to vote for; the Democrats and the Republicans.
Even though if you look at a list of all the political parties in the US, there is way more than two. What most people don't realize is that because we choose a president based on two political parties, we in effect, ensure that corporate andimperial power is able to continue to be a pronounced aspect of our nations policies. This observation isn't a new one.
In 1796 George Washington warned of problems created by the formation of political parties, but no one heeded his advice.
The Republican and Democratic parties control more than 95% of the federal and stat political offices in the US (outside of local elections). This makes it extremely difficult for an independent or third-party candidate to win.
On page 188 in Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics it says, "But it is really shocking that Obama would privilege personal and political advancement over what Gonzalez calls 'good decision making'? And what constitutes such decision-making, anyway". Political office holders are much more loyal to the party leaders than the people. The idea of the people being mad at them isnt as bad of the ida of being dumped by their party.
Barack Obama was loved by most of the country and treated every day more like a rock star than the soon to be President of the United States. "He had postured as a knight in shining armor who has come to restore America's lost promise and power by transcending the intense factional, personal, and ideological conflicts and corrupted loyalties that have soured Americans on their political system" (Street xxxiii).
2. Obama's Money Spent-
What would you do with $32 million? How would you go about fundraising that? How long do you think it would take you to do that? It took Barack Obama and his staff one month.
He made US political history when he announced he had raised $32 million in fundraising in the month of January alone- the biggest ever amount taken in such a short time.
"I found intimations of the idea that forms of media favor particular kids of content and therefore are capable of taking command of a culture... the media of communication available to a culture are dominate influence on the formation of the culture's intellectual and social preoccupations"(Postman 9).
The money that Obama raises will allow him to spend heavily on advertising, which is the most effective way to get his message out to a vast, geographically-spread electorate. The major influence that media, especially TV plays in social perspectives, is something that campaigns have been using for years, and Obama's campaign is no different.
The McCain campaign had lots of financial trouble and relied on public funding. Obama had a strong advantage over McCain because his plan to refuse public funding. His entire national campaign was supported with private funds. He was so successful in raising funds from private doners, even though most of them were small contributions of less tahn $200.
Last election Hillary Clinton brought in $27 million compared to Obama's $32.5 Million, and she never really recovered from it. Because of that, Obama has already started to fundraise for 2012. Lets see how much money he can rack up for this election, and will it effect the out come?
3. What's Black, Red, White, and Blue All Over?
If Barack Obama was to stand next to me, anyone, even if they were color blind, could tell that he is darker than me. Why? Because he is black!!!
I've heard people actually criticize Obama for being too white. They have said that he dresses nice, is clean cut, and very articulate.
Well thats AWESOME, those are characteristics I want my president to have! Why has this been a problem? Isn't this part of what helped Obama build a following in middle America? But now that he has come under the limelight, people are saying his is too white (money and education) and at the same time too black (not from West African Slave decent).
The TIME's article Is Obama Black Enough? sums it up well, "Back in the real world, Obama is married to a black woman, He goes to a black church. He worked with poor people on the South Side of Chicago, and he still lives there." Those are facts that show that he is a normal man, with a good heart, and is educated.
In Censored there is a quote about media's focus; "The only stories corporate media seem to love more than those with titillating sexual or violent details are stories in which such details are wedded to scandalous exploits of celebrities" (Censored 161). It is clear that when magazines such as TIME find it necessary to report on the color of a candidates skin and if he is portraying the stereotype "properly", that the corporate media really does care more about gossip than what is on a candidates mind. And that they are turning a candidate for presidency into a celebrity.
In the end, the color of his skin is what we consider to be black. But he is the President of the United States, so lets just call him black, red, white, and blue.
4. Obama Vs The Straw Man-
Anyone who has heard Obama give a speech can either love it, or get very frustrated about his rhetorical device. But do not forget he is NOT the first do use this. George W Bush was proficient at setting up a straw man when trying to argue for his policies.
Like Bush, Obama never calls out or single out his critics by name. For example, at a news conferences he says, "there are others who recognize that we've got to do a significant recovery package, but they're concerned about the mix of what's in there. And if they are sincere about it, then I'm happy to have conversations". In this case, he built it up to have two roads to choose, passing his plan, or do nothing. Even when the Senate was voting to approve his stimulus package, the president wags his finger at lawmakers whom he described as wanting to do nothing for those who are suffering the most.
Here is an article that talks about Obama trying to build himself up to be like Lincoln. By not only talking about how Lincoln is his favorite president, but comparing himself and what he intends to do to Lincoln, it changes the public's perspective of him. "Not only is Lincoln one of my political heroes," Obama said, "but like Lincoln, I served for seven years in Springfield in the state Senate, and it's there I learned how to legislate, it's there that I developed many of my political ideas." Really Mr President? Because you served for seven years in Springfield you believe you might be the next Abraham Lincoln, I find that really weird.
5. The Clean and Articulate Black Man-
Regardless of race, gender, or political affiliation, people listen to his speech stops thinking and are basically enchanted by him. But few understand why he has this effect on them.
I believe one of the reasons he gets criticized so much for not being black enough is because in his speeches not only does he sound educated, he shows off his rhetoric skills.
During the election I was lucky enough to see Obama speak in person on three occasions, and see Hillary speak once. There was an enormous difference! Obama always talks about being on a journey that is about more than just his tag lines, "hope" and "change". He says things like walking "together" down an "American road" and makes sure everyone realizes this country needs a lot of "hard work" that wont be "easy". Obama is great at comforting voters with a national narrative. He makes listeners want to look up to him the way people look up to Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.
"Show business is not entirely without an idea of excellence, but its main business is to please the crowd, and its principal instrument is artifice" (Postman 126). Obama now in office has to do more than make speeches and make his words become votes. He has to put his words in to action. He is becoming a very different president than he was when he was a candidate.
It is very impressive that Obama's rhetoric won him 90% of the black vote and 52% of the white vote in the Virginia primary. Most people cant remember what he said, but they have a good idea of what he means, and most of them love to listen to him talk.
6. "Hope" He Gave Us-
I'm not sure if I would say I had given up on the government because of the Bush administration, but his presidency really put a damper on the state of the nation.
When I hear the words "hope" and "change" I think of Obama's campaign (not his presidency) and the "iconic" poster of Obama being red white and blue staring off into space.Because of the words he used he gave a nation hope. He had the ability to inspire everyone, even if they wouldn't vote for him.
"I heard self-identified leftist activists describe Obama as a peace and justice candidate who wanted to end war and redistribute wealth. I was also told by Republicans that Obama was a democrat they could imagine voting for, precisely because he wasn't especially left-wing or liberal" (Streets xxvii).
By telling people what they wanted to hear, he was able to appeal to a wide range of people. He was more of a celebrity because he was new and young and inspiring. Because of Obama's rhetoric and use to uplifting techniques, people didn't take the time to question his promises the way they do with other candidates. And thats exactly what he is trying to do for the next election. Hope will be even more significant than change. He is started the change but he will need to get voter's trust back if he wants to win again.
7. Socially Networked Candidate-
The average college student has Twitter, Facebook and even a YouTube account, and now even grandparents and toddlers do too! So what a great idea to join the 900 million people on Facebook, 200 million on Twitter as a presidential candidate!
If there is one thing that politicians learned from the past election, it is that social media if used with a positive, individual interest, networking message strategy can have tremendous power and is appealing to the younger voters.
Luckily for Obama's campaign, he could talk more directly to the voters and talk longer than just a T.V. commercial, "Among the advantages of Internet campaigning is that candidates can control their message, they do not have to rely on journalists to transmit it to the public, and they are not constrained by the high cost and limited format of the 30 second campaign commercial" (Croteau/Hoynes 250). He used tools like Youtube to post his speeches so even if voters weren't able to see him in person, they could see his speech in their hometown. And through Twitter give shout outs to towns. I wonder if they will start using Foursquare to have "spontaneous" events.
It is going to be interesting to see every post-Obama politician's campaign using social media to help them win. Not only is it something they will have to do successfully, it is something they will have to adapt to. The tactics that we used in 2007/8 will be different today, and when the election gets closer. The government, politicians, and voters are going to have to be constantly making changes in order to be connected to one another.
Even if the media controls the brand and message by only presenting a candidate in a positive light, social media doesn't allow this to go unchallenged as the ONLY message people see or talk about, and its wonderful! Both bloggers and social media platforms can be a medium for a business' planned marketing campaign. But, it can always also be a forum for unplanned discussion and gossip causing the negatives around a campaign or product to grow rapidly and out of control.
Like I said, social media and networking is a tool that business can use to promote themselves or a product in a way that is virtually free, user friendly, and lets the users speak for itself. There is a lot that businesses can take away from Obama's campaign and his presidency's use of platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube.
8. Coverage Created a Celebrity-
"Once he attained dominant media favor, this coverage became perhaps the critical driving force behind 'the Obama phenomenon"(Street 17). Who created the Obama phenomenon, clearly it's the media.
Yes, lots of people were concerned about the "black issue" but clearly the majority of people found no problem voting for Obama and supporting him on his campaign for months. This campaign gained a title from the media, "Obama Phenomenon" Through his charismatic, smarts and hardworking attitude, he shown above everyone else. But it wasn't just that, and it wasn't just his speeches that captivated the audience.
It was the media. They were in love with Obama. The way the coverage of Obama's campaign was shown, electing a non-Caucasian as president for the first time in history! Who wouldn't want to be a part of that major change? Obama used that advantage in the media to propel himself in front of his competition through the media.
"Show business is not entirely without an idea of excellence, but its main business is to please the crowd, and its principal instrument is artifice. If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity, or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether. And what the other matter is can be expressed in one matter: advertising"(Street 52).
9. Barack-Star-
Urban Dictionary defines "Barack Star as The Democratic Presidential nominee that everyone is talking about and love to be the next President of the U.S." and 5 other definitions.
A group of people from Florida said they would have camped out overnight if they had been allowed to. The wait in security lines and extreme cold didn't stop people from attending the free "concert" even though it was broadcast live on TV. And if you were to watch it on TV you could have a Barack and roll party.
People were hiding under blankets and bouncing around to keep warm when temperatures were almost freezing. The Reflecting pool was covered with a sheet of ice.
It was on the same steps of Martin Luther King Jr 48 years ago that he roused the civil rights movement. On stage are mega stars Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Stevie Wonder are performing. Actors Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jack Black, and Jamie Foxx reading historic passage interspersed with gospel choir songs and orchestral numbers.
It was like watching a concert, it had a party atmosphere, but it was very serious. Barack Obama welcomed like a rock star when hundreds of thousands of people crammed around the Lincoln Memorial to watch the country's first black leader be sworn in as president.
10. Obama is a One Man Brand-
What does Obama read? What dog did he get his family? What's his favorite movie? What NCAA team does he want to win? What car does he drive? What happens when you put these answers and you get the Obama Brand.
Not only has Barack Obama captured the world's attention with becoming the first Black president, but he has used the media to market his image to the American people.
Part of the rock star's life is having people wanting to be exactly like you. Anyone can find out what cigarets he smokes, suits he buys, and anything else he loves. People will go out of their way and spend extra money to buy things that Obama likes, just like any other rock star or celebrity.
"It appears that, rather than transporting information, the Internet has become a 'virtual mall,' with corporations trying new ways to sell us all sorts of products" (Croteau/Hoynes 13). The ability to buy what ever people desire online is something that corporations keep jumping after.
Some people like to take it a step further. People buy shoes, shirts, hats, mugs, anything with his face, slogan, or logo on it. It is because we like our president that the corporate advertising world manipulated our passion for "hope" and "change". People like to show their support for people and buying all these goods is the best way many American's who are materialistic see to do it.
