I Don’t Know What To Make Of This One…
Orlando Patterson, a respected Black sociology professor at Harvard whose judgment on most things I have respected over the years, has an interesting take, to say the least, on Hillary Clinton’s controversial telephone ad that is now credited with helping her win in Texas and save her campaign, for now. He has compared it to the Mondale ad in 1984 that most of us knew about, but he says the execution of the ad is very different and very disturbing.
Patterson says the unspecified danger and threat in the Clinton ad is an Obama presidency: “In my reading, the ad, in the insidious language of symbolism, says that Mr. Obama is himself the danger, the outsider within.” He sees this in the casting, camera work, and voice over. He says it is nothing like the Mondale ad, only in general first-take appearances. Wow!
I don’t know what to make of it. I’m not Black and the nuance of racism is not something I understand all that well. My initial thought is that his analyis is racist and designed to inflame. If so, this one could backfire or no one will pay much attention to it. On the other hand, the Clintons are masters at nuance and they don’t do anything by accident. I’m perplexed on this one. This comment and the Geraldine Ferraro comment (see post below) look like the next chapter in the dark side of this campaign.
Posted: March 11th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 5
Comments
Comment from caj
Time: March 11, 2008, 2:58 pm
Admrial/General what ever Fallon is gone. apologies to timr
Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: March 11, 2008, 3:54 pm
Exit polls in Mississippi show that Obama has a 10 percent lead over Clinton in terms of those who think he would be a better commander-in-chief. So what worked in Texas for her, where this ad played exclusively, is not working in MS. Time could be on Obama’s side here.
Comment from Sanctimonious Drivel
Time: March 12, 2008, 3:51 am
Orlando Patterson also went on to say this … and keep in mind we are all aware of “Fox polls” …
“It is significant that the Clinton campaign used its telephone ad in Texas, where a Fox poll conducted Feb. 26 to 28 showed that whites favored Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton 47 percent to 44 percent, and not in Ohio, where she held a comfortable 16-point lead among whites. Exit polls on March 4 showed the ad’s effect in Texas: a 12-point swing to 56 percent of white votes toward Mrs. Clinton. 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.”
Josh, your emphasis in the use of “respected Black professor”, I note the word Black, with a capital B and your reiteration of, “respected judgement”, makes me wonder if you are over extending just a little ? It appears to me Prof. Patterson is jumping to the conclusion, (unfounded of course) that this ad was aimed toward racism and not experience, as I think were the Clinton camps intentions.
It is interesting, your acceptance in part, of this mans explanation of the ad, whereas all I get out of it is speculative imagination on his part and once again race has been brought to the fore, which I think were his intentions from the onset. I agree with you when you say,
“My initial thought is that his analysis is racist and designed to inflame.”
Humanity will eventually annihilate themselves, at this stage of the game we’ve only reached hatred for ones “skin pigmentation”, so maybe everyone (all inclusive) should stop with the race word already, unless we’re referring to a speed competition.
Comment from Sasha
Time: March 12, 2008, 5:58 am
Perhaps, SD, but my first impression when I first saw the ad (before it was discussed elsewhere) was that it resembled those old Nixon ads with bad people walking down the street and Nixon keeping one safe. I was surprised when folks equated it with national security. So Dr. Patterson isn’t the only one who got that impression. I also think his pointing to the fact that none of the children is African American is worthy of note and not an accident.
I never thought of the Clintons as racists but the evidence keeps piling up that they aren’t above using racism to win. Most recently I’ll point to Senator Clinton’s weak repudiation of Gerry Ferraro’s remarks and the fact that she keeps it up, claiming that she is only being pinpointed because she is white. And she remains with the campaign.
Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: March 12, 2008, 6:16 am
SD, I just capitalize the word Black out of habit over the years. And in this case, I didn’t want to make the assumption that everyone knew who Patterson was. I didn’t have to say Harvard either, but I did. I hate it when folks say, “So And So, you know who they are, don’t you?” And then you either have to fake it or say, no, I don’t know who they are.
But I take your point. And Sasha’s comments are helpful as well. As I said, I didn’t know what to make of this op-ed.
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