In 2006, The Huffington Post reported that the Republicans were preparing a “Daisy” ad against Barack Obama. Now Hillary Clinton has beaten them to it.
For those of us who may have doubted just how far the Clintons would go to win the primary, we now have the answer: They are willing to hand a finely crafted ad over to the McCain campaign for use against Obama after it fails to help her win the Democratic Primary.
The Clinton campaign has released their own modern version of the infamous 1964 TV ad that the Johnson campaign used effectively against Barry Goldwater showing a little girl picking petals off a daisy that ended in a mushroom cloud and nuclear annihilation. The Clinton ad is similar, if a tad more subtle. It shows children sleeping peacefully while it alludes to the (red) phone in the Oval Office and asks us to decide who we want answering it.
The premise is that we would want Senator Clinton answering that phone rather than Senator Obama.
But, what about John McCain? If the ad doesn’t knock Obama out of the running (an impossible task) and Clinton loses, will she be able to pay her remaining campaign bills by selling that ad to McCain who only needs to change a few words to make it an effective promo for him? You could watch that ad right now and imagine the tag: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Obama needs a better response to this ad and a lot of what is about to come at him from the McCain camp than just pointing to the Iraq war vote. We need to get away from the “She started it” and the “He started it.” line and go further.
Obama needs to point out that this ad is a scare tactic that is right out of Karl Rove’s playbook. For the past seven years, the Bush administration has kept this country in a state of fear which they increased every time they needed a more complicit population. It is this fear mongering that we are tired of and it is at the core of why we have responded to a candidate of hope and inspiration and why the word “change” has been so effective in mobilizing support for the Obama campaign.
But while the media has been carrying water for the darkest elements of the radical conservatives by replaying ad nauseam all of their ridiculous racial and xenophobia inducing tactics like the use of Obama’s middle name or the constant airing of that photo of Obama in native African garb, the Clinton campaign has now actually produced a TV ad for them.
Clinton shows us that, when cornered, she is just as capable as the Bush administration of scaring voters into voting for her.
If any are duped by this tactic, they should be prepared for déjà vu all over again.
Obama’s strength is that he believes in people. Listen out for a message of trust that the American people will rise above this.
Thanks for your comment.
Unfortunately, that won’t be enough. I think his strength is mostly that he is extremely competent, articulate, unflappable, and most importantly, hopeful.
But John McCain’s strength is in his being a father figure or an airline pilot. If you got on a plane and saw either McCain or Obama go into the cockpit, you might not care one way or the other. But if they had predicted extreme turbulence for the flight, you might feel better with the gray haired guy.
That’s the emotional pitch Clinton is making on behalf of McCain (she thinks she’s making it on behalf of herself, but that’s why they call it “blind ambition”).
One good thing about all these Hillary attacks, is that its priming Obama up for his campaign against McCain. I think I’ve come to respect him more over how he deals with each of these new attacks on him. Granted, he could always do more, but somehow he has a way of diffusing each situation. I know what you mean about his experience becoming an issue, and he will need to flesh out his counter attacks (and make them become his own strengths). I have gained more respect that he will not only win the democratic nomination, but the minds of America before this election season is over.
Though, to say the truth, I believe the republicans will fight this more so than what Hillary is showing us. I think we’ll see a lot more really dirty, shameful, scare tactics before its all said and done. I see Hillary is now trying to protest the Texas caucus process, as these delegates are more likely to go to Obama. Really, all this does is create more support for Obama, pushing for something new, something more positive. Imagine trying to win on your issues only! I can only shake my head that my own party has sunk to the levels of rovian politics.
Thanks, again, for your clear words!