McCain v Obama: ad wars, pt 4

Last Modified: 09 Oct 2008
By: Channel 4 News

John McCain is using scare tactics to divert voters' attention from the economy, reports James von Leyden.

As things stand, the race for the White House is beyond either candidate's control.

Whether Barack Obama mobilises one extra voter or John McCain triples his advertising spending is immaterial.

The state of the economy on its own is likely to secure Obama victory on 4 November.

A McCain aide admitted as much to the New York Daily News at the weekend. "If we keep talking about the economic crisis", he said, "we're going to lose".

In McCain headquarters this has resulted in a last-ditch attempt at diversion. Anything goes, as long as it distracts voters from the recession.

But what could possibly resonate with a voter who has fears about his job, his home, his pension?

Answer: an even more deeply-held fear.

Three 30-second ads put out by the McCain team this week combine smears, snippets, scaremongering and truth-stretching in one highly inflammatory package. The ads ask: "who is Barack Obama?"

'Dangerous'

Dangerous is typical. A female voice-over accuses Obama of criticising American troops in Afghanistan for air-raiding villages and killing civilians.

"How dishonourable", she protests.

Of course, Obama was simply pointing out the well-known fact that using air power to combat an insurgency is likely to result in civilian casualties. It's hardly contentious. Except, of course, if it hints at something more sinister beneath the surface.

The question "Who is Barack Obama?" is an attempt to play on voters' most primal fears. It is part of a concerted effort by all sections of the American right, ever since Obama announced his candidacy, to plant nagging doubts about his race, religion and patriotism.

It was most recently reactivated by Sarah Palin in her references to the Weathermen and Jeremiah Wright.

The response to "Who is Barack Obama?" is that he is different, unknown, alien ... black.

Just as the economy is one given in this election, so Obama's race is another. The difference is that while it is legitimate for Obama to exploit the recession, it is no longer acceptable for a candidate to allude to his opponent's colour.

Not overtly, anyway.

Folks, released on the day of the presidential debate, has a music track as spine-chilling as anything from The Shining.

It cites a National Journal article which describes Barack Obama as - wait for it - the most liberal man in the senate. "How extreme", the voiceover declares (this tone of outrage is another common motif to the ads.)

The voiceover goes on to assert that Obama has accused his detractors of lying. It's tame stuff. But it's made to feel like the sum of all our fears.

The commercial ends with the words NOT PRESIDENTIAL.

'Ethics'

Unfortunately for John McCain, that is exactly how Barack Obama is coming across to voters.

In debates and speeches the Democrat candidate appears relaxed, in control, a steady hand in a crisis. Polling evidence shows that Obama's calm approach and presidential aura is starting to sway doubters.

Two videos posted this week on Barack Obama's website make the most of his skills.

Ethics is the latest in a series of long-format videos setting out Obama's Blueprint for Change: a point-by-point agenda for rebuilding America after the election. The videos are upbeat, statesmanlike.

'The subject'

The subject is a more conventional 30-second spot that seeks to counter the diversionary attacks from the McCain camp. "As Americans lose their jobs, homes and savings, it's time for a president who'll change the economy... not change the subject."

Cue images of concerned - white - American families and workers.

The fact is that the day's headlines mean Obama doesn't need to remind Americans about the economy. Instead he is free to focus his efforts on other issues like ethics, healthcare or voter registration.

His preferred way of doing this is to avoid the 30-second TV format altogether.

This week saw a flurry of tactical ads: short, voter registration messages endorsed by the Vote for Change campaign.

'McCain & the making of a financial crisis'

At the other end of the spectrum was a 13-minute video - almost a mini-documentary - called Keating Economics: John McCain & the Making of a Financial Crisis.

Released on Monday, the video examines McCain's role as one of the Keating Five - five US senators accused of taking bribes from Charles Keating, chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association which collapsed in 1989. The company's fraudulent practices were part of the wider Savings and Loan scandal of the early 90s.

The CNN Truth Squad - not known for its liberal leanings - endorsed the documentary's findings as true.

As a way to demolish one's opponent it is interesting to contrast the detailed, forensic approach of Keating Economics with McCain's attempts at mud-slinging.

In three days Keating Economics racked up well over a million views on YouTube. "Keating Five" was the seventh-most searched for term on Google on the afternoon of the video's release.

By contrast, searches relating to Obama and Weatherman William Ayers - the subject of Sarah Palin's attack on the same day - barely made an appearance among the top 100 online searches.

Random blurts, it would seem, are no match for carefully-constructed argument.

James von Leyden is a copywriter and brand strategist