Obama Cutting his Eyes…
Watching Obama speak last Wednesday night I had a flashback – back in 1984 when Senator Jesse Helms trailed Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points we attacked Hunt and attacked Hunt and got nowhere.
Hunt ran his first TV ad: Standing in a field talking to farmers, oozing empathy, at the end of the ad taking a backhanded swipe at Jesse for raising millions of dollars out of state, voice earnest Hunt purred, ‘We need a senator for North Carolina – not a senator for New York or California.’
Bob Harris, doing research, watching every move Hunt made during that campaign, faxed Earl Ashe a single piece of paper, an invitation to a fundraising reception in New York City; Earl stared at the name across the top of the invitation in bold letters – The New York Committee to Elect Jim Hunt – wrote a simple ad: He started with the clip of Hunt voice earnest saying, “We need a senator for North Carolina, not New York,” then froze Hunt’s face on the screen and rolled up the invitation to Hunt’s fundraiser as the announcer asked puzzled, “So what’s ‘The New York Committee to Elect Jim Hunt?’”
When I played the ad to a room of people a devastating thing happened – people laughed at Hunt.
The ad aired. Caught off balance, tripped up by his own words, Hunt stumbled a second time at a press conference: ‘The New York Committee – that’s just young people from North Carolina who went to UNC or NC State who now live in New York.’
Brows furrowing Earl leaned over another script – the ad started with Hunt saying the New York Committee ‘was young people from North Carolina’ then the camera zoomed in on the names of the hosts on Hunt’s invitation as the announcer, voice mocking, asked, “New York Governor Mario Cuomo? New York Major Ed Koch…young people from North Carolina?”
People laughed harder.
You seldom see humor in politics. But I found out it’s a lot more powerful than attack ads. (That’s one of the stories I tell in my memoir which is going to be published after Labor Day).
In 2016, trying to beat Trump in the Republican primary, Marco Rubio quipped, ‘You know what they say about men with small hands?’ Of course, he wasn’t just mocking Trump’s hands.
Seething, staring at Rubio in the next debate, waving both hands, Trump growled, He said they’re small, so something else may be small too. I guarantee you there’s no problem.
Last week, at the Democrat Convention, President Obama joked about Trump’s ‘weird obsession with crowd sizes,’ raised both hands in front of him, paused, cutting his eyes stared down at his hands.
Laughter echoed across the hall.
Obama’s quip put Trump’s folks in a tizzy, posting another standard attack ad.
Knowing the power of a touch of humor, poking Trump, Obama handed Democrats a deadly weapon: Laughter.
Obama Cutting his Eyes…
Watching Obama speak last Wednesday night I had a flashback – back in 1984 when Senator Jesse Helms trailed Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points we attacked Hunt and attacked Hunt and got nowhere.
Hunt ran his first TV ad: Standing in a field talking to farmers, oozing empathy, at the end of the ad taking a backhanded swipe at Jesse for raising millions of dollars out of state, voice earnest Hunt purred, ‘We need a senator for North Carolina – not a senator for New York or California.’
Bob Harris, doing research, watching every move Hunt made during that campaign, faxed Earl Ashe a single piece of paper, an invitation to a fundraising reception in New York City; Earl stared at the name across the top of the invitation in bold letters – The New York Committee to Elect Jim Hunt – wrote a simple ad: He started with the clip of Hunt voice earnest saying, “We need a senator for North Carolina, not New York,” then froze Hunt’s face on the screen and rolled up the invitation to Hunt’s fundraiser as the announcer asked puzzled, “So what’s ‘The New York Committee to Elect Jim Hunt?’”
When I played the ad to a room of people a devastating thing happened – people laughed at Hunt.
The ad aired. Caught off balance, tripped up by his own words, Hunt stumbled a second time at a press conference: ‘The New York Committee – that’s just young people from North Carolina who went to UNC or NC State who now live in New York.’
Brows furrowing Earl leaned over another script – the ad started with Hunt saying the New York Committee ‘was young people from North Carolina’ then the camera zoomed in on the names of the hosts on Hunt’s invitation as the announcer, voice mocking, asked, “New York Governor Mario Cuomo? New York Major Ed Koch…young people from North Carolina?”
People laughed harder.
You seldom see humor in politics. But I found out it’s a lot more powerful than attack ads. (That’s one of the stories I tell in my memoir which is going to be published after Labor Day).
In 2016, trying to beat Trump in the Republican primary, Marco Rubio quipped, ‘You know what they say about men with small hands?’ Of course, he wasn’t just mocking Trump’s hands.
Seething, staring at Rubio in the next debate, waving both hands, Trump growled, He said they’re small, so something else may be small too. I guarantee you there’s no problem.
Last week, at the Democrat Convention, President Obama joked about Trump’s ‘weird obsession with crowd sizes,’ raised both hands in front of him, paused, cutting his eyes stared down at his hands.
Laughter echoed across the hall.
Obama’s quip put Trump’s folks in a tizzy, posting another standard attack ad.
Knowing the power of a touch of humor, poking Trump, Obama handed Democrats a deadly weapon: Laughter.