http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_c6921tBK4
The humorous demeanour of Hillary Clinton in this short comedic excerpt from David Letterman's Late Show is refreshing to see during a campaign year. She keeps the mood light with jokes about future plans if she is elected president. Though these plans would not be very convincing for most, they show a lighter side to the campaigning individual (which I would guess helps her win votes in the long run).
I think the main scheme behind her appearance was to show citizens that she appears as ordinary as the next person. She comments on several 'every day' occurrences that could be changed (either for better or worse). She develops these ideas through Letterman's nightly Top 10 List (which is widely known and probably watched more than a general campaign, on average). I know that I would rather watch Letterman's List over any given campaign night in a heartbeat!
I don't see any type of arrangement with her list, but she hits on several points that are always important to the normal citizen. She touches on entertainment with the comments about "The View" and "Lost." She plays on the assumption that everyone hates taxes and would love not to have to file them. Later in her countdown, she touches on a real political issue with a previous vice president and the one she would have if elected. And to conclude some of her ideas, she plays on her own gender and procedures she would take over that of a male president.
The only thing that bothered me about this piece was that throughout the entire time Hillary was trying to joke about her campaign ideas, she never smiled. She did not seem to enjoy the topics she was discussing. To me, this was not very convincing on her part of the entire. With the list of the top 10 campaign ideas, she appeared to be using somewhat of a slippery slope fallacy. If she were elected president, then she would assure that this, this and that were to occur. If the list would have been somewhat plausible, I do not feel she would have carried the messages as forcibly and/or earnestly as she could have. This and her posture held me in skepticism about her potential as president of the United States, to be quite honest.
03 October 2007
Top 10 Campaign
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3 comments:
I like the video and your analysis. You successfully covered all the main points that Hillary is trying to play on. I think it is interesting that Hillary decided to make a list of jokes about her future plans as a president. It certainly is refreshing as you mentioned. In a sense this would help her win votes, but in another sense she might not be taken seriously by those who are devout supporters of a "serious president". However, I guess most viewers probably wouldn't want that, and they would probably, as you mentioned, rather be watching the Top 10 List than some political campaign.
Regarding her not smiling, I think one way to look at it is that she was trying to act serious in order to leave the laughter to the audience. However, I think I agree with your idea that she probably wasn't enjoying what she was saying. In a sense, it almost seems as if this entire presentation was just another campaigning device that she just had to bring out there to try and convince people that she had a light-hearted side to her. I think the overall effect of her presentation really depends on whether or not the viewer chooses to believe that she does have the motivation to make changes, or whether this is all just some huge joke.
Overall, I enjoyed the video, and you did a really good analysis. Hooray! Have a nice day.
You did a superb job of analyzing the video of Hillary poking fun at herself. Great job on noting Hillary's lack of enjoyment towards the notion of her joking about her own platform - Hillary did not look like she was having much fun at all.
I personally do not buy into the notion that when politicians joke around - especially the way in which Hillary jokes around in the video you blogged about - they are sincerely displaying a "lighter side" to their personalities. Politicians that pull antics such as this are simply trying to appeal to voters too ignorant to realize that their act is just a ploy to get an extra vote, to conjure up talk of him or her being a "down-to-earth, light-hearted person"... gag me. In my opinion, this campaign tactic corrupts the electoral process of campaigning, a process that is the very pinnacle of the "marketplace of ideas". Candidates should only talk about issues germane to the job of leading the most powerful country in the world. I, as well as many others, enjoy comedy; however, I just do not see a place for comedic undertones in the campaign process - it can, in cases, mislead voters just as easily as negative campaigning may mislead voters.
Pardon my Tim Laquintano-esque digression (for the record, Tim, I personally enjoy your rants), this is supposed to be about you, Tabi, and your analysis of Hillary's appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman - not my convictions on the electoral process. You seemed to have headed in the general direction of my aforementioned beliefs, which is encouraging to see with regard to the American voter pool. More importantly, you expressed your opinion in an eloquent, persuasive manner...great job, friend.
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