Celeb Attack On A Monumental Scale
by Al Shaw
The right wing smear machine has already kicked into high gear as the first pictures of Obama's stage at Invesco field have leaked out. Of course, following the celeb meme foisted on us by McCain and his surrogates, Obama is being slammed for the stage layout--a half ring of roman columns reminiscent of St. Peters.
A number of things are going on here. It has already been pointed out that Bush's nomination stage in 2004 featured Roman columns also, and that, of course, it is a common theme in Washington and presidential campaigns (just look at the monuments and government buildings). But at this point, that shouldn't matter. The Obama campaign needs to realize that, visually and metaphorically, they aren't on an even playing field, and they need to compensate for that.
I'm guessing that the stage layout was planned far in advance-- way before the Britney/Paris ad came out (which also, by the way, ran footage of Obama in front of the victory column.) But at that point, the conventional wisdom was that speaking to a crowd of hundreds of thousands was a good thing.
Update: My guess was wrong: they actually didn't get it at all:
Planners are not only hoping it is presidential, they say they want it to project an image of openness and accessibility to "regular people" - tenets of Obama's message.
Update 2: Some are saying that Obama is using the backdrop to recreate Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial for its 45th anniversary.
Update 3: Official word is that the inspiration for the Invesco stage was Kennedy's 1960 speech at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
(image: Matt McClain/Rocky Mountain News)
It is very similar to Bush's 2004 set, and so all the flacking is hypocritical that way. Having said that, I don't like the columns. Its tacky. Just the stage please. But I always like elegance over flash in stagecraft, but just the same. Unnecessary and too easy to attack.
Posted by: Some Guy | Aug 27, 2008 at 08:52 PM
There are two of us, Joyce and Jerry - he who claims he does not like blogs, but thinks that yours is terrific! We just wen through the whole series and are fans of Mel Chin's good work, of Al's comments on "the lollipop" and iAl and Michael's llumination of the Republican attack machine which is out to translate every positive into a negative.(Awaiting the cover images of Barack) From the above photo the set looks more Disneyland artificial than Greek or Roman serious, I can envision the stairs crowded with all the families and campaign dignitaries after the Obama speech - that may not happen - they may crowd the dais - as crowd step access could present a security nightmare.
There is a precedent for a larger venue for the acceptance speech. Who was it? Was it Kennedy? Be better if it was a Republican. Have to Google.
Posted by: JCS | Aug 27, 2008 at 09:01 PM
They've got to be effin kidding!
After all the Jesus talk last week (after being roped into that idiotic "debate") and now this Colosseum, I'm about ready to vote for Nader. It's as if he is not aware of what is going on outside his own skin. Is that a prerequisite for being president these days?
Posted by: Cactus | Aug 28, 2008 at 05:54 AM
The right wing and their extensions(News Corp) will attack no matter what. They frame the debate and everybody falls for it..
Posted by: mj | Aug 28, 2008 at 07:00 AM
Oh, please. Let's remember Bush's pompous altar to himself in 2004. what the heck is McCain's stage going to be - plywood and two-by-fours? The Republicans have gotten shameless, and I can only hope that its so over the top it will stop having impact.
The guy who spent a fortune on ads linking his opponent to celebrities just made his 13th appearance on the Leno Show, and hobnobbed with Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Does the Republican party have absolutely no irony?
Posted by: g | Aug 28, 2008 at 07:00 AM
Columns=democracy! I confess that when I first saw an aerial shot of the stadium on TV last night, and saw what appeared to be those columns, I thought of the "Stonehenge" scene from Spinal Tap. They look very, very tiny in scale. Let's hope they look more grandiose on television...
Posted by: caraf | Aug 28, 2008 at 08:04 AM
%%%###***+++... This is Cactus calming down.
Now that I've seen it in the context of lighting and camera angles, it really was a killer set. The full-on shots of Obama looked like he was standing outside the white house. With the gently waving flag in the background. Marvelous. Then the overhead shots with the circle of little point-lights looked like he was standing in the center of the presidential seal. Rove must be eating his shoes by now. The over-the-top drama of the columns on either side was muted by making them the huge TV screens for the audience. Very well done. And seen in the contexte of the huge arena and audience, it wasn't as gigantic as the photo above made it seem.
I have to say it.....I was impressed.....and no mention of Jesus!
Posted by: Cactus | Aug 28, 2008 at 08:25 PM
It's Greeks versus Romans -- the intellectual and profound culture versus the warriors of Rome.
Or perhaps Sparta.
Will the country go the way of all empires, or mature into something greater?
Posted by: donna | Aug 30, 2008 at 08:12 AM