The 12 Ads of Christmas
Writing by treason on Friday, 21 of December , 2007 at 6:11 pm
“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.”
– Shirley Temple
Which brings us to the 2008 Presidential Candidates’ Christmas ads. Really there’s only four candidate ads to debate here: Huckabee’s, Obama’s, Hillary’s, and Rudy’s. All have been scrutinized, most have been criticized. Roasted like chestnuts on an open fire. Personally, I’d like to keep this in the holiday spirit and proclaim that all were calm, all were bright. But I cannot.
Look, I like Rudy. No matter how hard I try to find fault with the Mayor, I can’t forget that he’s the one with 12 Commitments that make sense to me. He’s the one with the record. He’s the one who made New York loveable. He’s the one talking about my 3 Ts: Terrorism, Taxes, Tort Reform. And throw in one more: Theater. The man knows how to put on make-up and a costume and belt out a song, but what the hell went wrong here? He has the timing, he has the humor, but where-oh-where was the script? I saw a couple versions of the ad and, frankly, they just didn’t work for me. Gotta give him the thumb’s down.
Huckabee. Omigod did you see that? Omigod there’s a big honkin’ cross in the room! Omigod there’s a cross and it’s glowing! Now, I have to admit that I thought it was the window until someone pointed out that it was a bookcase. The only issue I had was that if Huckabee’s in a room with a bookcase, where are the books? That it’s glowing and looks like a cross isn’t bothering me. The lack of reading material is. I liked the red sweater – unless, of course, it was some weird subliminal message that he was one with Hugo Chavez – and I appreciated the Bing Crosby/Andy Williams “Christmas special” feeling about it. I couldn’t help think that at any moment Claudine or Kathryn would be sweeping into the room in an appropriate holiday frock. “Cookies, anyone?”
No, instead, Mike was alone, but I still had the sense that Janet and the family dog were close by in the kitchen whipping up something tasty to eat. The criticism that the ad was too religious, too Christian? Well, that’s Christmas for you.
The Obama ad. Gotta give the Obamas a big thumb’s up. So tasteful, so pleasant. And, as Joe Biden would say, so fresh and clean. How charming to have such an attractive family nestled together for the holiday. Reminds you of the holiday dresses your parents picked out for you at Christmas. Ah, family. At home for the holidays. And isn’t that an important part of the season?
Of course it is. And something that was clearly lacking in both the Rudy and Hillary ads. At least in the Rudy ad you got the feeling that he was doing this on the fly because he and Judy had to get across town to a Christmas cocktail party. But the Hillary ad…
Sure it lacked warmth, and of course it was criticized for being so political. There she was handing out gifts to us. This is what I’m going to give you when I’m elected President. See? How benevolent I am? How I care? How much I will give to you? You will vote for me, now won’t you?
Not only was that creepy, but what struck me is how sad this ad was. Rudy was alone, Huckabee was alone, was Hillary was really alone. She looked like Martha Stewart, wrapping the perfect gift in the perfect setting, but she was the only one who would see it. Where was Chelsea? Where was the dog? Where was the Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole Christmas CD? And where-oh-where was Bill? He couldn’t even manage to be around on that one night of the year?
At least I had the sense that Rudy and Mike had something else going on in the house, but Hillary just had herself, some nicely wrapped empty boxes, and an evening of CNN ahead of her. Oh, dear. Have yourself a merry little Christmas, Mrs. Clinton.
Category: Uncategorized
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg -
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
