John Dickerson writes in Slate:
Detroit for President?
Is the "Halftime in America" ad a preview of Obama's Re-election Campaign?
Did the first Obama re-election ad run during the Super Bowl? You might have missed it since the president wasn't even mentioned. It was a Chrysler ad, although even that wasn’t obvious. Instead, more than 111 million viewers were greeted by that tough-talking American icon Clint Eastwood as he delivered what amounted to a locker room speech to the country. “It's halftime in America,” he intoned, as the New York Giants and New England Patriots went in for their midgame break. He heralded the auto industry’s revival and said it is a model for a nation poised for a comeback. By the end of the stirring message, pollsters could probably have found a majority of the country ready to elect the city of Detroit president.
Since the Motor City is not on the ballot, the president would like you to consider him as a possible substitute.
Uhhmm ... Obama running on the theme that he will Detroitify the rest of America sounds like it's got some potential downsides. I dunno, but I'm just sayin ... It's reminiscent of Obama's brainstorm in 2006-2007 when he believed he was going to be the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter to win the votes of white Evangelicals. How? By playing up his long relationship with Rev. Jeremiah "Audacity of Hope" Wright!
Let's try out Obama's victory speech next November:
I'm just not seeing it. But, then, what do I know?
Let's try out Obama's victory speech next November:
"This was the moment when the grass began to grow over our cities and the prairie began to return to our streets."
I'm just not seeing it. But, then, what do I know?
Clint swears he sees nothing political in this, and certainly he's a smart guy, even about politics, but can he be serious?
ReplyDeleteSurely he's not an Obamaite, but he can hardly have forgotten "morning in America." Those words have re-elect cadences.
Was he just sweet-talked into doing his patriotic duty, like Welles leaving "The Magnificent Ambersons" in the cutting room to go make documentaries in Brazil (?), or is Clint settling some old score somehow?
Maybe he took it bad that he was floated for Bush '88 veep but didn't get the nod.
I think this Detroit propaganda is having some effect on those who do not pay close attention. I spoke to a few friends who swear that Detroit is on its way back and I know their only exposure is from these Chrysler ads.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand if you read SBPDL, you will get weekly stories into the real Detroit.
Have Obama sing "Nothing but flowers" by Talking Heads:
ReplyDeleteThere was a factory
Now it's a field full of daisies
Is the "Halftime in American" ad a preview of Obama's Re-election Campaign?
ReplyDeleteHuh? What? I'm not sure how this nonsense got started.
is Clint settling some old score somehow?
I'm not seeing how the ad in question is any more applicable to one party than the other.
Clint swears he sees nothing political in this, and certainly he's a smart guy, even about politics, but can he be serious?
You're going to have to elaborate on that for me. What did you see as political in it?
Let's just start calling Obama president Detroit. See if the usual suspects get their $800 european panties in a knot about that
ReplyDelete@ 3:17 anon
ReplyDeleteThis type of subliminal non-campaigning campaigning is especially brilliant because the average non-aligned person WANTS to believe detroit is coming back
Yeah, most White people have no clue, and think Detroit will magically come back because of the "spiritual wisdom" of Black people or something. This is the group that made Oprah a billionaire. If Obama were not Black, he'd have already have been bounced out by now.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, the commercial was a thinly disguised Obama campaign commercial. It probably worked too -- up to a point. Emotionally, hitting things people are inclined to believe, can be powerful. But nothing can make people who spend ever more money at the gas pump or grocery store think that things are getting better for them.
If it weren't for the unfortunate Democratic precedents, Obama could get my vote with a "He kept us out of Iran" campaign.
ReplyDeleteWell, er, didn't Mitt's beloved father play a very significant role in the sequence of "unfortunate events" that produced modern-day Detroit?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Romney's the best person to run as the anti-Detroit candidate...
Whiskers said: If Obama were not Black, he'd have already have been bounced out by now.
ReplyDeleteHunsdon replied: Ah, how I pine for the glorious days of '78, when the Patriotic Revolutionary Committee bounced Jimmy Carter out of the White House, instigating a short (but necessary!) rule by military junta.
But nothing can make people who spend ever more money at the gas pump or grocery store think that things are getting better for them.
ReplyDeleteAny DIY-ers here at iSteve?
Anyone been to Lowes or Home Depot recently, and priced things like boxes of screws or attaching metal [e.g. "Simpson Strong Ties"]?
The price of steel is in the dadgum stratosphere.
For instance, check out this 6x6 post base - it's just a piece of high-gauge galvanized sheet steel, originally no more than about 5.5" X 11.5", with some holes drilled in it, and two creases [folds]:
Simpson Strong-Tie 6 x 6 Half Base Z-Max
They want $11.25 for it!!!
Small boxes of phillips-head screws are almost $9.
And 4" Timberlok screws are almost $1 each [12 for $11.49].
Insanity.
"Was he just sweet-talked into doing his patriotic duty, like Welles leaving "The Magnificent Ambersons" in the cutting room to go make documentaries in Brazil"
ReplyDeleteYou old.
(no helping verb required)
Old men should have the dignity to retire from political commentary after a certain age. They go all mushy. Clint came across as a sissy and a dupe.
ReplyDeleteI mean, really now. Detroit? Even more than sissy/dupe, he came across as sad. Sad, sad, sad. All that stuff about Americans this, Americans that... That America is dead, Clint. Guys like you watched it dying on the table and did squat.
What, now White America is supposed to "pull together for the big win," dragging 100 lbs of dead weight? Gimme a break already.
NO, Clint, America can't be what it once was. America isn't what it once was. You bring Mexico here, you wind up more like Mexico. You bring the 3rd World here, you wind up more like the 3rd World. This is anything but complicated.
I didn't know Clint was that hard for money?How much was he paid to say that stuff because I find it hard to believe that he actually believes what he said.Maybe he should live there for awhile without bodyguards and then he would change his outlook on third world neighborhoods pulling America ahead.
ReplyDelete" Europeasant "
i do understand why obama would do this: the television media is completely on his side. so he can pretty much take any position he wants on any issue and they have his back.
ReplyDeletethe facts are that the GM-chrysler bailout was a complete disaster, with the US government illegally shafting all GM debt creditors, paying (!) to hand chrysler over to a foreign company, not fixing any of the long term problems at GM which caused the bankruptcy in the first place, turning out the Government Motors Volt which is a unmitigated flop, all the while losing 24 billion dollars in the process.
if GM and chrysler had simply been allowed to undergo normal bankruptcy procedures, it would have been far better for every party.
obama can already count on the union vote in any election...so it has to be the fact that the television media is in the tank for him, that he would take on the "I saved Detroit" platform. otherwise, it doesn't make sense.
"The price of steel is in the dadgum stratosphere"
ReplyDeletei shoot. the price of ammunition has increased 300% between 1999 and 2012. it's amazing.
of course the price of all metals fluctuate...and could decrease. but i'm pretty sure it's just going to keep going up steadily, for years. like college tuition.
i do get a kick out of ben bernanke telling us inflation is 2%. what total horse S.
Given that the President may have a lot of downer emotions, has always been too lazy, has already attained the Great Challenge of being the first BlackPresident,and does not like to be in a limelight that is sullied by economic-political adversity--given these
ReplyDeletefacets
Is it "outaa bounds" to conjecture he may be getting ready to create a 90 day media carnival by asking at the Convention that Hillary Clinton be nominated as the Presidential candidate while he optimizes his narcissism by being the VP Part of the Ticket?
It would help if he had a mimetic mild coronary four days before the Convention only to "discover" a couple weeks downsteam that it was a false alarm. Who can vote against our first Prez. woman candidate without feeling sexist and who can not be glad to get him out of the Oval Office?? It's wild enough to be plausible in contemporary America.
When I was watching it I wondered, "has he been to Detroit?"
ReplyDeleteOne of those questions that answers itself...