This is a fascinating piece by a Harvard sociologist on the Clinton ad. His analysis of the imagery is interesting: "On first watching Hillary Clinton’s recent “It’s 3 a.m.” advertisement, I was left with an uneasy feeling that something was not quite right — something that went beyond my disappointment that she had decided to go negative. Repeated watching of the ad on YouTube increased my unease. I realized that I had only too often in my study of America’s racial history seen images much like these, and the sentiments to which they allude."
"...every ad-maker, like every social linguist, knows that words are often the least important aspect of a message and are easily muted by powerful images."
More than the ad, which is part of the Clinton spin put on recently, including talking of Obama as a possible VP candidate on her ticket (to get people thinking of her as the Presidential nominee, he as VP), there has been Clinton's conduct. To wit:
"It is striking, too, that during the same weekend the ad was broadcast, Mrs. Clinton refused to state unambiguously that Mr. Obama is a Christian and has never been a Muslim."
"It is possible that what I saw in the ad is different from what Mrs. Clinton and her operatives saw and intended. But as I watched it again and again I could not help but think of the sorry pass to which we may have come — that someone could be trading on the darkened memories of a twisted past that Mr. Obama has struggled to transcend."
Perhaps what the spinmeisters saw wasn't deliberately racist, though I think they would not shy away from hinting at even that topic, yet perhaps it reflects their ingrained racism.
The longer the campaign goes on, the less I like the Clintons. I am definitely suffering, badly, from Clinton fatigue.
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