Palin: How Obama Won

A fascinating interview that has been canned by PR Junkie, which calls this as proof that she needs media training. However there are actually some interesting points, on whether a candidate's family should be foregrounded by the media and particularly that anonymous bloggers should not be used as sources of fact.

But some of the lines she defends, such as when asked what media she reads saying 'all of them'; and suggesting had she been Obama's Vice President the voters would have loved her, tenuous? Yes perhaps she needs some advise on dealing with journalists such as Katie Couric. But it also raises some interesting questions about the role of the media within an election campaign and how low they should be allowed to go despite the fact Palin is not a great performer, and independent of her politics, there are some interesting points in this. If she does reappear as a candidate in 2012 could she celebrate her inability to perform in front of the media or emerge as a professional communicator?

Not so silly!

The Michael Palin for President campaign continues to try to pose as the silly alternative to mainstream politics while encouraging an anti-Sarah Palin vote. The last, one hopes, email from the campaign is all about mobilisation: "Vote like the wind... Vote like if you don't then the Spanish Inquisition will fry you up and toss you into a Spanish Omelet!" But the last line is a real clincher and suddenly it is not silly or Pythonesque: VOTE, YOU MISERABLE BASTARD, AS IF BY DOING SO YOU CAN KEEP AN OIL-DRILLING, WOLF-KILLING, IGNORANT ALASKAN MOOSE-MUNCHER FROM EVER GETTING HER IGNORANT, WELL-MANICURED FINGER ANYWHERE NEAR THE BIG RED ARMAGEDDON BUTTON! (You can). Well no-one from the Obama campaign could say this directly!

strategy, tactic, but what about the outcome?

Strategy
To engage with middle America, to overcome negative connotations, to answer critics, to be visible outside the traditional confines of a campaign, to be human/authentic/real, to be seen with celebrities, to get the message across.
Tactic
To appear on Saturday Night live, alongside Tina Fey (the best Sarah Palin lookalike around) to allow the cast to poke fun and take it in your stride, to appear with Alec Baldwin and others, to smile and look like you are having fun.

Possible Outcomes
To achieve the long-term strategy, or to look rather false or silly, to trivialise the campaign and its issues. To actually be seen to endorse some of the negatives voiced by Baldwin and Amy Poehler in her rap.

Decision Making
Should she or shouldn't she - she chose yes but was this the right decision for her as a candidate to be Vice President?

Wink Wink

It is hard to tell whether Sarah Palin is popular or not, some sections of the media castigate her, others talk of her as the saviour of the Republican campaign: the authentic hockey mom. But what is interesting is the fuss being made of her winking. There are a few clips on YouTube, such as the below to illustrate this:

The media seem to suggest that what she is suggesting is an understanding of her audience. That by winking it is an unspoken gesture of empathy and being at one with the people. Hence while many papers quote strategist Axelrod saying she would perform well but that you can not get away with just a nod a wink or a smile. However her great quality is her ordinariness and perhaps the nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more tactic will work for her.

Better than the real thing?

it's not about Michael really

So, on the Michael Palin viral video, today I have received the first email from the Michael Palin for President Campaign. I noted that some thought it was a promotional thing for Palin, and the email makes references to all things Python: ENGAGE IN SOCIAL DEBATE by rubbing Fuzzy Things on Republicans. ENGAGE IN CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE by doing Silly Walks in government buildings. But at it's heart it is a pro-Democrat, and for all we know Obama team created, campaign. The killer is the very strange bit that claims as evidence that "Apparently we've hit a nerve". After talking of it being featured on Obama's website the email claims: "Of course the opposition has been heard from as well, offering such insightful and considered political discourse as "If you have a child, I hope he dies in a car fire!" and "F--k your video and f--k you!". I kind of hope if these lines are true reflections of opposition responses then the authors are in no way connected to the campaigns of McCain or Palin. They claim the video has been watched by more than 200,000 people, though it is a couple of thousand less on their Youtube channel.

Unique selling point?

Can one steal a USP, is it too obvious a theft or can the McCain-Palin team establish themselves as the team most able to deliver the sort of change the undecided voters in swing states want?

Good example of a viral campaign

Though this is probably is the creation of a pro-Democrat/Obama group, this is sort of satire that can have a real impact. The simple message is that if Sarah Palin is a suitable candidate for Vice-President of the USA then so is anybody.

In three days it has had over 25,000 views and is becoming viral (I received it five times on Facebook today). There is a website for this 'campaign' also, if you sign up you get a free 'fuzzy thing', here is mine. I presume that the emails will be collected and there will be a more sustained anti-Palin campaign by email over the next few months. I await the bombardment. However, clever stuff. Very Palin-esque (Pythonesque perhaps), a simple message wrapped in comedy that will be enjoyed by many in the intended audience of semi-intellectual floating voters, the humorous message guarantees the video gaining views but not just via Youtube but via its homepage, this allows the collection of email addresses and the directing of a campaign to those who are susceptible to anti-Palin arguments. This demonstrates the ease of campaigning as facilitated by the Internet.