Barack Obama Campaign Hoping You Don’t Read The Fine Print On Their Television Commercials
Much like Barack Obama himself, The One’s campaign commercials don’t quite hold up under scrutiny.
Maybe you’ve noticed them in some of Sen. Barack Obama’s recent television ads, the small print footnotes at the bottom of the screen as the narrator attacks Sen. John McCain.
They cite newspaper articles, editorials, think tank reports and congressional votes. The print is so small and flashes so quickly, you’d have to freeze the frame to really read them.
But the message behind these barely noticeably source citations is important. They are intended to add credibility and weight to the accusations being made.
In Obama’s case, the source citations are intended to back up the accusations, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert in political communication from the University of Pennsylvania. But they also help Obama “refute the charge that he’s an empty suit full of empty rhetoric.”
“It’s a tacit refutation that he’s speaking in platitudes,” Jamieson said. “It’s a very clever rhetorical strategy.”
But beware, she said, citations don’t always equal legitimate evidence.
Sometimes cited articles address a topic but don’t fully back up the accusation being made. Or the source cited may have an ideological or political bent.
In short, the citations themselves require scrutiny. And political operatives are betting voters won’t give them any.
To put it another way, Obama’s campaign is hoping Americans are either dumb or not paying enough attention.
Nothing says “change” like a politician trying to pull a fast one on the public, no?
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