Many people have commented over the past few days about Obama being darkened in Clinton’s ad. Although I do take strong objection to the other tactics by the Clinton campaign to “blacken” Obama and make him appear like an outsider, I don’t necessarily place this ad in the same category. As FactCheck concluded, the whole frame, not just Obama’s skin was darkened and darkening ads is a typical tactic used to attack opponents. Don’t get me wrong, it is dirty, but just not in the way people are making it out to be. At best, it’s a way of making Hillary appear more appealing than Barack and at worst, an attempt to make Barack look sinister. My issue has more to do with Clinton’s “kitchen sink” approach to mudslinging and her attempts to dupe and scare the people.
Yes, it’s politics, but all of America is crying out for something better.
5 responses so far ↓
1
Vee
// Mar 18, 2008 at 7:45 am
Mike, personally I don’t think you have to be an expert in color correction or photo retouching to see that the entire image has been slightly darkened but when I read about the controversy about an attempt to make him appear darker . . . I just had to pause and decide to ignore the rants and banter.
I think people are beginning to see things that are not there. This is the kind of the tidbits that you see addressed in the gossip media.
2
Mike
// Mar 19, 2008 at 6:55 am
Yes, I think this one was overblown. But unfortunately, people are reading more into things like this because so many other unsavory tactics have used against Obama that have to do with his name, skin color, or religion.
3
JJ
// Mar 19, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Anais Nin once wrote, “We don’t see things as they really are, we see them as we are.”
Underneath the uproars of the “darkening of Obama” are the baneful woes of racism that has tormented the minds and hearts of Americans for centuries. IMO, people are going to perceive racism according to their own emotional predilections.
4
Carmen D.
// Mar 20, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Mike, I’m not sure I understand. You say, “it is dirty, but just not in the way people are making it out to be. At best, it’s a way of making Hillary appear more appealing than Barack and at worst, an attempt to make Barack look sinister.” but earlier you say that you don’t put this in the category of making Obama look like an outsider.
What do you think the people who think this darkening is egregious are making it out to be?
I spent 13 years as a network news producer working with video. It is not random or a mistake. These decisions are made shade by shade by shade in the editing room.
All of it is important IMHO.
5
Mike
// Mar 21, 2008 at 9:38 am
Carmen,
Many have made the case that this yet another attempt to remind people of his blackness and to trigger racial stereotypes in the process. These proponents also place these tactics in the same category as making Obama seem like a Muslim who is “outside” of what is American. I disagree with these people on that particular point. But I do think that it is a dirty strategy to darken frames to make someone appear less appealing (or sinister) as many political ads do. It’s a dirty tactic but not a racial one like comparing him to Jackson (done by Bill), or equivocating on his religion (done by Hillary).
I agree that it all matters though. These kinds of strategies drag politics further into the gutter than it already is. And Hillary has been engaging in far too much of it in my book.
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