On Friday, the Obama campaign released several new advertisements attacking the McCain campaign. The Obama advertisements initiated three different attacks on McCain: criticizing him as an out of touch, lobbyist supporting geezer who offers more of the same policies. Most important of these advertisements is one entitled “Still” . As the title suggests, the promotion for the Obama campaign brings to light that McCain has not yet adapted to the changing times. As both parties try to promote their candidates as the faces of change, “Still” reveals that McCain shares many of the same beliefs as well as the technological prowess of some of the politicians two decades ago. As an attempt to win back some of the momentum in the campaign, “Still” does mediocre job of presenting Obama’s case. It is ineffective in presenting McCain on subjects that matter, such as the economy, and spends time describing his technological ineptitude.
The images of McCain when he first entered Washington in 1982 present an almost comical image of a time long gone. With horn-rimmed glasses, a disco ball and an antique computer, McCain is compared to many technologies that have become obsolete. While the advertisement is a change from the recent advertisements that focus on the candidates' biographies, its credibility as an argument is doubtable. Although the Obama campaign does present the similarities between McCain’s and Bush’s policies well, it does not go into enough detail to convince an informed voter of why they should vote for Obama. Although the world we live in has become increasingly technology oriented, McCain’s lack of political savvy is not a major indicator of his skills as a politician. Also, the thirty-second clip claims that McCain does not understand the economy because of his tax policies. It does not follow that McCain is ignorant about the economy because he favors reduced taxes and smaller government as a solution to our economy’s problems.
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I agree that the ad does not really give viable reasons for supporting Obama instead of McCain. The ad doesn't show any current footage of McCain in politics, only when he first began.
When they try and compare him to Bush that fails too. Bush runs with an iPod, he must be a little tech savvy. But Bush has been called the worst president in History. Just because you do not know how to copy and paste on a computer doesn't mean you don't have the means to govern a country.
While the ad was clever and certainly caught my attention, it left much to be desired.
I partially agree with Nico. When I first watched the ad I thought it was a skit from SNL. I actually had to watch the first part twice to realize that this ad was real. I think this more comical approach was very effective. Too often we see those cliché ads that bash the other candidate in an incredibly dignified and serious rhetoric. This add was one of slight humor. Obama was able to produce an ad that uses an important aspect of an emotional appeal which is often ommited from political campaign ads. The ad starts naming very trivial (I don’t know how true) statements about McCain’s technological ineptitudes. It then transistions into more decorous issues regarding the election. The ad had a good balance of humor and appeal. Nicco stated that the ad’s “credibility as an argument is doubtable.” I feel as though the ad did present a credible argument. It just didn’t follow the typical technique of over used logical appeal. Instead this article used a very effective emotioal appeal based on humor. In agreement with Nico, I do feel as though the ad presented an unclear logical approach to the issues and that it “did not go into enough detail to convince an informed voter of why they should vote for Obama”. Overall I thought the change in tone was very refreshing and gives voters a fun, less structured glimpse into the candidates.
I agree with Nico on this one. While this ad is probably meant to be a less serious "attack" on the McCain campaign, it does a poor job of explaining why Obama would be the better choice. I think that, because of the way it was set up, this political ad may work against Obama.
This humorous ad is the type I would expect to see from Obama's campaign. The thirty second spot focuses more on McCain's old-school glasses than the 'often boring' political issues. It is almost painfully obvious that it is aimed at Obama's youthful audience. Perhaps insultingly obvious.
My first thought after looking at the ad was that Obama thought that he should leave the grown-up stuff to the politicians and feed his voters funny ads about trivial McCain "blunders." It was sort of insulting to me to see the Obama campaign thinking that I would rather watch a slightly-funny clip about what a geezer McCain was than learn about the political differences between McCain and Obama, as most ads usually do. I guess it just goes to show that maybe this election wont be about the issues
The comical approach by Obama is just another way he is attempting to appeal to the masses and the general, uninformed public. i agree with Nico in saying that the ad is not very effective in getting it message across. personally, i find the method in which Obama conveys his message is somewhat childish, and unprofessional. if one takes the time to compare the McCain ad to that of Obama, one will see that the McCain ad appeals to real values and real information. Obama's ad is effective in the sense that it attempts to say something different, and it follows the guidelines of his "change" based campaign. however, it cannot be denied that McCain's ads are by far better than Obama's if one looks at both from a political standpoint. Obama, in my opinion, went overboard with this one. he has become to oriented towards the youth with this ad. he has to remember that the people he is attempting to appeal to are not just between the ages of 18 and 25.
I also agree with Nico on his statement about how this ad does not present a logical reason for supporting Obama. From the context of the video, it is easy to tell that the clip is directed towards young voters. While many young people who grew up during the age of computers may find John McCain as an inept man for the White House, we have to realize that the personal computer has not always been a part of everyday life until just a few years ago. Just because McCain is incapable of using a computer does not make him an incompetent person for the job.
Before reading the blog post and watching the video clip, I thought the title “Still" was an attack on how McCain would be a continuation of the Bush administration, but instead I found a message that is not completely relevant to the realm of politics. The ad presents many faults of McCain including not knowing how to use a computer or to send an email, but it also talks about how he does not understand the economy and favors tax cuts for businesses. By watching the video clip just once, it was easy to discern that the message is poorly developed and combines unrelated and irrelevant reasons for why McCain is not the person to get the job done. Although I am not convinced by the argument that the ad is attempting to get across, the its comical appeal will still resonate with many young voters who think that McCain is out of touch with the modern age of technology.
I think Nico is being quite generous when he says that the ad “does a mediocre job of presenting Obama’s case. Words cannot describe how terrible this ad was. Aside from being extremely unprofessional and rude towards McCain, it doesn’t give a single reason why the viewer should vote for Obama. It obvious that this ads targets “overconfident” youths who think they know everything, yet know nothing. Since all grew up learning how to use computers and send emails, it sounds ridiculous when a high ranking politician does not know how to do those two things. Because of Obama’s outstanding speaking skills, they have come to the belief that all Republicans will ruin the country like George W. Bush, and that the only way to fix the problem is to elect Obama. And because they don’t see the big picture, the youths of America all turn towards Obama and his sweet sounding messages and promises of hope. A four year senator or a life-long senator, I wonder who knows the economy better…
And as a side note, McCain should consider making an ad about Obama’s bowling skills. Computers have been around only a few decades, but bowling has been around for centuries. Yet for some reason, Mr. “I know how to use email” only scored a 37 out of 300.
I strongly agree with Nico on his prospect of the new Campaign Ad. I consider this new Ad not only fails to attract more advocates for Obama, but also delay McCain’s increasing support in the election. Before I watched the new Obama’s Campaign Ad, “Still,” I saw Bush’s old Campaign Ad, “In which way would John Kerry lead?” on I*Claim. These two Ads both attempt to approach and appeal to the audience in a humorous fashion. Although the structure of the two Ads is equivalent, only one of them gets its point made. On the other hand, Obama’s Ad doesn’t get his points across, like Nico observed. New Ad is just a hasty creation seeking for desperate change in the drive of the election.
Unlike the Bush’s Ad which mockingly satirizes elasticity and flexibility of Kerry, the Obama’s Ad falls short in ridiculing some of McCain’s incapability because the Ad lacks inductive reasoning. On the Bush’s Ad, it wittily depicts Kerry’s ambiguous and mercurial stance in making decision as “Which ever the way the wind blows.” This Ad is successful because executing decision and maintaining his/her standpoint on controversial issues are crucial jobs for a president. On the contrary, the Obama’s Ad attacks McCain’s least-important inability to utilize technology. There are various ways to deliver message, read news and chat to people in other ways than computer, and there is no relationship between being a good president and a computer geek.
I agree with Nico that this ad does not provide enough reasons why the voters should choose Obama instead of McCain since there is no logically detailed support for the claims which the ad showed. If we think critically, The ad's claim can be seen too much oversimplified. McCain's technological inadaptability in computer programs does not necessarily mean that he is unable to observe and adopt the changing environment. Also, I doubt whether tax cut was beneficial only for the corporations. Since there is only claim without any supporting evidence, we can conjecture that the tax cut could also have helped middle class indirectly by such ways as boosting more investment in America, and therby contributing increas in number of job.
However, I believe the producers of this ad did not intend to fully win the voters back to Obama. This ad is designed to simply input negative images of McCain in satirical manner. And I expect that the ad is made well for serving this function since graphical effect and, espeically, musical effect seem to be coordinated appropriately: funny style of McCain's glasses in 1982, other obsolete products, and awkward music. The mixture of these elements, despite a lack of logical approach to voters, should have successfully inspired at least emotionally.
Nico has made some valid points regarding the incomplete nature of Obama's attack ad, titled "Still". Although the ad is seemingly sophisticated and presented dramatically, it is nowhere near being a legitimate political argument. Sure, the ad shows how McCain is technologically ignorant however is that enough to claim that he is socially out of touch? There is no doubt that an out of touch President is an undesirable one. The fact remains clear, however, that while McCain may or may not be as technologically impaired as Obama's campaign suggests, such a quality cannot be invalidly used to measure social compatibility. Also, as Nico touched upon, Obama does not directly incorporate any of his pros. Merely criticizing the cons of an opponent and never introducing ones own pros is a politically juvenile and desperate act. Personally, I believe that "Still" can be identified as nothing more than a political prank.
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