Is David Gergen Right?

I watched This Week this weekend and saw these comments from David Gergen (via Sam Stein @ Huffington Post):

"There has been a very intentional effort to paint him as somebody outside the mainstream, other, 'he's not one of us,'" said Gergen, who has worked with White Houses, both Republican and Democrat, from Nixon to Clinton. "I think the McCain campaign has been scrupulous about not directly saying it, but it's the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows that. There are certain kinds of signals. As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, 'The One,' that's code for, 'he's uppity, he ought to stay in his place.' Everybody gets that who is from a southern background. We all understand that. When McCain comes out and starts talking about affirmative action, 'I'm against quotas,' we get what that's about."

You can watch the video here.

His remarks and the subsequent reaction on the news channels got me thinking about how exactly it is that we go about crafting messages in advertising. Now none of what Gergen mentioned is, per say, overtly messaging "uppity", but does anyone think it's an accident that NRA hero Heston shows up as Moses? Things are communicated in code in advertising, and this is a great example.

Now Washington journalists will deconstruct each and every image and word choice of McCain's ads, trying to find a smoking gun of racism. There isn't one, and there won't be. What these ads do is attempt to hit on subconscious emotions, not overt ones. And that's what David Gergen is trying to say. Someone will see a hint of it (like Gergen), understand what's really going on, and then try and make the case.

I think Gergen is making a good point here, but I think that it's getting lost in the delivery. I believe he is right - just look at the plain facts of the last two weeks of John McCain's TV campaign:

In "The One" John McCain is tearing down the idea that a President has the capacity to change a culture and lead change in the world. That's what Presidents do, change the course of history, either for good or bad. If you don't want that job John, and if you don't think think that it's possible for a President to change history, why are YOU running for President?

In "Celebrity" McCain is marginalizing the public appeal Obama obviously has, comparing it to the same appeal the public finds in pseduo-celebrities with night-vision sex tape specials. It specifically mocks the power of a president to use words to change the world ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" anyone?) - dredging up the Bible and Moses to complete the message - only God changes the world.

In their web ad "Obama Love" McCain mocks huge international crowds. Yeah, because the last thing we would want is a President who is admired by the rest of the world. How does he turn this obvious positive into a negative? By pulling out a handful of extreme political views and painting all of Europe with the broad brush of socialism. McCain is tapping into the feeling in his base (and perhaps beyond) that the last thing that we want is socialism - hint hint - he's talking about Obama's health care reform plan.

So is Gergen right? Is there uppity in here? Just look at the questions that the ads ask. Who are you to change the world? Who are you to get all the attention? Just who do you think you are telling us we have to change?

Voters seem to be taking away that message in a more subtle form - in growing numbers they don't believe that Obama shares the same view of America that they do. From Rasmussen:

Forty-six percent (46%) of voters nationwide now say that Obama views U.S. society as unfair and discriminatory. That’s up from 43% in July and 39% in June. By a three-to-one margin, American voters hold the opposite view and believe that our society is generally fair and decent.

And McCain is feeding that perception with these campaigns. Just who does this guy think he is?

I've become a big fan of Morning Joe on MSNBC in the mornings. Obviously, the last week of ads has been the main topic of discussion of late. Pat Buchanan has been saying for months that Obama's biggest liability is his ability for average voters to relate to him (the "have a beer" question that pollsters usually ask). Earlier in the primary, it was that Obama was too "faculty lounge" for the average voter. His current take is that many in the public went from asking "who is Barack Obama" to "who does this guy think he is". I'm loathe to say it, but he's right - polls show that Obama's numbers on this issue are moving, just not in the right direction.

So what's the antidote to this kind of campaign? You have to take this head on (I think with paid TV ads) - you can't just ignore it. What might that TV ad look like? Think of images of Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton drawing huge crowds overseas - paired up with the exact footage from the McCain ad of Obama in Berlin - and ending with Obama making his case clearly and forcefully that not only can an American President earn the respect of the world, but can also lead the world.

See, that subconscious thing can work both ways. Deep down, I believe that most Americans want their President respected - and even more so their country respected. Visuals of Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton remind voters of a time when we were respected in the world, and our President was a leader. Obama needs to tell the public himself that he wants to get our country where we all want to go - not hope that it gets through the media filter that's all a-flutter with Paris and Moses. I believe that average Americans won't care what race the President is if he's getting the job done - Obama just has to make sure getting the job done is what he's talking about. He can't respond to McCain's attacks weakly, Americans don't want a weak President. That was Kerry's mistake, and it's not a mistake Obama can afford to make.

P.S. You can see Ms. Hilton's reaction in John's post below. In case you were wondering what Paris Hilton's mom (a McCain donor, you know, casue she's rich and probably loves those tax breaks) thinks about all this, you can read that on the HuffPost.