I have avoided writing a diary for months because I wanted my first to be very substantive and carefully thought out. But today I have a cold, my first in decades, and had to take a nap after thinking about the election all day. I woke up with the kind of idea that comes to you from your subconscious after you give it a rest and a chance to work on the problem.
Help me get this simple ad and/or youtube made for Obama.
The McCain campaign is structuring the rhetoric of the election around a dualism which equates McCain/Palin with ‘the guy and girl next door’ who have good old American values you can trust. I am increasingly convinced we cannot win on the issues alone, Those people who decide on the issues are have already sorted themselves out to a large extent. We have to create an alternate rhetoric on the personality, relatability and image scale.
So here is my idea and a preliminary script. By the way, I have never done anything remotely like this before although I am a writer and I do know good rhetoric when I see/read it.
McCain/Palin don’t want this election to be about issues
They will lose if it is about the issues
They want you to see that they are like Middle America
But Obama is a product of Middle America
Here are some Americans who support Obama
(a series of clips, each a face shot of a real person supporting Obama, each representing an iconic American with the emphasis on white middle class males, lots of them. And lots of hockey and soccer mom’s too).
Hi, I’m Harry Smith (etc.)
Obama is like me. He went to Columbia. I went to Columbia on the GI Bill and became a. . . I am a small business owner. . . .
Hi, I’m Mary Smith
Obama is like me. I grew up in Kansas. We went to the same high school. One thing I see in him is good old Kansas values. He worked hard and got where he is because his mother and grandparents helped him to believe he could.
Hi, I’m Joe xxx
Obama is like me. I grew up in Hawaii. Island culture teaches you to get along with the different people around you.
Hi, I’m Angie Garcia
Obama is like me. I grew up on Chicago’s South Side. It was a hard place to live and still keep your faith. I went to The University of Chicago and became a community organizer. Now I work for – a church’s name – and we help people to have faith in themselves and what they can do in 21st century America.
Hi, I’m Steve from Ohio
Obama is like me. My mom raised me alone. We didn’t have much in the way of material wealth, but we had a lot of love. She worked hard and taught me to work hard.
I went to college and law school. Now I practice corporate law for companies that know we have to be ecologically responsible.
Hi, I’m Sarah Porter
Obama is like me. He plays a decent game of basketball. So do I, but my daughter plays hockey and I am also a hockey mom. I teach my kids to play nice, obey the rules, value honesty and keep healthy through exercise.
Etc.
For a minute and a half
What do you guys think and who can help me?
UPDATE: Halcyon pointed out two diaries that fleshed out the reasoning behind why this approach is critical.
The first is George Lakoff's
The second is davefromqueens'
Please go there to think about how this rhetoric is critical, just critical. Please do everything you can to drive the campaign rhetoric in this direction. We must if we are to win. Lakoff's analysis of the campaign to date is just about perfect.