Obama 1/2 hr. commercial

[ladelfina]

Just watched it online and was pretty impressed.

No shock to some of you, of course.. but one thing did strike me is that it was very upbeat and optimistic at the same time it addressed some painful themes in what I thought was a pretty direct and refreshing way. I really liked the end, about opening up government.

He managed to cover a lot of ground without saying anything negative about his opponent or even really about the past admin. There were a million things to say that all remained unsaid. That I find really admirable, maybe because my instinct tends toward the critical and I see how Obama's been pretty much a genius at distinguishing himself merely by taking the high road. It's been the right way to handle the campaign.

Very late here, so good night, all!!

[growing_older]

Never mentioned McCain. Focused on presidential themes and well done throughout. More a statement from a statesman than a politician. Should do very well for him with voters.

[Texarkandy]

Didn't see it - despite all the hype - not that I was opposed to watching it or anything like that, might have been interesting, I do tend to watch a lot of political stuff - but I got involved in something else (relatively unimportant) & forgot it was going to be on - perhaps I've finally gotten burned out on the politics for this go-round & it just wasn't a priority with me as I didn't expect he would really say anything I hadn't already heard from him and it would be a bit of a yawn. I wonder how many others in America felt as I did about it?

Was I right - or did he say something earthshaking I haven't heard from him before that would have convinced me to change my reluctant vote for Bob Barr?

[Westernskies]

Hundreds of millions spent on TV campaign advertising. What a waste.
This "infomercial" was the icing on the turd cake, as a glaring example of Citizen Obama's broken promise about public campaign financing. I suspect the rest of his campaign promises will be just more empty rhetoric when the media gets done electing this guy.

[DallasGuy]

Originally Posted by Westernskies

Hundreds of millions spent on TV campaign advertising. What a waste.
This "infomercial" was the icing on the turd cake, as a glaring example of Citizen Obama's broken promise about public campaign financing. I suspect the rest of his campaign promises will be just more empty rhetoric when the media gets done electing this guy.

Sounds like sour grapes to me....the Republicans being beaten at their own game for a change.

[Beryl]

As noted, Obama didn't say a single negative word about McCain or his running mate. He focused on the middle class who are struggling to stay there. Ironically, it was the millions middle class citizens like me who made it possible and it was money well spent.

This blog summarizes it better than I could:
TV Barn | The Obama infomercial: A sterling example of how to sell a president

Barack Obama's 30-minute infomercial covers all bases :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Barack Obama
provides specifics about the individuals who were showcased. It ends with a comment that resembles Westernskies':

Obama and McCain were both in Florida Wednesday where McCain earlier told his supporters: "When you're watching this gauzy, feel-good commercial, just remember that it was paid for with broken promises."

It is on YouTube for those interested.

[Texarkandy]

Originally Posted by Westernskies

Hundreds of millions spent on TV campaign advertising. .....

Yeah, I still wonder about the money. I'm sure the Obama Campaign has had lots of legitimate small donors, but who the heck uses prepaid credit cards to contribute to a political campaign via the internet?

Obama Accepting Untraceable Donations

(Nobody's ever "gifted" me an untraceable prepaid credit card and if they did I wouldn't use it to donate to a political campaign over the internet. Or then again maybe they have & I have used it to make an internet donation & just don't know it yet! I may show up at the polls next week to find out I've re-registered myself via ACORN as a Dem! .)

[donheff]

Doesn't matter whether you like Obama or not -- it was well done and will either have a slightly positive or, at worst, neutral effect on the campaign. And it will distract attention from other things -- good move by Obama.

[tangomonster]

I like and voted for Obama. The informercial was incredibly well-done.

BUT----there was a bit of a disconnect for me between the problems the four people/families were experiencing and Obama's platform/plans. Anything Obama proposes to do with health care is probably better than what we have now. But what is he proposing that would bring the cost of the arthritis medications down? And with the widowed teacher who has to work an extra job, how exactly would Obama help her? He did promise that he would pay teachers more, but isn't the state ultimately responsibly for paying and determining people's salaries? Even if the federal government gives states more money for education, is there any guarantee that the states would channel this into higher salaries? Possibly the couple who lost their jobs at Ford could get them back (or with a new company) if more cars were manufactured here, such as more energy-efficient cars, as Obama wants (and tax incentives for new hires could help, as well as stopping tax breaks for companies who hire overseas employees), but would it really be feasible for companies to ever pay what they used to, where blue collar workers got paid high salaries and health insurance carried into retirement?

Don't get me wrong. I was tearful, inspired, and optimistic after seeing the informercial. But I do think we need more than hope. We need solutions to problems----or the acknowledgement that some problems can't be solved and some strategies as to how to best deal with the reality of the situation. Won't there be a lot of disappointment if Obama gets in and four or eight years later, teachers are still underpaid and medication is still unaffordable for too many people?

[TromboneAl]

I wasn't totally impressed with the "Obamamercial."

I never care for the up-close-and-personal segments that politicians like so much. Maybe it's because instead of

"Rebecca Johnston is all about her family. She bought a house so that she could send her kids to good schools. Now, it's getting tight."

I see

"Rebecca Johnston made the choice to have four children and several pets, buy a McMansion and drive a large gas guzzling van, and now she's surprised that things are tight."

I also think the live rally at the end didn't work so well.

However, I liked the segments on what he plans to do, and why. The whole thing was entertaining and I'm sure that most undecided voters would watch it through.

Here's the YouTube link.

[FUEGO]

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

I never care for the up-close-and-personal segments that politicians like so much. Maybe it's because instead of

"Rebecca Johnston is all about her family. She bought a house so that she could send her kids to good schools. Now, it's getting tight."

I see

"Rebecca Johnston made the choice to have four children and several pets, buy a McMansion and drive a large gas guzzling van, and now she's surprised that things are tight."

I definitely have to agree with this sentiment. It looks like this family is living kinda high on the hog to have their primary (only?) income come from working in a tire retread factory. I really wonder why their finances are so bad that they cannot weather the husband being out of work on disability for a few months while recovering from ACL surgery. They have lived in the same house for 10 years, so unless they have been refinancing like crazy, the mortgage payment should be lower now relative to their income, and they should have an equity cushion built up by now. Why not just dip into their 6 month emergency fund that they saved up?

Some folks you want to feel sorry for. But not these folks.

[tangomonster]

Yup, I agree with T-Al and Fuego. If this family has to ramp down their lifestyle a bit, then so be it. They obviously have no cushion for emergencies and new expenses/less income---and that cushion seems so essential, 'specially with a family that size---that some unanticipated expenses will occur. And as much as I like Obama, how is he going to make sure that every employer provides 100% disability coverage to its employees?

And actually---with the mom portioning out snacks for the kids for the week instead of unlimited, neverending access to all the junk food they want---is that necessarily a bad thing? With obesity and diabetes ever escalating, maybe the lack of funds to buy sugary, fatty, chemical-added stuff can be a good thing!

[Westernskies]

Obama and McCain were both in Florida Wednesday where McCain earlier told his supporters: "When you're watching this gauzy, feel-good commercial, just remember that it was paid for with broken promises."

The Obama Informercial was paid for with broken campaign promises, but the platform promises will have be paid for with our tax dollars.

Another point that I think a lot of people missed is that the mainstream media was so eager to promote this guy that they pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to "sell" him a half-hour of prime-time coverage. (they were probably just getting their own money back, IMO. )

[Beryl]

He said that if you make less than $200K you will have reduced taxes. Using their calculator, that there is no change for those making between $200k and $250k. Those making over $250K will pay the same percentage as they paid during the Clinton era.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Change We Need | Obama Tax Calculator
Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Taxes

[Urchina]

Originally Posted by Westernskies

The Obama Informercial was paid for with broken campaign promises, but the platform promises will have be paid for with our tax dollars.

So, how would this be different if McCain was elected? Would he use non-tax-dollars to fund his "platform promises"?

Originally Posted by Westernskies

Another point that I think a lot of people missed is that the mainstream media was so eager to promote this guy that they pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to "sell" him a half-hour of prime-time coverage. (they were probably just getting their own money back, IMO. )

Didn't they also delay programming of some NFL games for McCain's convention speech? Gosh, they did THAT for free. Obama had to pay for his delay.

[youbet]

Originally Posted by Urchina

Didn't they also delay programming of some NFL games for McCain's convention speech? .

Don't just tease us..... which games were those?

[ladelfina]

BS.. they chose to get rid of the pre-game chatter. The fact that McCain would call attention to this shows how shallow he is, or at least how shallow he thinks his supporters are..

All we want in a president is someone who won't interrupt our sports broadcasts!?!?!

Ooookaaaaay.. I guess that's a plan.


They had actually delayed some NFL thing for McCain, AFAIK.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/poli...ry/746704.html

NBC moved the Washington Redskins-New York Giants game up at least an hour, to 7 p.m. EDT, so that McCain's Republican convention speech could be broadcast around 10 p.m. on Sept. 4.

ok. it wasn't "delayed".. but it was moved, apparently.

[youbet]

Originally Posted by ladelfina

They had actually delayed some NFL thing for McCain, AFAIK.

Nope.....

[ERD50]

OK, just watched, was busy that night - I'm pretty much in agreement with many of the comments here. T-Al (I just moved you two pegs over , closer to the "apolitical" side ), FUEGO (post #11), and esp tangomonster (post #9). Many of these promises seem far outside the scope of the POTUS.

A couple things not mentioned above that caught my ear - At ~ 6:00 on the link T-Al gave (there seemed to be more than one P2 and 3 from that guy... maybe the times are diff on some of these?...) he said that 'companies shed their obligations, these promises to pay these pensions'. OK, but how is that different from ' people who shed their obligations, these promises to pay the mortgage contracts they signed'? Struck me as very shallowly one-sided.

I actually didn't like many of his solutions. Phrases like " I will invest $15B a year in energy % and renewables"... what that is really saying is - ' I will take $15B a year of the taxpayers money, and give it to specific companies'. As I've said many times, I see that as the wrong approach. If we want alt energy and conservation, raise the price if gas - that has already been demonstrated to work. Govt has a history of picking technology like ethanol, which doesn't work. So, this is NOT change - this is more of the same (sorry, I've heard it so many times, it just kind of slipped out).

Oh, and "help retool auto companies to make fuel eff cars"... again what that is really saying is - ' I will take more of the taxpayers money, and give it to specific companies that have proven that they were too inflexible and didn't have the vision to meet changes in the market'. Is THAT what we need?

And " make it easier for you to afford these fuel eff cars"... again what that is really saying is - ' I will take more of the taxpayers money, and give it to some other taxpayers to buy cars that meet certain arbitrary govt approved technology'. Is THAT what we need?

And he is going to " call on people to join in conservation efforts..."... you know, that has been tried before, and it didn't work as well as higher gas prices.

Again, the teacher pay issue is a state thing, so I don't even get that, but he is going to make teachers more accountable to higher standards? Has he talked to the unions about that? I'd like to be a fly on the wall there.

Quite a few more, but I'll end on a few positive ones:

I thought it was great when he mentioned that his Mom got him up at 4:30AM to go over his homework. Hopefully, a lot of parents were listening, and realizing that this is some of what it takes for a person to get ahead. And he was very 'real' about it, quoting his Mom as saying 'this is no picnic for me either' - IOW, it is work, and that is what it takes. You don't have to like it. I'd like to hear more of that from him.

And, he sure is a much more effective speaker than anyone we've seen lately. If you are a fan, rather than an evaluator, I can see how his speaking style would draw you in. He's good.

-ERD50

[Urchina]

OK, youbet, I stand corrected. NFL games weren't delayed for McCain's convention speech. They were moved up (thanks for the link, Ladelfina).

My other question still stands, though -- is McCain planning on funding his platform promises with non-tax-dollars? Anyone know where we can get more of those?