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| Home Front: Politix | |
| Hillary's down the tube | |
| 2007-03-19 | |
| A new video clip attacking Hillary Clinton as "Big Brother" has cemented the internet as the new battleground in the 2008 US presidential race. Launched on YouTube, the sophisticated underground advertisement parodies Senator Clinton's presidential campaign and urges voters to support her rival, Barack Obama. The pair are in a fierce battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Experts believe the 74-second pitch could become a watershed moment in 21st-century political campaigning, and the beginning of the end of traditional advertising. While the creator remains a mystery, the clip remixes director Ridley Scott's groundbreaking 1984 advertisement that introduced Apple computers to the world during the 1984 Super Bowl. In the new video, Senator Clinton's "let the conversation begin" address is played on a widescreen TV to a futuristic audience of zombie-like followers. Her words drone in the background as she is portrayed as a Big Brother-style dictator. A blond athlete then hurls a sledgehammer towards the screen, smashing the senator's image. The words then appear: "On Jan. 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you'll see why 2008 won't be like 1984". The words are followed by an updated Apple symbol -- transformed into an O -- and Senator Obama's website address, BarackObama.com. Senators Obama and Clinton both used the internet to announce their launches of exploratory committees, the first step to running for president. It meant they could directly speak to voters. Now the internet is breaking fresh ground in advertising and reaching out to younger audiences.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the team was not connected with the "Hillary 1984" video. "It's somebody else's creation," he said. Mr Burton declined to comment on its content. But he did say it showed "there is a lot of energy for Senator Obama on the web, in communities all over the country . . . and frankly, that energy will manifest itself in a lot of ways". Peter Leyden, director of San Francisco-based think tank the New Politics Institute, said the "Hillary 1984" video represented a "new era, a new wave of politics". "It's not about Obama. It's about the end of the broadcast era," Mr Leyden said. But others argue the advertisement is a guerilla way of using outside activists to influence campaigns and anonymously attack opponents. Veteran San Francisco advertising expert Bob Gardner said the video was "very powerful" in its efforts to call for a generational change in politics. "It puts Hillary spouting cliche nonsense to the drones -- while a fresh face breaks through," Mr Gardner said. "It's old versus new." Eric Jaye, a San Francisco political consultant, said the advertisement was beneficial to the Obama campaign. "They get to call Hillary Clinton a pabulum-spewing pseudo-fascist, without having to own it." | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Holy crap! This is off the My local NBC affiliate just covered it tonight on their 11 pm news. I can't imagine they found it on their own. (Got home too late to see the 6 pm news, so don't know if they covered it there, too, and I NEVER watch the national news, so dunno where else it was broadcast.) I thought I heard a high-pitched scream north of here (Va.) .... :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-03-19 23:25 |
| #3 Hmmm, a hard left, inexperienced, but decent guy vs. a hard left, corrupt, opportunist. Oh, I've got it - none of the above! |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-03-19 21:13 |
| #2 Cool ! The democrat voters march in lock step to get their voting orders, while a free spirit, (perhaps Seafarious) does an olympic hammer throw into Hillary's right nostril. Gotta love it. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-03-19 19:40 |
| #1 the video is here. Click |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-03-19 15:14 |