I'd like to see John McCain pull this one off.
Senator Barack Obama played another game of basketball today, this time suiting up here with the North Carolina Tar Heels. There were no injuries.Sure, you can call this extreme pandering. Is it silent manipulation when you play pickup ball in a state where hoops is religion? Yessir! But I'd much rather see Obama doing something he can actually pull off than rolling more gutterballs like he did in that much maligned bowling excursion in PA.
With a wave of controversy swirling around him – after a day in which the TV news was dominated by the incendiary words of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. – Mr. Obama began his day of campaigning in the friendly confines of the Tar Heel zone. Basketball has suddenly become a piece of his strategy to connect.
And at least here in North Carolina, where the Democratic primary is one week away, could the images of him on the basketball court replace – or at least supplement – those of his former pastor?
The senator played for several minutes, occasionally lagging behind the bunch. His best chance for a basket came shortly after he made a behind-the-back pass. As the ball was passed back to him, he fired up a jump shot, but it bounced from the backboard and around the rim.
The senator did not score any points, while cameras were rolling, but campaign aides later reported that he sunk a 3-point-shot.
I can't wait to see Hillary warming up with the Meredith College women's lacrosse team.
Besides, what's worse: a candidate playing a game he's halfway decent at, or a candidate's wife who has never cooked a day in her life having an intern crib recipes from the Food Network and calling them her own?
Michelle would never pull no B.S. like that.
You have to wonder sometimes if the Obama campaign is throwing out these images to send a subliminal message to voters. He's played pickup ball in front of reporters and cameras at least a dozen times thus far on this campaign. Is this some underhanded way of telling you about his relative health and youth vs John McCain?
Here Obama is stylin' on my Tarheels and breakin' ankles. Meanwhile, McCain prolly eats his Cream of Wheat and goes to bed by 7pm.
Putting a 6-3 and relatively athletic 40-something beside a crusty, 5-9 septuagenarian will be a pretty potent contrast when these guys line up for debates in the Fall. Yeah, I know that's blatantly trivial and borderline ageism, but folks far smarter than I have studied this sorta stuff and surmised that people do actually factor candidate's heights into their overall assessments of a person's capabilities. Cause short dudes stay losin'.[1]
Thank God I had good genes.
Question: How much does a candidate's overall appearance effect your personal assessment of their abilities? Before you ladies start giving me the Nth degree, just ask yourselves this: how many short dudes have you dated?
Bonus: Obama also introduced Rebb'n Wright to the underside of a Greyhound today.
Dribbling Past Reverend Wright [NYTimes]
McCain "Family Recipes" Lifted from the Food Network [HuffPost]
It Pays To Be Tall [Salon]
[1] For the record, I'm 5-11 1/2. Not Dikembe Mutombo, but not Mini-Me either.
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After going back to every presidential contest I've voted in (every one of them from 1972 to the present) and assessing the candidates' heights, I can honestly say that I've voted for the Democrat every time.
How tall was Michael Dukakis anyway?
Point well taken on (not) dating short dudes. Since I started voting during Bill Clinton's 2nd term for President; what choice did I have? Bob Dole? Seriously!!! To be honest, I'm attracted to style at first but you could lose me almost immediately if I find out there's no substance to back it up.
Dukakis was about 4'6", I think.
McCain's age will be a factor... it's one of the challenges of his campaign and I think Obama is absolutely out there playing ball to a) remind you of JFK, and b) remind you that he actually can run down a basketball court.
Ability to hit a 3-pointer is not on the short list of qualifications for the presidency but it surely plays well for the cameras, and it's got to factor in there somewhere.
Brother AverageBro, Balling is a Carolina tradition. You will see a lot of bike rims (rusty) in the trees to this day. The messsage of health may be a deciding factor if Brother Obama can survive the subliminal message of patrotism and experiance. There is a leval of white males (generals and Army brass) that WILL NOT allow him to be in the positon of Commander-in-Chief. Being an Army veteran, I know there is a lot of high ranking AA, BUT they rest assured because the final authority tend to be a white male. This patho thinking carries into the civilian sector. Micheal Jordon versus an army private with combat experiance white would win most elections in Amerikka. If only McCain was just an old fart but he was a POW and the thing the general voters might see is the stars and bars. I hope not. P.S. I saw the blog about your health. Stay true and serious. I am just following a healthy life-style by force. 57 years of doing my thing...you do the right thing.
My prediction? McCain will have heart trouble before the year is out.
Just a hunch.
I'm almost 5'10 so almost all the guys I've dated have been my height or a bit shorter.
Anywho, some of this humanizing the candidate is another way we don't value being smart. Every man=dumbing it down for the masses.
Agree with spool its about appealing to the camera. Politicians and media are in bed together when it comes to selling images. Images are quick and evoke emotion. They are not for analysis. Which is why TV can not effectively cover politics.
Think about Imelda Marcos and her shoes. Was that an accurate and informative way of knowing about corruption in the Philippines? Nope, but it was one hell of a visual.
Having said all that I'd rather see a president who plays hoops than one can't comb/brush his own hair.
"Great topic & it has covered several points regarding
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