Posted by Jed Lewison on Sat Jun 7, 2008 at 1:32 AM Pacific

A well-made anti-Obama web video (that's based on a lie)

Don't worry -- by pimping this video (h/t Jonathan Martin), I'm not endorsing it's contents. Rather, I'm linking to it as an example of an effective anti-Obama web video. It's called "Obama on your shoulder" and the basic premise of the video is that Barack Obama is a puritanical liberal elitist who wants to tell you how to live your life.

It's not like I'm freaking out about this or anything, though. For starters, the premise of the video comes from a statement made by Obama, but taken way out of context. In the video, Obama says: "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times."

Sounds pretty bad (a presidential candidate telling us we cannot eat as much as we want?), but when you see the full context, you realize that his point was that we need to invest in alternative energy technology, especially since the rest of the world is growing rapidly and won't slow down just because we tell them to. Here's what Obama actually said:

If we lead by example, then we can actually export and license technologies that have been invented here to help them deal with their growth pains. But keep in mind, you're right, we can't tell them don't grow. We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine. Don't worry about us. That's not leadership.

It's no surprise that a right-wing attack is based on a false premise, and in a normal year, it's veracity wouldn't have an impact on its effectiveness. In 2008, however, I think it's going to be harder for the Republican attack machine.

First, we've seen these lies before, and now, unlike in 2004, a huge army of Obama supporters, linked together though social networking, blogs, and other electronic means, are committed to fighting back against GOP lies. Second, Obama has (and will have) a huge cash advantage over John McCain, allowing him to both define himself and respond to lies without relying on the media.

These attacks work best on people with little or no exposure to Barack, but thanks to his volunteer army and money, there won't be that many people who fall into that category. And given Barack's commitment to fighting back fast and fierce against these lies, we're about as well-positioned as we could be for the kinds of attacks in this video.

That's a good thing, because make no mistake, they are coming our way -- and fast.

A well-made anti-Obama web video (that's based on a lie)

Don't worry -- by pimping this video (h/t Jonathan Martin), I'm not endorsing it's contents. Rather, I'm linking to it as an example of an effective anti-Obama web video. It's called "Obama on your shoulder" and the basic premise of the video is that Barack Obama is a puritanical liberal elitist who wants to tell you how to live your life.

It's not like I'm freaking out about this or anything, though. For starters, the premise of the video comes from a statement made by Obama, but taken way out of context. In the video, Obama says: "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times."

Sounds pretty bad (a presidential candidate telling us we cannot eat as much as we want?), but when you see the full context, you realize that his point was that we need to invest in alternative energy technology, especially since the rest of the world is growing rapidly and won't slow down just because we tell them to. Here's what Obama actually said:

If we lead by example, then we can actually export and license technologies that have been invented here to help them deal with their growth pains. But keep in mind, you're right, we can't tell them don't grow. We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine. Don't worry about us. That's not leadership.

It's no surprise that a right-wing attack is based on a false premise, and in a normal year, it's veracity wouldn't have an impact on its effectiveness. In 2008, however, I think it's going to be harder for the Republican attack machine.

First, we've seen these lies before, and now, unlike in 2004, a huge army of Obama supporters, linked together though social networking, blogs, and other electronic means, are committed to fighting back against GOP lies. Second, Obama has (and will have) a huge cash advantage over John McCain, allowing him to both define himself and respond to lies without relying on the media.

These attacks work best on people with little or no exposure to Barack, but thanks to his volunteer army and money, there won't be that many people who fall into that category. And given Barack's commitment to fighting back fast and fierce against these lies, we're about as well-positioned as we could be for the kinds of attacks in this video.

That's a good thing, because make no mistake, they are coming our way -- and fast.

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