Obama's Infomercial: Presidential Screen Test

Barack Obama's infomercial debunked: "Obama's prime-time ad skips over budget realities"

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was less than upfront in his half-hour commercial Wednesday night about the costs of his programs and the crushing budget pressures he would face in office.

Obama's assertion that "I've offered spending cuts above and beyond" the expense of his promises is accepted only by his partisans. His vow to save money by "eliminating programs that don't work" masks his failure throughout the campaign to specify what those programs are—beyond the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Read Obama's spin and the facts.
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At 7:00 PM, when Barack Obama's infomercial aired in my time zone, I was having dinner.

I felt absolutely no sense of urgency to watch one of the most hyped commercials of the century.

After midnight, I found it on the New York Times website.

Obama's ad was touted by the Times as "big, glossy, and almost unavoidable."

Actually, I found it easily avoidable, though I agree that it was big and glossy, only not in a good way.

Jim Rutenberg writes:

The program gave a new meaning to the word “infomercial” and, for that matter, to all notions of political advertising. Executed with high standards of cinematography, with help from the director of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Davis Guggenheim, the infomercial was part slickly produced reality program; part Lifetime biography; and part wonkish policy lecture with music that could have come from “The West Wing.”

Its imagery was acutely Middle American: suburban lawns, American flags, corn fields and factories. It was packed with swing state and Midwestern governors and senators who spoke in glowing terms of Mr. Obama; a brigadier general, now retired, vouched for his national security credentials.

Watch the video.

This infomercial wasn't directed at me.

I won't be voting for Obama. It didn't alter my opinion whatsoever.

It may have impressed some undecided voters. The commercial may have convinced them to buy what Obama is selling.

Obviously, as a viewer, I brought my biases with me and I wouldn't be sold on the product.

That said, the infomercial seemed like a parody to me -- the images, the music, the testimonials. It played almost like a political version of Spinal Tap.

It was such a dramatically scripted, choreographed, and scored production. It was so overproduced, so Hollywood, so fake.

The only time I felt Obama really connected was when he talked about the death of his mom.

OBAMA: When my mom passed away, it was one of the toughest moments of my life... Anybody who's gone through that kind of process knows how difficult it is and heartbreaking it is to see somebody you love go on that path. And it's a lonely path. It was a reminder to me that, boy, life sure is short and you better, you better seize the moment.

That seemed real to me. I know it was part of Obama's health care discussion and could be seen as exploitation, but that brief snip came across as sincere and apolitical.

I think it was a mistake for the ad to end by cutting to Obama at a rally in Florida, live. It highlighted how unreal and packaged the previous 27 minutes of the presentation had been.

Of course, none of this begins to address the substance of Obama's plans and positions on the issues, but that really wasn't the purpose of the infomercial anyway.

It was a screen test, a West Wing audition, and in that sense, very superficial. Fluff.

It wasn't about educating the audience on policies. It was about getting people to envision Obama as the president.

Is he right for the role?

I hope Americans aren't content to choose a president on such shallow grounds.