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December 10, 2007: Election campaign time. Hillary, ***** and the others traveling all over, making their stops, utilizing photo-ops, etc. Fine. That's how it's done. The two things that always stand out to me at this juncture in the process that boggle my mind are the two things that we have seen -and will see more of soon- over the last month or so.
First is that these candidates all manipulate the people by getting celebrities to back them. It's big news now that Oprah Winfrey is backing *****. It is also big news in certain media outlets when Brad Pitt or Susan Sarandon make their picks and for the life of me I cannot figure how or why this is so! Apparently it is reality -that doesn't make sense to me- that Oprah's endorsement will actually sway voters to *****. Who Brad Pitt votes for will sway voters towards his choice? Why? A multi millionaire talk show host likes a particular candidate and that fact actually sways grown and intelligent Americans to like and vote for him, too. The fact that Oprah is famous and rich and high profile makes her opinion more valuable than an auto worker in Detroit, a steel worker in Pennsylvania or a broker on Wall Street? And this is true for what reason?
The other thing that makes no sense to me is when a candidate will visit a small town diner in Midwestern American somewhere and they will take photos of him or her sitting at the counter eating the house special (usually a special recipe pie or something) while mingling with the locals. The intention, I assume, is to portray the candidate as a real person, an average Joe who happens to be in politics. A man of the people. Usually they will have a cap on that bears the logo of the local sports team. If you are in Toledo then you wear a Mud Hens hat. In Boston you sport the Red Sox logo.
That's nice. I am sure Hillary cares deeply about the pitching rotation trouble the Sox are in. Elected or not, though, he or she will never come back to that diner as long as they live.
I remember once a few years ago, for example, when Senator Joseph Lieberman came by my gym in Hartford at election time with the media in tow. He talked to some of the boxers about the gym and a lot was made that day of the fact that we weren't getting any real support or funding from the city. So Joe is there and he takes a photo with one of the kids (that conveniently appeared in the local paper the following day) while promising to checkout the situation on his next trip to Washington (he was leaving the following day). So he gets his photo in the paper with seventeen year old Felix Cruz and comes across looking like a caring politician who wants to know what the inner city Puerto Rican kid thinks. He will go to bat for him and suburban people will say, "Oh, what a nice guy he is. Hanging out at the tough inner city gym with the local kids. He's got their back."
Then after he leaves the place, in between walking out the gym door and landing the next day in Washington, more than likely he forgets who Felix Cruz even is or what Felix wanted him to check out in D.C. I assume that's what happened, anyway, because as far as I know we never heard one thing from him or his group ever again.
At least Felix got a nice photo out of the deal, right?
First is that these candidates all manipulate the people by getting celebrities to back them. It's big news now that Oprah Winfrey is backing *****. It is also big news in certain media outlets when Brad Pitt or Susan Sarandon make their picks and for the life of me I cannot figure how or why this is so! Apparently it is reality -that doesn't make sense to me- that Oprah's endorsement will actually sway voters to *****. Who Brad Pitt votes for will sway voters towards his choice? Why? A multi millionaire talk show host likes a particular candidate and that fact actually sways grown and intelligent Americans to like and vote for him, too. The fact that Oprah is famous and rich and high profile makes her opinion more valuable than an auto worker in Detroit, a steel worker in Pennsylvania or a broker on Wall Street? And this is true for what reason?
The other thing that makes no sense to me is when a candidate will visit a small town diner in Midwestern American somewhere and they will take photos of him or her sitting at the counter eating the house special (usually a special recipe pie or something) while mingling with the locals. The intention, I assume, is to portray the candidate as a real person, an average Joe who happens to be in politics. A man of the people. Usually they will have a cap on that bears the logo of the local sports team. If you are in Toledo then you wear a Mud Hens hat. In Boston you sport the Red Sox logo.
That's nice. I am sure Hillary cares deeply about the pitching rotation trouble the Sox are in. Elected or not, though, he or she will never come back to that diner as long as they live.
I remember once a few years ago, for example, when Senator Joseph Lieberman came by my gym in Hartford at election time with the media in tow. He talked to some of the boxers about the gym and a lot was made that day of the fact that we weren't getting any real support or funding from the city. So Joe is there and he takes a photo with one of the kids (that conveniently appeared in the local paper the following day) while promising to checkout the situation on his next trip to Washington (he was leaving the following day). So he gets his photo in the paper with seventeen year old Felix Cruz and comes across looking like a caring politician who wants to know what the inner city Puerto Rican kid thinks. He will go to bat for him and suburban people will say, "Oh, what a nice guy he is. Hanging out at the tough inner city gym with the local kids. He's got their back."
Then after he leaves the place, in between walking out the gym door and landing the next day in Washington, more than likely he forgets who Felix Cruz even is or what Felix wanted him to check out in D.C. I assume that's what happened, anyway, because as far as I know we never heard one thing from him or his group ever again.
At least Felix got a nice photo out of the deal, right?
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