The Pitch Man
posted in General |The Presidential election of 1960 was a landmark event in the political history of this country. It was Kennedy vs Nixon. More important than the outcome, it was the birth of the Pitchman in days of National TV. If ever there was a guy born for politics and TV, it was Jack Kennedy. H e was young, handsome, articulate, bright and engaging. His TV image was superb. In comparison, he was all the things that Nixon was not. Obviously, Kennedy won.
In some of the subsequent elections there was no spellbinder and the influence of TV was less decisive. Then along came Ronald Reagan who was a pitchman par excellance, and Bill Clinton who also was impressive with words (Gotta give him credit). They both won twice. Now we have another word merchant – Obama. Where there is a difference in TV imagery, the pitchman clearly has the advantage. McCain could have a clear advantage in dealing with the issues, but he will be swimming upstream against the flowery rhetoric of Obama who keeps saying the same things. Right now, the favored son of the mass media — written and visual – is Obama and that will make the pitchmanship advantage even greater unless John Q Public can see thru the rhetorical smokescreen.
Obama is a rookie and he is simply not equipped to deal with matters of substance. Maybe his “eloquence” will backfire, but on a going in basis, he will have the advantage in debates and appearances.
Do you really feel comfortable with Obama driving the train, flipping the switch , or saying “go”?? Flambouyant phrases do not equate to sound judgment. S far, I am not convinced!