Obama by the Ads

The election has been over for a month. Hopefully by now our anger, disgust, and disdain toward all the negative ads has subsided enough that we can have a frank discussion about why these are so bad.

In order to have a concrete understanding of the depth of awfulness that these ads embody let us embark on a case study: Barack Obama.There are rumors and articles on a daily basis on Obama's likely presidential run. He made the very overt step of visiting New Hampshire this past week. So basically, he's running. Everyone seems to love him. He is very endearing, very well-spoken, very charismatic, and very attractive. I've heard lots of people very excited about this rising star. He talks about hope, about his upbringing in poverty, and about his faith. It's no wonder that people are drawn to him.

However, it has long been understood that his biggest weakness is his lack of experience. Usually when someone says "I really like Barack Obama" I ask them what he has done that they like. Invariably, they revert to "he's smart, he's charismatic, he seems very nice...I just like him." Fair enough. However, this is the big problem for Barack: he has impressed them with his looks, charm, personality, and talking points, and they have fallen in love. But this love is built on a foundation of his persona.

Foundations built on personality are inherently susceptible to collapse.

In the minds of most Americans, Barack is not clearly defined. His book about hope got him a ton of press, especially when he went on Oprah, but it has not cemented in the mind of Joe American who this guy is.

Enter political ads.

In our fast-food, YouTube, CNN, Infotainment culture, Americans have a very short attention span. If you are reading this blog (and especially this far down in a post) you are not likely one of those people who are easily swayed by political ads. Unfortunately, you are not like most people. Joe American can be easily swayed. If he couldn't, politicians would not use negative ads. If Joe American were rational, reasonable, and truly took the time to sort through complex issues, negative ads would be a thing of the past. Sadly, they are not.

These ads are designed to appeal to our emotions, whether it be fear, anger, disgust, hatred, or all of the above. Since they are rooted in an appeal to emotion, they are by definition not concerned with being reasonable. Let's take for example just two ads (one Republican, one Democrat):

GASP! SHOCK! CHAGRIN! This sex-crazed, tax-payer-abusing piece of slime wants our vote?! That's our political culture. What you don't know and won't see unless you research it is that the "call to a phone sex line" lasted only a few seconds and the phone number shares the same last seven numbers as a state department phone number. Obviously, someone dialed the wrong area code and immediately hung up. But this is the Freakshow. There is no room for reason or decency--only emotion. How 'bout this one:

WHAT A TROOP-HATING BASTARD! Yeah, only one problem: every statement of fact was proved wrong. Every bit of it (yes, every bit) was a bold-faced lie. The supposed "vote against" body armor for the troops was an amendment to give over a billion dollars for unspecified items for the national guard. When pressed for more specifics, the amendment's sponsor said it would go to "skin exposure reduction paste" (read: sunscreen), "mobile chemical agent detectors", and "collective shelters" in case of chemical attacks in Iraq. While we can debate the merits of those things, what is clear is that the claim that the politician voted against armor for the troops is a load of crap. But what an emotional load of crap it was.

Let me get to my point. I don't know if Barack Obama would make a good president. Despite being a very politically-informed person, I can't tell you what he would do as president. I can't tell you what his most firmly held positions are, or what policies he firmly opposes. What I do know is this: political ads will not help me understand who this man is or what he would do as president.

Most likely, because Obama's image is not built on a foundation that has stood the test of time, a series of negative attack ads have the potential to destroy him before his campaign gets very far off the ground. These attacks will likely come from other Democrats in the primaries. In the end, since I'm a conservative, I will likely vote against Obama, but that fact makes me no less sad that our unintelligent political culture is positioned to destroy him so someone else can gain power.

This culture of attack will only take you and me further from understanding the truth. It will certainly take both you and me further away from any kind of rational discussion about what is best for the country. If we never discuss what is best for the country we cannot understand who is best fit to lead us there.

Political ads may make you and me vote a certain way, but if we do not rise above them we are just playing roulette with the future of America.