Emil Amok » Yellow Peril in Pa. Primary

Yellow Peril in Pa. Primary

Hillary Clinton knows Asians are good for evoking emotion.

So in her 11th hour campaign struggle she’s used the fear of Asia to drum up support. Her 30 second spot, shows a blip of a headline: “U.S.-Japan at War,” “Pearl Harbor, Manila bombed in Air Raid.”

If you dislike Hillary, this will anger you. How dare she invoke that kind of emotion to win in bloody Pennsylvania, right?

Of course, if you like her, you’ll say, she’s a fighter, and you’ll be glad a bit of Asian something is in the mix to help her win.

Which are you?

This is really classic political campaigning. People may not remember the Goldwater/Nuke Mushroom/Daisy and girl ad, but Lyndon Johnson used the juxtaposition of quick images to imply Goldwater was trigger happy on the bomb.

It worked. The Clinton ad is similar. If the emotions are already there, it will ring true to the person who sees the ad.

That’s the scary thing. It doesn’t take much to evoke that emotion in Americans ages 55 plus. Maybe it’s different with younger folks. We’ll see.

But the ad is a great example of how you communicate in :30 seconds or less.

That’s also why Barrack Obama is pitifully blowing his lead. With so much more money than Clinton, he can’t seem to spend it on effective advertising to put her away.

Is he saving it for McCain?

Clinton’s spending on ads, but not as much as she’s relying more on free stuff, appearances on Larry King, Colbert, etc., as well as the debates. Debates are free and prime-time. And they’ve been killing Obama, who can’t decide how to work that media opportunity to his advantage. You got to hand it to Obama, he dodges tough questions by taking the high ground. But he’s still dodging and still uncomfortable. Tough questions, on seemingly small matters compared to the wonky policy stuff, are still important. Indeed, they will make the difference in this race where the policy stuff is pretty similar. These are mainstream Democrats after all. We’re not talking Bernie Sanders here.

No wonder Obama just said no to a debate on CBS next Sunday. He’s trying to nurse a lead. And he could very well blow it.

If you haven’t seen the Clinton ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFsVFd5pb3k

Comments

I still think Obama will crash before the convention. Now I don’t even have to go to townhall.com and the conservatives to read people ripping into Obama. It’s ridiculous for him to whine about wasting time on whether he’s a walking lie or not instead of “real issues” when they’re tweedle dee and tweedle dum on any other their campaign positionsl It’s all about character. Google “antichrist” and see how many Obamas (and McCains) crop up. I’ve never seen anyone claim Hillary is the antichrist. The latest Saturday Night send up with Obama in panic calling Hillary on how to turn up the white house furnace was hilarious.

–awarthurhu on Apr 22, 2008
This has got to be the longest, drawn-out primary ever! By the time the real fight happens, the Democats will have no energy to campaign. McCain will have already locked in the votes. Remember the last time the SF Giants were in the Whirled Series? The team had trouble beating the Cubs in the play-offs. It was draining, and by the time the real fight came along (’quake notwithstanding), the Giants were zip. Will the Democat nominee be able to effectively campaign in the real game the few weeks after Denver?

–raqcoon mammal on Apr 23, 2008
Yes, the fatigue is setting in. Election day is like the movie “Groundhog Day,” we go over, reanalyze and find ourselves all worse for wear—especially the candidates.
But don’t worry about McCain breaking away free. He’s now so aligned with Bush, he’s lost all chance. When the finally vote is tallied Dems win. They may be limping in November. But Dems win. That part of the “change” thing is more powerful than Obama or Hillary.

–Emil

–Emil on Apr 23, 2008

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