Image courtesy of Google Image Search, 2010Going back to the 2008 election, the image of Barack Obama presented by the soon-to-be Obama administration was something so radically different from anything we as a people (under a democratic electoral system) had experienced before. We were in awe of it and surrendered our wills to it. Whether it was Obama’s physical appearance, his “marketing” strategies, or his political platform that eventually won over the voters living in America’s major cities, Obama had something that we craved.
Obama’s calm tone, polished figure, and excellent vocabulary, all factored into making him America’s next president. These were not the only key factors, his unique campaigning/advertising/marketing strategies also played an integral role in Obama’s success over Clinton and McCain in 2008. Now this is beginning to sound like our president is more of a celebrity than a political figure, this is not an unheard of ejaculation. Obama faces constant criticism asking whether he is actually planning on “stepping up to the plate” and taking action, or simply allowing his staff members to take the wheel while he fulfills a more social role.
1. The “Obama Brand”
Obama was elected in part, because he was exactly what American’s wanted, or at least thought they wanted. We had had our fill of the chimpanzee known as G.W. Bush parading around the White House and the people were looking for someone more suited to the position, someone different. With inspiring posters like,
Images courtesy of Google Image Search, 2010
American's were in love with Obama and all that he promised for America's future.
Barack Obama was young, he was composed, he was new, he was different, he "promise[d] to restore "hope" with a practical "get things done" approach to policy and a therapeutic sense of "unity" binding Americans in a "common destiny and dream (Street, Barack Obama)." America may "be ready" for a Black president, but McCain, old and decrepit, and Hill-dog (Hillary R. Clinton), a woman were no match for him.
2. Baby, There's No Other Superstar, Obama As a Presidential Celebrity
Image courtesy of Google Image Search, 2010A renowned writer/editor for Newsweek and The Washington Post named Robert Samuelson wrote in his article titled, The Obama Infatuation,
“The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment; but no president since.”
He then goes on to say, “On the whole, this is not healthy for America.”
As a student in academia during this time in America’s history I have been provided with a number of invaluable experiences and opportunities to witness and in some cases take part in the electoral process. This said, in the grand scope of America’s history, the election process has changed drastically from the time of Theodore Roosevelt traveling cross-country via train to promote his campaign, to today where Barack Obama has his own Twitter feed that you can follow (I know I do)*.
What does this say about where we get our information, let alone such important information as pertains to electing our next president, the commander-in-chief. Where once, reading the daily newspaper (sometimes there would be a “late edition”) or listening to the radio would be a person’s only outlet for news media, now we have simultaneous live news broadcasts, and Twitter feeds, and things like Foursquare. When we want to know something we consult the “all-knowing” power that is the Internet. Censored 2011 made the observation, "daily newspaper reading in the US has declined from 58 percent in 1993 to 34 percent in 2008 (356)."
*Here's Senator Bernie Sanders, and Vice-President Joe Biden, too!
3. Disregard Females, Acquire Currency
Image courtesy of Friggenrandom.com
While still in the process of running for the office of President in 2008, Obama made a point of making it clear that he wanted to achieve victory over his opponents without any funding or assistance from the Political Action Comittees (PACs). Obama is quoted as saying, "'Washington lobbyists haven’t funded my campaign, they won’t run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of working Americans when I am President (13, Street).'" However, as word leaked that Obama had actually accepted a large sum of money (allowing him to declare millionaire-status before he was elected) from heads of large corporations and companies, he bought a 1.6 million-dollar home, and his approval ratings dropped.
Image courtesy of Youtube.com
Or has it, Barack Obama is still a hot commodity, I mean all these attractive women subscribe to his Youtube channel, that's gotta be a good sign, right?
4. B-Obama v. Hill-Dog, FIGHT!
Where the battle between Senator McCain and Obama was what really held people's attention (as far as election coverage goes) later in the "election game," the opposition of Obama to Hillary Clinton also proved an interesting choice for the American people to make. Both of these qualified candidates has experience, they were both considered to be underdogs (due to gender and race), and they both had past relevant political history. The difference was in how they were presented to the people, where Hilary sought to portray a stronger female role and create an image in kind, they came up with something like,
Images courtesy of Google Images, 2010
Just looking at these two faces, Hillary is tense, shoulders forced back, an uncomfortable smile, harsh focus and lighting. Whereas the adjacent picture of Obama is like a completely different president in a completely different setting, his skin is clear of wrinkles or shadows, his smile is almost natural but relaxed, and there is nice depth of field to show how close he is to you the viewer.
5. Obama as Entertainment
Image Courtesy of Vibe Magazine, 2010
In the 2008 Halloween edition of the Huffington Post, David Bauder, in an article called "Study: Media Coverage Has Favored Obama Campaign," is quoted as saying, ""For whatever reason, the media are portraying Barack Obama as a better choice for president than John McCain, If you watch the evening news, you'd think you should vote for Obama." Where the majority of people still find their principle news source in the mainstream news-media and it is this dependence on mainstream news that, as Paul Street says in Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, "Among the leading media outlets that gave Obama fawning cover-page publicity during his time in the U.S. Senate and on the presidential campaign trail over the past three years were Time, Newsweek, GQ, Men's Vogue, Marie Claire, Washington Life, and Vibe (Street XIX)." The fact that most Americans get their news media and do not question a thing they hear because it is on the news, makes us all the more susceptible to their tricks.
7. Questioning the "Blackness"
The President has come under a lot of flak during his time running/in office as the result of his heritage. Where Obama spent so much time trying to make us think he was one of us (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBXyB7niEc0), his skin tone told us one thing, while his policies and actions told us something entirely different. The color of Obama's skin distracted many black and white voters from key issue and blinded them with the issue of racism. Not only on the side of the supporters but also from Obama himself. Where Obama normally is in full-support of the African-American in America today, he is also tough on the issues of welfare and justice in the community which irks some.8. Calm, Cool, Collected Obama
Whether it's his beautiful(ly composed) speeches, his finely tuned image, or simply the fact that maybe he is doing something good and right for America, Obama is unlike any President in history. As Paul Street notes in his book, Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics, studies showed that Obama only had a 17% disapproval rating from media outlets, while John Edwards got 36% and Hillary Clinton with 38%. Not only was his approval rating the highest of all participating in the 2008 election, but McCain's attempts at "negative coverage" only made Obama look better and brought more people to his side.
9. Obama Isn't As Funny as the Last Guy...
Or is he (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSuWu86oeRw)?
Where for eight long years our country suffered under the Presidency of George W. Bush and all the incompetence that came with it. In order to deal with such a fantastic level of stupidity and bullshit, American's developed a craving for a new form of entertainment. Our network news was becoming too polarized and all the issues tended to have a specific party or group alignment, making it all the more unpleasant to even watch the news in the first place. So, we created something different, or at least John Stewart and Stephen Colbert did. These two performers/news anchors have changed the way most people get their news to allow for a couple of laughs along the way. Paul Street is quoted in his book as saying, "Once he (Obama) attained dominant media favor, this coverage became perhaps the critical driving force behind the Obama phenomenon (178, Street)."
10. Final Revelations and Conclusions
Image courtesy of Google Image Search, 2010
Obama's election to President of the United States of America has done more to facilitate an overall change in the way that we as American's live our lives than any President before him. Obama has made it "cool" to be interested/involved in politics, in such a way as it completely alters the whole process from being something that people hear about on T.V. to something that they can take part in on the Internet or elsewhere.
“The Obama experience has encouraged and extraordinary amount of new popular engagement in the political process, sparking millions of Americans to overcome their endemic disgust with politics and their sense of powerlessness with the U.S. sociopolitical order. One chant frequently heard at Obama rallies- “Yes, We Can”- is not to be taken lightly (204, Street)."
Then it's not just Barack, it's his whole family. Whether it is any number of magazines that examine what Obama is up to or if they are focusing more on Michelle or the kids and their dog, the whole Obama family unit is now always in the spotlight.
