That's it. I've had it.
Many people are glad they're not in charge. Me, on the contrary... well, I've applied many times for the job of Supreme Ruler of All Things I Care About but apparently someone else is more qualified.
Like George W. Bush.
Or Sarah Palin. (A note from one of my sons' blogs: Google has reinstated its 2001 search index as a birthday celebration. "Sarah Palin" appears a total of ZERO times. Even my then-10-year-old had four listings in 2001.)
In any case, I respectfully withdraw my application to run the world. I'm going to lower my sights and do what I can to improve my country and my own life: save aluminum foil and rubber bands, perhaps.
Seriously though? Within my own weeny sphere, I'll keep plugging to build business for us and our clients, I'll pay my youngest's tuition so he has a chance to get the job he wants someday, and I'll vote. And blog. And... okay, continue to bemoan the worst of the greed, the ignorance and the blind allegiance to All Things Foolish that made me apply to be Supreme Ruler of All Things I Care About in the first place.
Showing posts with label Palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palin. Show all posts
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The imperial campaign of Sarah Palin.
[caption id="attachment_103" align="alignleft" width="135" caption="Sarah, can we hear you?"]
[/caption]
You're right if you think I'm picking on Sarah Palin. I don't like her, and I really don't like the idea of her being one breath from the presidency.
You know it's bad when the press threatens not to cover Palin's events at the UN conference because access to her has been so severely limited that journalists are angry and disgusted. Essentially, Palin's handlers are allowing only photo opportunities, no questions.
There are two big problems with this:
One, she's running to be vice president and providing only scripted comments at planned events means that her words come from someone else and that we rarely see how she thinks on her feet... or what she really thinks when left to her own wits.
Two, the reason this is happening is that the McCain campaign doesn't WANT us to see how she thinks... or what she knows... or, perhaps most of all, what she doesn't know.
[/caption]You're right if you think I'm picking on Sarah Palin. I don't like her, and I really don't like the idea of her being one breath from the presidency.
You know it's bad when the press threatens not to cover Palin's events at the UN conference because access to her has been so severely limited that journalists are angry and disgusted. Essentially, Palin's handlers are allowing only photo opportunities, no questions.
There are two big problems with this:
One, she's running to be vice president and providing only scripted comments at planned events means that her words come from someone else and that we rarely see how she thinks on her feet... or what she really thinks when left to her own wits.
Two, the reason this is happening is that the McCain campaign doesn't WANT us to see how she thinks... or what she knows... or, perhaps most of all, what she doesn't know.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Palin: "Perhaps so." Perhaps NOT.
Sarah Palin stepped boldly into the arena of foreign relations with two stellar displays of readiness for the presidency while talking with interviewer Charles Gibson yesterday:
• Asked if the U.S. should go to war over the Russian incursion into Georgia, Palin said, "Perhaps so."
• Asked what she thought about the Bush doctrine, she was apparently unfamiliar with the term and surely so with the doctrine's bent toward waging preemptive war to prevent potential attacks or related security threats.
[caption id="attachment_47" align="alignleft" width="115" caption="Palin Action Figure! Zowie!"]
[/caption]
Oh, dear. I think I'll return my new Sarah Palin Action Figure to the store. She looks pretty but she knows almost nothing that would prepare her for said "action."
• Asked if the U.S. should go to war over the Russian incursion into Georgia, Palin said, "Perhaps so."
• Asked what she thought about the Bush doctrine, she was apparently unfamiliar with the term and surely so with the doctrine's bent toward waging preemptive war to prevent potential attacks or related security threats.
[caption id="attachment_47" align="alignleft" width="115" caption="Palin Action Figure! Zowie!"]
[/caption]Oh, dear. I think I'll return my new Sarah Palin Action Figure to the store. She looks pretty but she knows almost nothing that would prepare her for said "action."
Monday, September 8, 2008
Cynical, anyone? The communicator's dilemma.
Sure, I'm way too emotionally involved this election season. But I consider the time and the hand-wringing an investment in my professional tool set, because this year's presidential campaigns are studies in marketing, and very cynical marketing at that.
Which gets me thinking... how on earth can a communicator be believable when she has something "for sale"?
Personally, I look at everything the candidates and their cohorts do through a glass darkly. Picking Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee? Don't get me started about how cynical THAT was - and I so hope the women of America don't vote for her just because she has XX chromosomes. Obama's growing sympathy for the gun-totin', God fearin' working class? (Didn't he say something about them clinging bitterly to something? Guess hangin' around a few town halls in Pennsylvania wised him up...) Even the small stuff: Cindy McCain holding Sarah Palin's new baby on TV? Awww... but I notice she REALLY doesn't want that kid to barf on her dress. The cynic in me sees only a photo opp, not brilliantly handled.
Trying to learn from the mistakes of political campaigns... okay, so what about marketing products and services? The same problems can arise - it's tough getting a cynical audience to believe anything professional PR people and other communicators say - even when it's absolutely true.
Letting the truth be the point. That will help. The truth looks true. It sounds true. Maybe it's funny, eye-catching or new. The truth doesn't shift message just to be expedient. It doesn't underestimate the intelligence of its audience. It doesn't pull a bait-and-switch.
When you can't say something good and true about the product or service you're selling? No kidding - as a marketer, you should just say no. Save yourself for something worth talking about.
Integrity, over the long term, equals believability. I think it shines through - and that's where my own cynicism ends.
Which gets me thinking... how on earth can a communicator be believable when she has something "for sale"?
Personally, I look at everything the candidates and their cohorts do through a glass darkly. Picking Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee? Don't get me started about how cynical THAT was - and I so hope the women of America don't vote for her just because she has XX chromosomes. Obama's growing sympathy for the gun-totin', God fearin' working class? (Didn't he say something about them clinging bitterly to something? Guess hangin' around a few town halls in Pennsylvania wised him up...) Even the small stuff: Cindy McCain holding Sarah Palin's new baby on TV? Awww... but I notice she REALLY doesn't want that kid to barf on her dress. The cynic in me sees only a photo opp, not brilliantly handled.
Trying to learn from the mistakes of political campaigns... okay, so what about marketing products and services? The same problems can arise - it's tough getting a cynical audience to believe anything professional PR people and other communicators say - even when it's absolutely true.
Letting the truth be the point. That will help. The truth looks true. It sounds true. Maybe it's funny, eye-catching or new. The truth doesn't shift message just to be expedient. It doesn't underestimate the intelligence of its audience. It doesn't pull a bait-and-switch.
When you can't say something good and true about the product or service you're selling? No kidding - as a marketer, you should just say no. Save yourself for something worth talking about.
Integrity, over the long term, equals believability. I think it shines through - and that's where my own cynicism ends.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sarah Palin... do I remember her from a bad dream?
Yikes! Last night, listening to Sarah Palin's national debut, then the pundits' unabashed adulation, I felt ... so alone. Was I the only person in America who was horrified by her mean-spirited, small-minded speech?
Prime example: Palin mocks Obama for advocating that suspected terrorists, when arrested, be read their rights. And the audience agreed! Big time! Loud boos and vehement nodding of their Uncle Sam top hats made it clear that Ben Franklin's statement, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" is passe. Ouch.
I'm a marketer and a PR professional, so I should be able to understand how the masses think. Why then, as I heard Palin promoting her "hockey Mom" credentials and direly warning the crowd that this is a "world of threats and dangers" best managed by a man who has been tortured, rather than one who hasn't - why was I so worried that I alone, really alone, think Palin is a horror show?
In the light of today, I've encountered more enlightened individuals, none of them toting rifles or wearing the American flag as a costume, who weren't enthralled by the new candidate. And for that, I am truly grateful.
Prime example: Palin mocks Obama for advocating that suspected terrorists, when arrested, be read their rights. And the audience agreed! Big time! Loud boos and vehement nodding of their Uncle Sam top hats made it clear that Ben Franklin's statement, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" is passe. Ouch.
I'm a marketer and a PR professional, so I should be able to understand how the masses think. Why then, as I heard Palin promoting her "hockey Mom" credentials and direly warning the crowd that this is a "world of threats and dangers" best managed by a man who has been tortured, rather than one who hasn't - why was I so worried that I alone, really alone, think Palin is a horror show?
In the light of today, I've encountered more enlightened individuals, none of them toting rifles or wearing the American flag as a costume, who weren't enthralled by the new candidate. And for that, I am truly grateful.
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