The entire ad has the same setting: just a shot (from a side angle) of George W. and Laura Bush. George W. Bush is looking casual in a short-sleeved t-shirt and Laura Bush is in green. There are occasional close-ups of Bush's hand gestures and then a close-up of his face. Through the ad, Laura Bush looks onward as George W. Bush speaks and nods. They seem to be sitting on a couch and appear to be in a home office of sorts (There's a vague view of a desk in the background.).
The spoken words of the Commander-in-Chief:
"My most solemn duty is to lead our nation , to protect ourselves. I can't imagine the great agony of a mom or a dad having to make the decision about which child to pick up first on September the 11th. We cannot hesitate, we cannot yield, we must do everything in our power to bring an enemy to justice before they hurt us again."
We don't mean to diminish the power of 9/11 or the president's bond with many of the American people over it, but surely there will be for some a whiff of the desperate in using this thematic now, on the eve of the New York convention and when the Bush-Cheney second term agenda is supposed to be being fleshed out.
We know, we know, we know that the pledge to keep us safer is part of that second term agenda, but what else?
We think that issue of who will keep America safer is a perfectly legit one for both sides to argue, and maybe battleground state voters will like to hear about it in a dollop of thirty-second orchestral emotion, but we think it is possible that this will be seen (at least by The Filter) as over the top.
There's also the president's (self-consciously true?) stump line that the best reason to re-elect him is four more years of Laura Bush as First Lady. We think the verbal irony of that speaks for itself.
This is how I view the ad...
a. Very tired looking. Low lighting. Wrinkled face. Quite frankly, I've never seen him so bad.
b. Feels more like a Burial Insurance Commercial than Presidential Commercial.
c. Al Queda never attacked a school. How can you link a mom or dad and a child at school or daycare and 9/11... Last time I checked, the heroes who lost their lives were firemen, policemen and bond traders, mainly speaking of course. This is so out of left field, my oh my. It's practically absurd.
d. tagline is "Moving America Forward" and the whole commercial is about 9/11, which happened nearly 36 months ago... BRILLIANT, Move America Forward by Looking Backwards... Great way to trip on your own shadow.
e. Laura has a grimace on her face in half the commercial, and towards the end, she has a very scripted concerned look towards GW. You know Rove was off camera shouting: You're Jane Defense... Fell the Pain, Worry, Worry, that's it, Be Sexy, Worry, Fear, Fear, Worry, Cry, Grimace, Oh the Agony...
Overall, this is one of the shitiest commercials I've seen. The Ownership one, while not exactly clear on what it meant by it's promise to the uninformed, at least worked to give some hope to a better day. This one is trying to scare the crap out of you by invoking some vision of a mother picking up her kid from school on 9/11.
Grade: D FOR DESPERATE.....
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