A Box of Chocolates

A presidential campaign won’t be complete without the ads.  A political ad is one of the easiest ( and most costly) and effective ways to get the candidates’ messages delivered to the voters.  The political ads have made their own evolution from simple print to tv and now viral.  And now, campaign videos have become a staple for all candidates.   The candidates have become more competitve when it comes to who has the best presidential campaign video.

Presidential campaign videos cannot be undermined but measuring their actual effects to the voters is hard.  A video can have a million views but then one cannot really tell if these views will convert to votes.  But nevertheless, voters always look forward to the presidential campaign videos.

Thanks to Youtube, was able to dug up the most thought-provoking and entertaining presidential campaign videos.

1. Ike Eisenhower’s We like Ike, the man from Abilene

This video is like a cartoon version of the Grinch. In an era of the Cold war between the US and the Soviet Union, seeing humor in the elections was a relief to all. Eisenhower won 55% of the popular vote and winning 39 of the 48 states.

2. JFK’s Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy

Nothing beats the power of retention. The constant repetition of the name really gave him an edge. True, the ad was just about moving pictures but his charm cannot be underestimated, even if he would have not ran for president or any other office whatsoever.

3. Lyndon Johnson’s Daisy Ad

This is one of the classic political ads in existence. The effect it had was so powerful and this effect still resonates until today. Johnson just took office after Kennedy’s assassination. Daisy, the little girl, deliberately miscounted and the innocence she displayed really delivered the message that if the people don’t love one another, then death is next. I bet, the grown-up Daisy is an advocate of anti-war.

4. Ronald Reagan’s The Bear

This is one of those presidential campaign ads that didn’t mention almost anything about Reagan running for President. The symbolism was so powerful that it took Reagan to the White House. At first, was not able to see the connection between peace and the bear but then, despite it’s scary demeanor, the bear is a peaceful creature that will not attack unless provoked.

5. John McCain’s Obama is a celebrity but not ready to lead

Now, this stirred up worldwide controversy as it arrived at the era of viral videos. We all know how Paris Hilton responded and we have to watch and standby if this will give McCain boost for the good or for the worst.

Politics will continue to evolve and the candidates will get more creative, well their campaign teams will get more creative. Presidential campaign ads sugarcoat a candidates’ platforms, but voters should not let themselves be swept in their feet merely by these ads, hear the specifics, and never be afraid to ask questions about them.

A recent CNN polls showed that Sarah Palin is more favored by men. 62 percent of men questioned have a favorable opinion of the Alaska governor, nine points higher than women. This shuns the common option that she would have more appeal to woman being a woman and a mother.

The “girl power” image doesn’t seem to work for even though she has been portrayed as a doting mom and a loving wife. Yet, her fame is only increasing to the male genre.

Why is this so? Is it because of her leadership experience? Or is because of something else? No, people are too sick and tired to argue about political experience, it basically comes down to these three reasons:

1. Amidst all the insults, she just keeps mum.
You have the Lipstick on a pig bash by Obama and Matt Damon comparing her to a bad Disneyland movie and yet all that was heard were short, passive responses through a spokesperson. In other circumstances, being hushed might be a good move, just let the heat die down, but then, this is politics. Silence doesn’t mean yes, it denotes fear and lack of knowledge. Women are generally on the defense when it comes to this. Her silence shows that she’s kind of chicken to face her critics.

Politics is all about appearance, and she seems to have forgotten or just doesn’t know.  She waited weeks to appear on her very first interview on TV via the ABC News.

2. She can’t sport the beehive hairstyle properly
It’s like a half-finished beehive hairstyle. She should take lessons from Fran Drescher or Amy Winehouse for that hairstyle. And hairspray is not a woman’s bestfriend anymore. Lipgloss is.

3. She was photoshopped into good bodies
Why she was pasted to a woman wearing a two-piece bathing suit is not surprising but yet irritating in some ways. And this is not the end of her stint in the photoshop world.  She was pasted into a cover of Vogue and a sassy office girl.  She’s the type of woman that can turn most husband’s heads.  Bloggers of all political affiliation seem to have fallen in love on blogging about her.

Here’s proof of a few women who are not into the Palin boat. Just shows this country don’t stick with each other only because of gender, we weigh down the issues. Right. This maybe sexist comments, but the intention is to give out a different perspective to how a person should vote. Politics is one of those issues people love to hate. Politics somewhat provides an excuse to be somewhat mean. To bash someone without fear of being slapped by a lawsuit. To exchange ideas which sometimes have no factual basis. The redeeming value here is to use the 40 plus days to truly scrutinize the candidates based on what they are planning,specifically, on a bulleted list.

Maybe in an attempt to make good news for himself, Obama released a new video bashing about his opponents’ claims to accomplishment.

Obama claimed that McCain and Palin lied about their records, specifically being “mavericks” who’d stand up for hardpressed voters.   Got to say that he has a point to say that. The governor of Alaska has repeatedly said that she is not the avid fan od the infamous ” Bridge to Nowhere, which her running mate claims is a shining example of federal senseless spending.  When in fact, Palin was an eager supported and stuck through until was fully built.  The “Bridge to Nowhere” is a bridge in Ketchikan, Alaska, which would connect the town of Ketchikan (population 8,900) with its airport on the Island of Gravina (population 50) at a cost to federal taxpayers of a staggering $320 million.

I daresay Obama has the basis for this video.

After Sarah Palin was presented as John McCain’s running mate, her teen daughter was put into the spotlight. Her pregnancy sent shockwaves to the conservatives. Then her baby daddy, Levi Johnston, was hunted and was immediately shown on People.com.

The Palin family took a blow from the lefty bloggers who criticized the pregnancy as being an antithesis of what Palin advocates for. There was this rumor that the Palin’s newborn baby, as being a baby of one of her children. When this was getting big, they announced that they actually have a pregnant daughter, someone who is about to give birth.

It’s sad that the kids have to be put in a bad spotlight. This issue on the pregnancy should be left alone and not be talked about in a political context. Hopefully, after the Republican National Convention, we can move on and see the candidates’ specific plans, not their dirty linen.

With the democratic conventions almost culminating and the republican convention in a few days, hopefully, the tensions should get a notch down.  The nominees will be official and so they can concentrate on the issues again.  We have been bombarded with bickerings over the past few weeks and they have diverted from the issues that concern our daily living.  These issues include health care, safety, mortgage and gas prices.

The conventions are full of speeches but at the end of the day, all that matters is that we all solidify our stands and come to terms that this election is not really all about who is better but what will be the changes because we are in dire need of them.

The conventions for both the dems and the republicans are just days away.  The democratic convention will be held from August 25-28 at Denver, Colorado while the republicans’ convention will be from September 1-4 at St. Paul Minnesota.  Obam and McCain will be officially declared as the nominees for the presidential seat on November.

It is also expected that they will also introduce their picks for Vice-President.  The news circulating on who will be chosen is so confusing as they look like they have a new option every other day.  The most pressing national concerns have been shoved in the corner and all they talk about is the prospective VP or incapable the other candidate is.  These attitudes clearly shows a bit of how they will behave if they get to seat at the Oval office as head of state.

They better behave at their respective conventions as these events will be a sort of their pre-State of the Union address.

It’s not everyday that the elections are going to be held, but what one can see everyday is the endless political bickerings.  But this throwing of bad publicity is getting worse and nonsense.  I, for one, am fed up watching the news as I will only see the latest polls, surveys,and speeches.  Commentaries by the candidates’ supporters  seem irrelevant to me anymore.

Digging deep into the issues seems to have resorted to personal life revelations.  Ok, their personal lives do reflect in some ways how they will tackle the issues but then, do we really need to know how much allowance their kids get? Come on.  Enough.  It’s not about the country’s issues anymore, it’s about gaining attention.

Life is a stage, we have to break a leg, but we don’t have to lose a limb.

As the election nears,  so as the negative bickering arises between the presidential wannabees, so as the skeletons in the closet are also being thrown out.

The book entitled, The Case Against Barack Obama, is a bio of the Democratic nominee written by David Freddos.  In the book, he recounts how the lawmaker from Chicago turned as the first potential African-American president failed to take on the Chicago machine, listened to the more radical advisors, and supporting doctrinaire liberal causes from teachers union to abortion rights.

The author did not compared Obama to Spears and Hilton,good thing.  I bet this book will stir controversy as it may reveal certain information that may or not be true about Obama.  But then again, it’s really hard to know what to believe anymore.