Posted by
Steve on Friday, December 21, 2007 9:24:17 AM
The campaigns are winding down for Christmas. Some of them are putting out campaign commercials that are Christmas messages.
Mike Huckabee came out with the first commercial. In the commercial, he wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and has a Cross prominently displayed over his right shoulder. When asked about the Cross, he said that it was not deliberately put there. Everything in a campaign ad is deliberate. There is nothing left to chance or accident in a campaign commercial. The campaign knew the Cross was going to be prominently displayed. When confronted, he should have stood up and said that he intended the Cross to be displayed. By trying to hide his involvement, he is made to look like someone not in charge of his own campaign. He is also open to charges that he is trying to inject Christianity into his campaign as a campaign issue. That is not a good position to be in when you have people of all faiths voting in an election.
John McCain came out with the second commercial. It talks about an event that occurred when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. The event is that a guard comes into his cell and draws a cross in the sand. They both look at the cross and then the guard leaves. Pictures are shown of John McCain when he came home from Vietnam and today. A picture is also shown of someone drawing a cross with a stick in some sand. The intent is to say that the person is the guard doing that in Vietnam. But, obviously this is done today. John McCain then gets to put that he is a war hero and a Christian in the ad at the same time. The ad sounds like it is effective. It is not as blatantly Christian as Huckabee’s ad and that makes it all the more effective in its effect.
I have not heard of any other campaign commercials for the Christmas season. With these two ads out wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, I am sure that other campaigns will do the same thing. Some will play the Christian card like Huckabee and others will not. I expect Romney to have a commercial of him and his family around a roaring fire and a tree. Then they will wish everyone a Merry Christmas. That would be particularly effective. It highlights his family values and that he celebrates Christmas. It would help if there was a Manger Scene on the Mantle or something like that. I cannot see Romney using a Cross like Huckabee or McCain. Using family and the mentioned backdrop would make the commercial effective even if they only said Merry Christmas and nothing else.
Is it a good idea for campaigns to wish voters a Merry Christmas? Generally, campaigns do not do that. But, because religion has been injected so much into this campaign the need is there. Huckabee was the logical choice as the person most likely to make a campaign commercial for Christmas. When he did that, other campaigns felt they had to follow or they would be made to look anti-Christian. The only decision then is to make a commercial that highlights the candidate’s faith and does not copy Huckabee. In this campaign I think the commercial works. In other campaigns this tactic would not work. The trick also is to do this commercial without offending non-Christian voters. That is also a difficult task for a commercial of this type.