Bruce_Gordon's Blog

As the nation awaits the historic nomination acceptance address by Sen. Barack Obama in Denver Thursday night, I'm struck by the setting as much as by the speech.  Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium is a massive venue best suited for football, not political speeches.  The stage area has been designed to resemble an ancient temple- complete with large columns.  It makes me wonder whether the Obama campaign will- someday soon- regret their decision to move the DNC party here, from the more intimate (?) Pepsi Center. Twice now, the Obama camp has come up with a clever, outside-the-box idea, only to take it one step too far and suffer the consequences. 

Remember Sen. Obama's overseas trip back in July?  Obama was greeted by world leaders as something more than a mere candidate-- he was greeted as an equal.  Then the campaign decided to wrap things up with a huge outdoor rally in Berlin.  It seemed like a great idea at the time:  show off the then-presumptive nominee's massive appeal to our European allies.  But then a funny thing happened.  The GOP turned the event on its head- using the visual imagery to attack Obama as a "celebrity," loved by Europeans and so, not quite American.  Ask yourself this: Which campaign has used the video from that rally more often and to greater effect since the event?  McCain's.

Then there was the clever, 21st century plan to notify supporters via email and text messages of Sen. Obama's choice of a running mate, so they'd be the "first to know."  Good idea.  Cutting edge.  But the Obama camp took it too far, trying to keep news of the choice a secret for nearly two full days after the candidate had made up his mind.  The result?  The text messages/emails went out to supporters at 3 am Saturday in the East- Friday midnight in the West.  The vast majority of Obama supporters were fast asleep when the message was sent.  And by then, the dreaded Mainstream Media had already learned the secret and broken the news, rendering the whole exercise a waste for those frustrated supporters. (of course, the campaign got a whole new list of  potential donors).

The idea behind the Invesco Field speech is to allow regular folks- not just delegates and party insiders- to experience this moment in history.  But if Sen. Obama comes off looking like a rock superstar, with 75,000 swooning fans begging for a brief glance or wave, we may once again see that a good idea- taken too far- can quickly turn into a bad one.

Bruce