Politics fascinates me. And nothing is more interesting to me to see how candidates are marketing themselves.

Obama is the “New!” “Fresh!” “Improved!” candiate.

McCain is the candidate for those who value “Different,” “Independent,” and “Maverick.”

Hillary was the “Traditional” candidate, with “Liberal” and “Progressive” values.

Only it’s all a lie. A big fat marketing lie.

Obama comes out of the political machine of Chicago. Chicago politics and corruption go together like mac ‘n cheese, salt and pepper, or Abbot and Costello. If you can get past the media’s love fest, you can start to see that he’s made some really bad choices in associates and friends (Tony Rezko, Reverend Wright, etc.). He talks a good game, but he’s at his worst when pinned down to talk specifics. There’s nothing ‘new,’ ‘fresh’ or ‘improved’ about socialism, which is what Obama’s pushing.

McCain is a RINO (Republican In Name Only). He’s (at best) a moderate. At worst, he’s a compromiser in situations where compromise is NOT a good idea – say, for instance, on torpedoing the only chance the then-Republican majority had in the Senate to force that body to take an up-or-down vote on Bush’s federal judicial nominees. You say “independent,” I say “unpredictable.” You say “maverick,” I say “loose cannon.”

Hillary’s marketing was the worst. She tried to be the “experience” candidate, when her only real experience was in being First Lady. Then she padded her resume, got caught, denied everything, and finally admitted to her sins. You might agree with her politically, but you can’t really trust her. Obama’s “change” mantra played well, especially as it allowed him the luxury of being a bit vague on the details. “Experience” is something that begs specificity.

The rest of Campaign ’08 will depend on how the two candidates market themselves. Can Obama keep his “change” message resonating with the people, once he has to explain exactly what “change” he’s talking about? Can McCain talk the conservative wing of the party into backing him, if for no better reason out of fear of a President Obama. We’ll see. My guess is that the narrative each candidate tells will have to have some kind of resonance with reality, or that guy will be the big loser in November.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 11:50 pm and is filed under marketing.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.