It's 3:00 and the phones, pagers, and PDAs are ringing -- all over the world! The news is not about fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It is about the team that brings the wisdom, courage, vision and the motivation to drive America in the direction of hope, hard work, and a progressive realization of our goals.
It's 3AM...
"It's 3am and the phone is ringing...
Do you know where your $11.4 million dollars is?"
OVERCONFIDENCE CARRIES A HEFTY PRICETAG.
Still, there's always Secretary of State or Governor of New York.
No Country for Old Poli-tricksHuffington Post March 10, 2008
What is particularly unfortunate about this commercial is that it obscures the fact that not only have both Senators Clinton and Obama gained valuable national security experience . . . but both of them have more experience in this area than every President elected since Watergate (with the exception of the elder President Bush). continued
Wait wait wait--she wants to dare bring up this sort of question. I don't even have much to say about it, but this is what little I do have to say:
Back in 2001, when the "phone rang" on our twin towers, who was it that had the clarity of mind and forethought of action to be objective about what Duhhhh-bya was proposing for this grand war? It sure as hell wasn't Hillary now was it?
No, it was Barack Obama.
Now, what if, God forbid, she really did get a 3am phone call? If she can't use good judgement in the middle of the day how in the world could she do it at 3am?
Have Senator McCain, Senator Clinton, the main stream media, and the blogosphere forgotten that there are more momments at The White House than 3AM? We have been inundated by 3AM Phone Call ads over the past month and you would thing that the most important events happent at that time! Lest we forget on September 11, 2001, the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City shortly after 9am EST.
The President and his or her staff will need to have the judegement to make desicions at all times of day about all types of issues. I think The American people have moved on from this type of advertising and it is time for a better vision of the Presidency. It' time for Senator Obama to show is vision and leadership for a 24/7 White House.
This ad showcases the young woman who was in Hillary's 3am ad. This ad is a great explination of Mrs. Clinton's use of fear to win the nomination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXmYVRIpu2w
Who will not only listen to our voice but the voice of God. The same God that our Ancesters built this great nation on. The same God that delivered us our Independence as a Great nation from the control and overtaxation from the British. I believe Barack Obama is the right choice to lead America and its very trying times. Thanks Barack for standing up for all that is right. God Bless Barack and his family. And GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Peace
I keep thinking about the 3AM ad and imagining the response I would like to hear. Not only would I want Barack to answer the phone at 3AM, but would want to be addressed by him 5 hours later. When I think of the many poor performances by our current president, the most haunting ones are how MIA he is when a crisis occurs. Who do you want to speak to the nation in such times of crisis? Who do you want to rally the nation to stand up in the face of difficulty.
Similarly, we are not simply electing a president on Day, one. What kind of president will the Democratic Party offer to grow into the role on day 1,000? What kind of presidency will set up for the next office holder on THEIR day one? I want a president who is not so sure that they know all the right answers, but one who can ask the right questions. Day one will present different challenges than day 1,000, and like the story of Epamanondis, the answers to the last challenge is not always the answer to the next challenge.
A good steward of the presidency will always bring new ideas, new energy and new people WITH the lessons of history, to help government evolve.
These are the reasons I support Barack Obama.
Apologies to the administrator for not keeping this blog up to date, or using it in the most creative of ways. Never written on before...
Now this is truly funny. Turns out that the girl who appears asleep in Clinton's 3am ad is a big time Obama supporter who has volunteered for his events in Oregon. She is eligible to vote in the general elections in November and would absolutely vote for Sen. Obama in the blink of an eye. She's also sort of mad that the ad agency used the file footage for Clinton's ad. She'd like to do a counter-ad for Sen. Obama to set the record straight.
Read all about it at here. I for one am glad that she spoke up and she for one is surely not asleep while Clinton tries to con the voters.
Now that surely is worth a mention in Pennsylvania, don't you think?
This just in...
Even ABC News is now reporting that the sleeping child depicted in Hillary's "3am Phone Call" scare-tactic ad is in fact one Casey Knowles, now a 17 year old Obama Precinct Captain from Colorado. Read more about it here:
Inspired by this article, I wrote the following comment and posted it to ABCNews.com:
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This just goes to show that you have to very carefully consider every last detail in a Presidential Campaign. Hillary's team is obviously more incompetent because they've already had tremendous turnover, and now this. It would be VERY BAD for Hillary if Obama did an ad with this girl saying, essentially, "We were all children once (showing same stock image that's apparently available from GettyImages), but if we're lucky, we grow up to become adults (release the ad on the girl's 18th birthday, and show footage of her sleeping now), when we're young, the world can be a very scary place (show footage of battle and nuclear tests and bandana-masked thugs and clips from Godzilla where he looks into the bus), unfortunately, when we get older, we find out that this is sadly true (show roadside bomb and gatling gun helicopter attacks and 9/11 WTC Tower Collapse/Demolition footage). The phone rings on the president's desk all hours of the day and night, with innumerable crises. (Show footage of bat-phone like ringing phone on desk - then cut to footage of present day girl sleeping) and then have her wake up and say "I'll sleep better knowing that Barack Obama is president".I dunno... but I think the commercial would be a killer. ;-)
I'm amused that the little girl in the 'scare' ad (link) is actually 17, almost 18, and was a precinct captain for Obama (here's the local news report). The footage was stock footage (which explains why the Obama campaign could use it, too), and she found out about it's use along with the rest of us. She mentions doing an ad, and I wrote this. I wonder if anyone had (a) any suggestions and (b) knew to whom it should go, because it would be a very effective counter-punch, but they'll have to use it soon or people will forget the ad.
[fade in to sleeping girl stock footage]
Casey [voiceover]: "Hillary Clinton recently used stock footage of a happy little girl sleeping in bed to make a political ad, but tinted it blue ..."
[fades to dark, scary blue like the Clinton ad]
[Casey, cont'd.] "...and used a gravelly voice to scare you into voting for her."
[fade out ad, fade in Casey in brightly-lit room]
Casey: "That was me, eight years ago. And I'm here to tell you I'm not scared. You could even say I'm full of hope. Before I even saw the ad, I was a proud precinct captain on Barack Obama's campaign."
[Barack Obama walks up next to her]
Barack: "Let's put an end to politics of fear that uses scare tactics to drum up votes, and to justify bad decisions."
Casey: "And instead of relying on scary stock footage to get votes, Barack's campaign will rely on the people who've volunteered for his campaign. Like me. I'm Casey Knowles..."
Barack: "...and I'm Barack Obama..."
Both: "...and we approve this message."
Casey: "And not that other one!"
check out this video for some laughs!!
http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=225413
And here's Casey Knowles 'in her own words':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXmYVRIpu2w
First, kudos to the Obama campaign for not taking the cheap shots:
Now for what I wish the campaign would do about the 3am ad.
The response ad was a nice soft shove back. Great timing and well done. Unfortunately, it left the ball in her court and, because she’s now playing on Republican turf, in their court. Bad long-term strategy. So… it’s time to reframe the debate on security and this is the perfect opportunity.
Clinton and McCain are now both portraying the American public as a bunch of scardy-cats, huddled in their beds, terrified. Obama’s strength is his sincere belief in the strength and courage of that same public. And that’s where he needs to take this security conversation. If I was scripting him, here’s what he’d be saying:
I’m offended that Senator Clinton has such little faith in the American people. Over the past eight years we have seen what can be done by an administration that exploits the fears of the American people. Instead of dealing with the true threats of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, they took our nation on a wild goose chase into Iraq, laughing at the wise counsel of our allies and experienced elder statesmen, who told us it was a wild goose chase. Now, thousands of American and Iraqi lives later, we can see clearly how the administration has used fear to manipulate us, much like an abusive spouse uses fear and lies to manipulate and maintain control. We see that Senator Clinton was taken in by those lies. As Dr. Phil often says: “Past behavior is the best predictor of future performance.” With Senator Clinton’s latest ad, she signals that she’s willing to continue down that road of emotionally manipulating you. I won’t go there with her. While tens of thousands of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their health care, and facing immediate fears, I will not ‘wag the dog’ to win an election. That’s not the man I am, that’s not the president I will be. More importantly, that’s not the America I believe in. I’m truly disappointed in Senator Clinton. Today I want to announce my recovery plan for New Orleans. The current administration has made it clear they have no will to make a difference in that devastated city. But America can do better. We are not just a country of loosely held states, but a nation… committed to each other’s success and well-being. Our citizens prove it again and again with an outpouring of care and support, while our government, responsible for the manifestation of our democratic will, has done almost nothing. Immediately after my election as president, even before I’ve taken office, I will ask the city of New Orleans to provide me with a capacities and needs assessment detailing what it will take to restore the city’s infrastructure: utilities, transportation systems, health care facilities especially. I will have a team of nationwide experts, union and business leaders ready to review that assessment and create a timeline and budget for implementation that will commence immediately after I take office. A Federal jobs initiative will give first priority to current or displaced New Orleaneans willing to rebuild the infrastructure. Any current Federal guidelines impeding the rebuilding of infrastructure will be superseded to upgrade existing systems. I will ask Congress to create tax credits for employers around the nation who will pay their employees to go to New Orleans as the call goes out for specific types of laborers. I will also ask Congress to provide a tax credit for employees who take unpaid time to participate. If television shows can build a house in a week, shouldn’t a nation be able to restore the infrastructure of a devastated city in a year? And when we’re done in New Orleans, we’ll take the best practices we’ve learned and apply them to fixing the infrastructure in the rest of the nation. We can do it. This is the America I believe in: the nation of hope built upon the strengths of our citizens. We can do it!
I’m offended that Senator Clinton has such little faith in the American people. Over the past eight years we have seen what can be done by an administration that exploits the fears of the American people. Instead of dealing with the true threats of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, they took our nation on a wild goose chase into Iraq, laughing at the wise counsel of our allies and experienced elder statesmen, who told us it was a wild goose chase. Now, thousands of American and Iraqi lives later, we can see clearly how the administration has used fear to manipulate us, much like an abusive spouse uses fear and lies to manipulate and maintain control. We see that Senator Clinton was taken in by those lies.
As Dr. Phil often says: “Past behavior is the best predictor of future performance.” With Senator Clinton’s latest ad, she signals that she’s willing to continue down that road of emotionally manipulating you. I won’t go there with her. While tens of thousands of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their health care, and facing immediate fears, I will not ‘wag the dog’ to win an election. That’s not the man I am, that’s not the president I will be. More importantly, that’s not the America I believe in. I’m truly disappointed in Senator Clinton.
Today I want to announce my recovery plan for New Orleans. The current administration has made it clear they have no will to make a difference in that devastated city. But America can do better. We are not just a country of loosely held states, but a nation… committed to each other’s success and well-being. Our citizens prove it again and again with an outpouring of care and support, while our government, responsible for the manifestation of our democratic will, has done almost nothing.
Immediately after my election as president, even before I’ve taken office, I will ask the city of New Orleans to provide me with a capacities and needs assessment detailing what it will take to restore the city’s infrastructure: utilities, transportation systems, health care facilities especially. I will have a team of nationwide experts, union and business leaders ready to review that assessment and create a timeline and budget for implementation that will commence immediately after I take office.
A Federal jobs initiative will give first priority to current or displaced New Orleaneans willing to rebuild the infrastructure. Any current Federal guidelines impeding the rebuilding of infrastructure will be superseded to upgrade existing systems. I will ask Congress to create tax credits for employers around the nation who will pay their employees to go to New Orleans as the call goes out for specific types of laborers. I will also ask Congress to provide a tax credit for employees who take unpaid time to participate. If television shows can build a house in a week, shouldn’t a nation be able to restore the infrastructure of a devastated city in a year?
And when we’re done in New Orleans, we’ll take the best practices we’ve learned and apply them to fixing the infrastructure in the rest of the nation.
We can do it. This is the America I believe in: the nation of hope built upon the strengths of our citizens. We can do it!
That’s what I’d like to see/hear next from the Obama campaign. Back to our own message!!!
I wanted to post my comments that I sent to the Live with Dan Abrams show about for the POed part of his show. I had some good ideas and hope someone can let me know what they think.
Example idea that I sent (I am new at this so bear with me...):
"Segment about contracts to foreign companies I work for one of the two companies (I wont say which one because I am not speaking on their behalf) but you would think that yes American jobs would be key in awarding these contracts, but the superior technology used, which helps keep our superior edge military wise, would be paramount. Surely, Hillary Clinton and her "vast" national security experience that supposedly has over Obama would tell her that. Also, someone please remind her that there were two companies that won the contract one well known American aerospace company and one well known fore gin aeronautics company, Does she really think that those planes will be built overseas? (would we even allow that?)"
Click Read More for the rest....
Seasons comes and goes ... except obviously in politics where that silly season sticks.
We've been entertained lately by that 3.00 AM ad ... fear mongering says some, fair questioning argue others. I remember my first reaction when I saw the beginning of it first. Like many others, I went "hmm ... John ... really ... tssk, tssk ...". And then I saw who picked up the phone and I had a rictus.
Days later, I realized that I was acually very surprised by what I saw ... no, it wasn't because I was surprised that this ad comes from a democrat, it wasn't either because I was naively thinking that there was still some morality and dignity remaining in the Clinton campaign.
It was, I think, because I saw a woman picking up that phone, especially as this woman was Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Est. Shot: Night Outside At The White House. The Camera moves from the outside through the doors inside. The shot goes through into the residence.
Sound; A Phone Rings.
Shot: A phone ringing next to the President's Bed. A hand reaches out and picks it up. The receiver moves out of shot. Bill Clinton's voice is heard: "Its for you Hil."
Voiceover: "Who do you want to answer the phone in the White House at 3AM?"
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/focus_group_clintons_3_am_ad_d.html
Watch all the way to the end (I know, it's hard) and watch the opinions fall off a cliff when Hillary comes onscreen!
Political malpractice indeed.
