Other Crap

Phil de Vellis, aka ParkRidge47: I Made the "Vote Different" Ad

Of course his intentions were to help the candidate he prefers, but politics and media are far more complicated than he imagines. Barack's one and only chance to become President is to convince the American public that he is not "politics as usual," and that he is above all the usual petty squabbling - truly Presidential. In his personal efforts he has stayed perfectly on his message. But this attack ad against a fellow Democrat was far from his strategy.

Indeed, the creator of the ad accomplished exactly the opposite of what he intended. He says, "The specific point of the ad was that Obama represents a new kind of politics." What the ad actually accomplished was to make Obama seem like just another political hack willing to resort to negative campaigning.

I suppose that the anarchy of the new media will embolden the grassroots, and ultimately force major changes in the way campaigns are managed (or not managed). It seems that the candidates will have less and less control over their own images. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe not.