Jim Drinkard, AP Analysis
TITLE: “Embrace” LENGTH: 30 seconds. AIRING: National cable TV.
SCRIPT: Announcer: “For decades, he’s been Washington’s biggest celebrity – John McCain. And as Washington embraced him, John McCain hugged right back. The lobbyists – running his low-road campaign. The money – billions in tax breaks for oil and drug companies, but almost nothing for families like yours. Lurching to the right, then the left, the old Washington dance, whatever it takes. John McCain. A Washington celebrity playing the same old Washington games.”
Obama: “I’m Barack Obama and I approved this message.”
KEY IMAGES: A series of quick shots of Republican presidential candidate John McCain appearing as a guest on entertainment-oriented television talk shows, footage of McCain embracing President Bush and a slow-motion shot of McCain walking ahead of a group of mostly men wearing suits and ties, identified as lobbyists running his campaign. Another image shows McCain speaking while he stands in front of an oil-pumping rig, superimposed with the words, “Billions for oil and drug companies,” and “Nothing for you.” The spot ends with Bush and McCain locking arms and appearing before cameras at the White House, and a shot of Obama smiling and talking with ordinary people in a more casual setting.
ANALYSIS: The ad appears to be a direct response to a negative McCain TV spot that began airing in late July painting Obama as a lightweight celebrity and comparing him to personalities such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Obama seeks to turn the tables by portraying McCain as a different sort of celebrity – a political figure who consorts with and does favors for lobbyists, but whose Washington connections disconnect him from ordinary Americans.
The images in the ad seek to make their point about celebrity by focusing on McCain’s appearances on late-night comedy shows with hosts such as Jay Leno and David Letterman, and on ABC’s “The View” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” McCain’s many appearances on policy- and news-oriented talk shows are nowhere to be seen.
Other prominent images in the ad – pairing McCain campaign aides labeled as lobbyists, and with Bush – are attempts to link the Republican with an unpopular president and with Washington insiders who seek to influence political decisions for the benefit of special interests. Both criticisms have been consistent themes of the Obama campaign.
The ad’s premise is stretched thin when it refers to McCain as “Washington’s biggest celebrity” over a period of decades. Many of the capital’s political figures, starting with the current and past presidents and extending to the top leaders of Congress, have loomed much larger in the public spotlight.
And McCain is not alone when it comes to linkage to special-interest lobbyists. Obama relies on his own set of lobbyist friends for help in fundraising and policy advice.
Obama’s ad includes a vaguely worded claim that McCain’s lobbyist ties resulted in “billions in tax breaks for oil and drug companies” – singling out two of the currently most-vilified industries. That appears to be a reference to McCain’s plan to enact an overall cut in corporate tax rates that would affect all corporations, not just those in the pharmaceutical and oil sectors.
By charging that McCain is a veteran politician “playing the same old Washington games,” the ad seeks to turn Obama’s relative newness to the political scene from a liability into an asset, suggesting he’ll do things differently. But Obama has come under criticism for failing to provide specifics on his proposals for change in the government.
Obama ad at: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/embrace_ad
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More