Obama launches re-election bid in a half-empty arena:
During the speech, Obama ripped into the presumptive GOP nominee and discussed nation building at home, but the most newsworthy item of the day was not the talking points Obama delivered: it was the crowd… or lack thereof. According to ABC News, the Obama campaign had expected an “overflow” of people. Instead, the arena looked half-empty.
I listened to a little of the speech itself. I’m biased, of course – I never really bought into the supposed brilliance of Obama as an orator, although he has certainly been a capable-enough speaker – but he sounded strained and shrill, like Paul Wellstone with a rounder tone.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Obama organizers even had people move from the seats to the floor of the gym in order to project a larger crowd on television.
Oh, my. Not so good, for a “light worker”.
Might be even worse than that, though:
The official Barack Obama Tumblr boasts a figure from ThinkProgress that 14,000 attended the event–70% of the stadium’s seating capacity.
And we all know how lefties count crowds. If they claim 14,000, it may well have been somewhere between 140 and 1,400.
It’s a campaign faux pas to hold an event in a room that isn’t full; to promise the media a more-than-capacity crowd then fall this far short of that promise is utter incompetence. In 2008, Obama ran a near-flawless campaign, buoyed by enthusiasm and effective organizing. But it’s not 2008 any more, and on day one of the 2012 campaign, Team Obama has already made an embarrassing blunder.
I’m hoping for change.
It’s a long time between now and November. The MSM will find a Maccacca (still have no idea what that word means) moment somewhere.
The MSM may or may not find a ‘Maccacca’ moment jpmn, but it doesn’t matter. Republicans, Conservatives, the Center-Right and just plain sensible types are now able to look under the hood or behind the curtain or pick your metafore, and Democrat/PTR Media narratives are failing as never before.
In 2012, an Army of Davids are slaying the Obama/Plouffe/Axelrod’s message of the day. Romney carrying the dog on the roof of his car was overwhelmed by Obama having dog on the roof of his mouth.
2012 is not 2008. Half-filled arenas will be pointed out by the media, if only to prevent a boarding from the blog-o-sphere and the twitterati. If there is one thing Lefty can’t stand it’s derision from below. And if a PTR media type starts taking water trying to bail out the pretend, play-acting President you can bet they will leave that sinking ship quickly. Hell, even Anderson Cooper challenged the MoveOn.org narrative of the Republican War on Wymyn’s. And if Obama’s lost Anderson Cooper, he’s lost Middle, er a certain part of America that he thought was well in the tank for this election.
Seflores: If Team Obama has lost Anderson Cooper, it only means CNN will not broadcast naked lies. They can broadcast half-truths or opinions, but abject lies won’t even sell to their audience. CNN is desperately crying out for the Administration to give them language they can mold into something that resembles a coherent message.
They need to hire Olbermann. He’s the only broadcaster so lacking in integrity he can look at the camera and tell you with a glint in his eye that the sky is green.
That’s the point though Stinky. The Obama Administration can’t give out ‘language’ that the media can parrot without the media catching a backlash when that language or message runs headlong into the other side’s pointing out the hypocrisy of the message compared to 2008. Example: Olbermann says on his Current TV showgram that the dog on the roof could be one of the main reasons Romney loses the election. This comes after Axelrod mixes the dog on the roof message into serious policy interviews/media appearances. Olbermann then goes on ABC’s This Week program after the relevation that Obama dines on dog (which was pointed out by the Conservative blog-o-sphere) and says that all this dog business is just silly.
The idea that the media can say George Zimmerman is some cracker white Hispanic and Elizabeth “Fauxchohantas” Warren is a victim in need of an affirmative action remedy just got blown to bits. Remember, the Zimmerman-Martin shooting was supposed to have some larger meaning in the context of race relations effecting the election.
5-10 years ago, a news organization could and did get away with editing facts (as they tried to with the Zimmerman 911 call) to their liking to push a certain narrative. Now, the internet gives individuals the power to research, post video, launch their own investigations, etc. It has taken away dominant media culture’s ability to ignore facts that don’t fit their narrative. Cooper can’t avoid asking the MoveOn spokesperson why they didn’t run ads critical of Obama when he proposed diverting funds that were for ‘Women’s Health’ without facing the wrath of his viewers/losing credibility.
Yes, new media is exposing the hypocrisy. However, never underestimate the ability of some people to filter the facts to fit their own narrative. The reason “The Da Vinci Code” sold 41 million copies wasn’t because the story was true, but because unbelievers WANT Christianity to be revealed as a conspiracy.
“But it’s not 2008 any more”
Doesn’t seem to be quite the enthusiasm there was during his DNC acceptance speech of 2008.