Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Republican Campaign from 2008 - McCain/Palin
This campaign video is from the 2008 presidential elections for the Republican Party. It’s a video I find very
interesting because unlike most presidential campaign it features two people:
John McCain and Sarah Palin. Although it was McCain going for President, there
is just as much impetus in this advertisement for Sarah Palin to be Vice
President. To me, this suggests that the Republican campaign was about unity
and equality, trying to get the American population to believe that if McCain were
elected it would not just be a one-man job and he would have a strong party
behind him. It was originally thought that the of the President would be to
‘preside’ over the nation, as a figurehead, and that if you were to vote in the
election you would be voting for the party, not the person. This seems to be
the route the Republicans were going down rather than relying on people voting
for the personality of the man, like Obama’s campaigns.
The inclusion of Sarah Palin in the video
and having her on an equal level of airtime and importance suggests that the
Republicans were also trying to win more votes from women. There is a real
sense of equality in the video with the repetition of “he” and “she.” Were it
not to have a small message from John McCain at the end of the video, it would
be difficult to work out who was being touted for which position. The inclusion
of Palin could also be considered a negative one in the video however. While in
previous campaigns, the presence of Obama, Romney and Clinton is enough to win
over voters; the presence of John McCain was simply not enough to win votes and
Sarah Palin was used as an alternative for America to vote on.
The video is slightly unusual in the sense
that it doesn’t show either candidate talking or have any clips for viewers to
see what the two people are like. Instead it uses newspaper headlines and a
voice over artist to boast of their achievements in the build up to the
election. It is a strong part of American culture to follow the news and
believe what you are told; therefore when the viewer hears and reads emotive
words such as “battle,” “take on” and “fought,” their reputation increases far
more. Finally at the end of the video there is a nod towards their opponent.
The Obama campaign was all about ‘Change’ for America; McCain and Palin take
that slogan and shift ever so slightly to ‘Real Change’ if you vote Republican,
a subtle reference to the man they are going up against.
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