Thoughts on the Obama Infomercial

First a reminder. I’m biased. I’ve been a supporter of Barack Obama since he ran for Senate in 2004. I am truly “in the tank” for Obama and have been all along. So this won’t be an “objective” reaction to the infomercial. It will be the reaction of a supporter who is optimistic about next Tuesday but knows very well that this race is not over yet. So here goes.

First, was it worth it? I hate infomercials as, I imagine, many people do. They are usually boring, repetitive and even somewhat embarrassing to watch. That said, politicians have used infomercials to positive effect before. Reagan in 1980 ran lengthy ads (not really infomercials) that reassured voters he was reasonable. Ross Perot made them famous. He built his entire campaign on town halls and infomercials where he laid out his agenda on his own terms. So this isn’t the first time this has happened.

So, if you have the money, why not? You can reach a HUGE audience without rebuttal.

For Obama there was another advantage to this: every time he appears on TV for a length of time his numbers go up. Sometimes just temporarily, Obama has always seen a bump after a major speech or event.

As with every other major event there is a risk of overreaching. McCain has attacked Obama on that ground before. After Berlin he mocked the foreign reception and called him a celebrity. After the DNC Republicans mocked the pillars (though not with a whole lot of effect, to be honest; the RNC’s overall program helped McCain at the time). So the risk is here too.

Let me get out the two things that McCain might hit back on. First, the quasi-Oval Office motif in the opening scene. Was this presumptuous? I’m not sure that it is at this juncture. A new President will be sworn in in just a few months. It’s not a terrible idea to be seen in a Presidential setting. An Oval Office-looking scene is not quite Greco-Roman columns or the Siegerssaule. So I don’t think it will blow back too much.

The second issue was tone. This was a somewhat somber presentation. In fact, it was a tear-jerker at times with some of the featured “average Americans” experiencing some heart wrenching challenges. Is that the tone you want to strike right now? Do you want to depress the audience?

I imagine some people might have seen those moments as a downer.

But I think a lot more will see them as real. In fact, the power of this infomercial was not Obama speaking to the camera but the vignettes of ordinary people from around the country. This was no Perot town hall.

In fact, I think the infomercial was flawlessly produced, including the segue to the live shot in Florida. This reminded me of the pitch-perfect Bush acceptance speech at the 2004 RNC – stellar choreography that captured the moment. As Nate Silver points out on his blog, this whole thing felt like the DNC compressed into 30 minutes; and the DNC was VERY good.

But the real question is how this plays with soft Obama supporters. This was not meant for hard McCain supporters. Nor was it geared toward people like me. It might not have been designed for truly undecided voters either. The audience was soft Obama supporters that McCain needs to peel off in order to win. And as McCain’s own pollster Bill McInturff pointed out, those voters are rural, white, and economically struggling. Not coincidentally, this infomercial was aimed right at those people. Obama looked reassuring, not risky. He looked like he had pragmatic solutions, and did not appear to be some Marxist radical. He showed empathy for what Hillary Clinton infamously called “hard working Americans, white Americans.” I suspect that that will make the difference in the end.

Was it worth it? Am I happy with it? Let me say this much. I watched it with my whole family. My kids were actually riveted by it, with my son asking how Obama’s mother died and what cancer is. I never felt embarrassed watching it as I feared I would. Nor did I sense any Messianism from Obama; the Oval Office backdrop was the most “presumptuous” moment of the whole thing.

So, yeah, I think it worked. I’m not the target audience so we’ll have to see what others say. But I think the whole thing solidified some of those wavering downscale voters. And that’s what Obama had to do.