Following in the footsteps of Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” ad starring Clint Eastwood (but which really pitched a second Obama term), MSNBC poaches on a cool celebrity to sell a faulty president:
The Rev. Al Sharpton says Jeremy Lin gives “Americans hope again” in a “Lean Forward” ad for MSNBC.
In the 90-second clip, Sharpton refers to Lin’s surprise success, saying, “It’s about looking past the surface, beyond the stereotypes, and giving unlikely people a chance.”
“Giving unlikely people a chance.” That just happens to provide assists to Barack Obama in at least two ways. One, his biography of mixed parentage (one parent a socialist, the other a Marxist) and lack of experience plus out-of-the-mainstream ideology make him an “unlikely” man to have won the presidency; and two, he may run on a platform of economic “fairness” this year to frame his campaign. His entire “tax the rich” scheme isn’t about economic growth or what’s actually good for the country, it’s about his narrow view of “spreading the wealth around,” i.e. “fairness.”
MSNBC and Al Sharpton (and Spike Lee, who directed the “Lin Forward” ad) are cheap dates: Unlike Chrysler, they didn’t even have to get bailed out to produce free ads for the lightworker.
The obvious flip side, at least as concerns Lin, is that he isn’t so much being given a chance as that he earned that chance. And he keeps earning his way by playing well and firing up a league that desperately needs a hero. But people earning their way through hard work and traditional faith isn’t part of the Obama narrative. They have to be given their unlikely chance by a downright mean America.
“Halftime” and “Lin Forward” are two cases of this president’s allies using unwilling and unwitting spokesman to deliver up not very subtle pitches for Obama’s re-election. The Seal Team Six movie looks like a third. Disney is releasing it as a kind of October box office surprise, just a few weeks before the November elections. VP Biden has set up the narrative of Obama going against Biden’s advice to green light the raid that killed bin Laden, which reinforces the “gutsty call” mantra while also making pretty much everyone glad that Joe Biden isn’t president. Any bets how the movie will depict Obama?
A mix of messiah, Eastwood’s nameless gunfighter from the spaghetti westerns, and Scarface, who can play basketball, would be a safe bet.
Never mind that neither Clint Eastwood, Jeremy Lin or the SEALs have volunteered for Obama’s re-election campaign and probably wouldn’t if asked.
h/t Chris
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