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Where Jill Will Talk Like She Writes
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Don't Get Mad, Get Elected
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Feb
3
I know some people are just going to want to rip into me for saying this, but after reading this piece in The Caucus about the Barack Obama ad being shown during the Super Bowl this evening (the link has the video there), I know why the Obama phenomena just isn’t appealing to me (sadly for Hillary Clinton, there isn’t much she’s doing that’s appealing to me either).
It actually is the underlying message Obama has been touting from the beginning that is the name of this ad, a word which isn’t in the ad itself but you can see on the screen before the ad runs (online) and The Caucus piece refers to: Join.
I don’t like that. I don’t like the message that says, “Join.” I never have, ever. I am not a Democratic party girl - because I don’t like the idea of “join.” I’m certainly not going to be persuaded to vote for someone because they suggest that I need to join.
And yet, that is exactly the message and the pressure I hear from people I know and people I don’t know who support Obama. There are so many other reasons to support him - is “Join” the best they can do in these last crucial hours before Super Tuesday? That just seems very manipulative to me, and if there’s one thing that turns me off, it’s an attempt to be manipulated.
So - what exactly is wrong with the notion of “Join”?
Here’s the Merriam Webster definition of “join.” And it’s not as evil as maybe I’ve come to regard it, which is with the notion that you are giving up something of your own when you join. That you are becoming one with a mass, and that requires relinquishing something in exchange for what you’ve joined.
I suppose Obama isn’t suggesting that, but still - does anyone else get the same wrinkly crinkly feeling I get when I think that someone is asking me to do something because they want me to “join”?
If you haven’t seen the video, watch:
Sphere: Related ContentBy Jill Miller Zimon at 10:14 pm February 3rd, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, WH2008, Elections, Politics
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27 Responses to “The Obama “Join” Ad”
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Jill, I am so with you on this one. I’m not convinced that either is the one for me. Both would be better, as they could make up for each other’s weaknesses. The join thing and that video is everywhere today. It’s hip — it’s cool, but what does it mean, really?
I highly doubt the message is about “join the party”, but rather about joining him in a movement.
The campaign has been about a movement since he stepped on a stage in front of the Old Capital in Spfld a year ago.
Certainly, he’s worked within the party apparatus; he has too. For all his money raised, Paul hasn’t worked within his and it shows.
The video’s geared to younger voters, not us.
Ah, I cannot begin to express my disappointment with the choices left me, in a year like this one. I’ll vote Obama in opposition to Hillary’s political games and Dem in the fall in opposition to the Republicans - and that’s a heck of a sad note.
I’m pragmatic enough to realize this lefty won’t see my agenda in possibly my lifetime but geewhiz.
Goldarnit Jill, joining the Democratic Party doesn’t involve giving up any of yourself - sure, time and stuff, but it does give access to levers of change. A lady like yourself could have just as large an effect as you were willing to try for. I’ll bet your County Party’s active membership is less than 0.5% of registered Dems. That is a big part of the problem. I won’t use your space to go off on all of it, but shortly - it is us, the citizens.
Posted at Plunderbund is a response to this post. Content follows:
Obama’s “Join” Super Bowl Ad - A Response to Jill at WLST
Jill doesn’t like the idea of “joining”. Here’s my response to this feeling of reticence to “join”. Sure you don’t ever like to just join something because all the cool kids are doing it or because someone knocks on your door and infers you might go straight to hell if you don’t.
I’d argue what Obama brings to the table is all together different. I’ve razzed Jill before about the fact that she seems a bit tone deaf to the reasons for the massive Obama support. It’s about the deep desire to see things become different than they have been. It’s about tapping into that which can’t easily be explained - The American Psyche. It is also something that is unique to each individual person. For me, it’s a wiping of the slate. A fresh start. When things get so screwed up as to be almost unrecognizable, you wipe the slate clean and seek a fresh new start. My opinion is that the Bush years have placed us perfectly in that spot. I also believe that Obama is perfectly positioned to be the wiping of the slate. The redemption we seek as a country. From our recent past as Neo-conservative nightmare and partisan insanity and our long historical past of racial inequality. Barack represents the chance to turn that page and move forward.
Americans have always wanted to believe the best days are ahead and Obama symbolizes that like no other. He articulates it like no other. You don’t “join” just because you are being asked to. You “join” because your desire to create a new page in American history and to move forward in a positive direction lines up with the message that Obama is delivering. Guess what? When you started blogging and commenting on other blogs you “joined” the blogosphere. You didn’t just do it because all the other cools kids were I assume. You can also join the Obama movement for similar reasons - because you are moved to. In the end, though, it’s up to you. We’ll be here waiting and we have some nice welcome gifts for anyone new who “joins”.
Eric - thank you, dear - I’m happy to give you the pingback but I also like having your thoughts here so others can see them - I do get a few people who “join” in and read WLST.
Here’s Eric’s post at Plunderbund so folks can see the comments it’s eliciting.
Yes. I’ve been drinking the WLST Kool-Aid for some time now…and it’s purty tasty too!
Now where’s that badge you promised for my vest!
I have a problem with the whole “join” message as well, since the implication made by not joining the whole either you are with us or against us meme. Then of course the whole high school clique mentality that I abhor with the message being “all the cool kids belong”. That typically for me raises the opposite type of a reaction.
That said, in this situation it’s a fluff piece not really designed to do anything but be an intro type piece. The flip side of reality is there are probably people that watched yesterday that had no idea who Obama was, and now at least know his name and that he’s running for President. It used to amaze me how many people pay no attention to political news at all either locally or nationally so from a campaign standpoint, it was a smart decision to run the ad during the SuperBowl.
Still not an Obama fan, but from a campaign strategy standpoint, it worked and it got people talking about the ad…
Er um - badge? vest? are you taking advantage of my weakened physical health or was it a joke I thought I was making that I’ve now forgotten about? I am in SORRY shape, my friend.
thank god that after obama is elected president this kind of absurd parsing, to the point of getting offended by the word “join”, that you’re being “manipulated”, getting all “crinkly and wrinkly” - that politics will be dead. maybe then, jill, you’ll get it.
Village - thank you.
That’s exactly how I felt - though I kind of get what it means in a broad sense, I think, maybe. The purpose, as was pointed out in a comment to this post about the ad that I wrote at The Moderate Voice (some very good comments there on this topic) was to get younger voters and people who would text the word “hope” to a number so that they could then be identified by the campaign. Pretty knarly tactic and transparent enough - I don’t have a problem with that. I would bet a lot of those folks are already familiar with my.barackobama.com anyway.
But yeah - it just didn’t hit my brain. This is interesting - we need some women to chime in and see if they get it the way all the guys are saying they got it. It was aired during the superbowl - I wonder if the intent was that it would bring in more young men?
Red - I agree with you that the focus had to be younger voters, most likely men, yes? Since it was shown during the Superbowl? The value Obama has had in getting crowds of people to register, vote and be active alone is incomparable to anything we’ve seen in years, maybe even a generation or two.
I never thought he was saying nor do I think he is about the party - I haven’t thought that even once - I meant to say that’s how it translates when I hear it, for me.
Sigh - maybe it’s like that ad Strickland did for more rural parts of Ohio, more Southern and Christian parts - remember that? And when I viewed it, as well as others, we thought, ick - that is so not what we want him to be saying to us or how we want him to appeal to us.
I wouldn’t say that the ick factor is as high with this ad from Obama, but it definitely doesn’t do him any good with me except for the tactical supremacy. On a personal level, it turned me off.
Chuck - I appreciate your input re: who is really active in a party, how many that is. I understand. And I’ve heard stories about how helpful the party has been, but I’ve also heard stories about how helpful they’ve chosen not to be. I don’t like the idea of having to change to please them - what good is that? That doesn’t mean I can’t learn - or wouldn’t learn. But, trite - I know - I gotta be me. Could it be an Oregon-Ohio difference at all?
I’m reading an interesting book right now about politics-it’s actually an instructional book geared to middle and high school kids - there’s little else out there, believe it or not, that really talks about how it all works. And it talks about the need for parties and the bucking of parties.
I grew up hearing about the pitfalls of falling in with the “state” government and witnessed efforts to “join” that led to intense cynicism - with good reason. And yet, this government in which we participate is all we have, unless we choose to leave it.
I think your first graph is right - it’s a sad choice we face. And I think it’s okay to do that even when there are so many people around the world who have no choice - we should always want better, no?
But yeah - I guess we have to be part of the solution. I’ll join, eventually - somehow. I just don’t want to be told or have it suggested to me to do so - I’ll do it when I’m ready. (sounds like fightin’ words lol = I hate the one-dimension of comments sometimes!)
Lisa Renee - spot on, no surprise. Agreed - good tactic, maybe great tactic - I’d like to see numbers of how many people texted “Hope.”
Tim - you think Obama being elected is going to kill politics? That’s not what you wrote, is it? This ad shows just how well he and his staff “get” politics - they might be changing the rules and all, but it’s still politics.
As for the parsing, now come on - you wrote the seminal review of my blog - you know better. This is all genuine - it’s how I react/respond and clearly no one is “joining” me in feeling that way without explaining themselves one way or another.
Finally - as far as my rejection of using the concept of join to manipulate, it was also you who wrote that I don’t engage in a blogswarm unless I really mean to - if that’s not evidence of just how serious and sincere a reaction mine was to this Obama ad, I don’t know what is.
I know you aren’t questioning my sincerity, and you are free to ridicule it, but hey - that’s why I’m here.
[…] want to join something? Join the people who are voting! function toggleview(element1) { var element1 = […]
I have no intention of sounding like I’m tooting my horn, but I have to sort of to make this point.
I got involved in Co Dem politics because I was unhappy with the way things were. Here are some of the results for a hick town NE of BF Egypt nail banger:
I am known well by all local pols and I have ready access - small town though (10K in 35000 sq mi Co w/14000 pop total)
I am consulted withby the State Party Chair & Vice & Exec Director. I personally know most Co Chairs & a bunch of delegates, as friends and as a valued colleague.
The Chief of Staff for a US Senator will seek me out in a crowd. Two US Senate candidates are personal acquaintances & consider me a valued colleague. I have a highly place source in one’s campaign that I can get unvarnished truth a candidate cannot give. The SoS knows me by face & name, the probable next SoS considers me a valued friend. I have personal email & phones for several state legs, I am personally known to more than a few State legs. Despite having no money in particular, I have access and respect. Most Dem pols in state & state US know me by name & reputation.
None of this is because I am “ever so special,” it is because I work at it, I listen, I research, I think carefully, and I know their processes and I am cooperative. Note, I have no money that counts and run no big business. I give up nothing more than my time and a little money for costs, I give up absolutely nothing of my personal morality or principles but I have how much more X% impact than a simple ballot mark every couple years or “piddly-ass” blog. (Sp?)
Now I don’t get everything I want and only some or a little when I do get, but that’s a heck of an impact for a little small time construction contractor blue collar guy, isn’t it? I’ve had direct and controversial effect on State Party official stance that was sufficient to result in national radio & state wide radio interviews & coverage in every, at least daily paper, I know of, including the “paper of record” for the state.
That is no more than the results of getting involved in County Party. I think maybe having given up nothing I’ve gotten a lot. Anyone willing to go the distance can. What one hears about Party politics is generally from someone who is disappointed that immediate and striking results didn’t occur or couldn’t work with others. At the level of participation it takes very few to have an outsized effect - sometimes with sad results. One does have to understand how it works and why it works and how to make it work - so what, same is true of riding a bike.
None of this says, have to, it says can.
This Kool Aid drinker has to agree with Eric; I think it’s ‘join me so I can win’ not anything about the Dem Party. I think I may have voted for more independents in my long life than some would imagine. I do like the idea of hope and that’s what I get from Obama; hope that he will surround himself with creative, intelligent people who can fill in his areas of inexperience, because he doesn’t SEEM to have the ‘I need to be the smartest one at the table’ complex that Hillary has. Or seems to me she has. What flavor are we drinking, grape? LOL
Is Obama the best candidate ever? No but after decades of voting, few are! At least this time I do not feel like I am voting for the lesser of two evils on Primary Day.
The word I am cringing at lately in this election is change. The cynic in me is starting to come out!
Chuck - thanks for sharing your experiences. Let me ask you though - just to continue with my cynical streak in this post, did you think that your county or state party, prior to your involvement with it, was corrupt or crooked? did it have that reputation? Because my county Dem party definitely has an unsavory reputation.
Carole - you know that you and I often see things very similarly and I totally see how you see this election, or at least the candidates in the election. I feel the same way about the use of the word “change.”
I’m sure I’ll get over all this, pick someone and work toward their election. But I am kind of caught up in the “which one” of it right now.
Jill
I live in a 3500 sq mi county with a population of 14,000, there’s not enough money to bother with. If there is anything that is questionable it is keeping the show going.
That is one of the points of being involved, it cuts the opportunity for nonsense. Over the years the State Party has ranged from a reputation for “purity” clique nonsense, or totally disconnected, to currently a very grassroots driven open Party. These things vary depending on the participants. But the reality is that at 0.5% active participation the opportunity to make a difference is much greater than at the ballot box.
If nothing else, a pretty good level of conversation is found.
You make good points with which I really cannot argue. I can imagine myself testing the waters but also pulling my toes back out. lol
Nobody will pin you down and make outrageous demands. What will happen, honestly, is that people will be really happy to see you, will be able to find any number of things for you to do, any of which you can say no to.
Listen, it gets lonely. Some of these will be people who raised a stink about vote suppression, etc in your fine state.
(disclosure, I lived in Toledo through kindergarten, Marion through 7th grade, Springfield through HS grad. Columbus for awhile. Took classes at Wright State U., spent summers in Port Clinton on parents’ Chris Craft cruiser - been around some)
Something to think on, I graduated HS in 1971, remember Ohio of ‘71? What’s it like today after Bush, Clinton x2, Bush x2 ? There was plenty wrong, but there was plenty right as well, today? At least some new Dems in office, and…?
I don’t even recognize the country I live in today. torture? get disappeared? Yes Nixon was a snake, but what??? Americans were dying at many multiples of Iraq in ‘Nam, and the damn President had to resign because he covered up a couple idiots? Today?
Sure, I’m no Obama fan, but look at the alternatives. How’d Ohio do under Clinton? Look it up. Then there are the three blind mice on the other ticket, keeripes. Boy it must be pretty hard to restrain yourself from trying to be a part of kicking their asses.
Look, I know you’re hurtin’ and you need to take care of that. But honey dear, there’s a heck of a lot of hurtin’ goin on and some of us are smart enough and articulate enough, and thoughful enough to help do something about it. By gad, if it turns out it’s a crappy bunch, you can quit.
/rant
I just told a friend of mine running Web for a Senate candidate she was my favorite gal blogger (she’s no lady, pretty though), well, then you’re my 2nd, and since she’s “retired due to employment” I guess you’re in good standing. My round the barn point is you do good work here, but there is concrete stuff to be done as well and all of us could use that kind of help.
Thanks for even considering it,
Chuck
Hey - I know you are giving a pep talk and I do the same for people more cynical and less active than me (and that is possible, you know!).
So I hear what you’re saying and will take it under advisement - seriously.
I can tell you that the idea of Huckabee being anywhere near power in our federal government definitely will move me to more action.
So let’s just see. Everyone has their own trajectory.
Btw, I wasn’t raised in Ohio - I moved here in 88 and always thought I’d be back on the East Coast. But I love it here.
[…] This post of mine about the Obama “Join” ad has a similar tone in its comment thread. And I’m absolutely fine with being the one to tell the partying neighbors to be quiet. My name doesn’t rhyme with “pill” for nothing. function toggleview(element1) { var element1 = document.getElementById(element1); if (element1.style.display == ‘block’ || element1.style.display == ”){ element1.style.display = ‘none’; }else{ element1.style.display = ‘block’; element1.style.position = ‘absolute’; } return; } copy and paste… <blockquote>I’ve said some of the very same words, though not nearly as coherently as Morra Aarons does in this post, about how, for all the newness Barack Obama projects, he’s got some very not-so-new folks at his elbow and beyond. Aarons writes: Being a Hillary supporter is like being the… <small><br /> <a href=”http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2008/02/11/morra-aarons-obama-is-the-establishment/”>Morra Aarons: “Obama is the establishment”</a> - http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com</small></blockquote> Sphere: Related Content […]
[…] me be crystal clear: I don’t like and often overtly do not tolerate being told to sit down, get with the program or shut up, whether the message is sent as a subtle euphemism or otherwise. And I agree that […]
[…] other than George Carlin spoke about the very thing that bugged me a long time ago about the Obama campaign attitude, “Join.” He said it on the Larry King show in 1990: CARLIN: People are great one at a time. In them, you […]