Analysis of McCain's Website
This blog entry is part of a Fall 2008 blogging exchange between American University in Cairo and Stanford University's Online Activism class. To read all the entries, follow this thread; be sure read the earliest entries first.
Hi, this is Ian, David, and Lexi and we're working on this blog as part of our web-activism class at Stanford University. We're all Obama supporters and this may factor into the way we critically analyze the McCain website.
It seems clear that the website's intended audience is primarily the standard conservative voter. On the front page, for example, there are several links leading the reader to donate and volunteer for the McCain-Palin campaign. Most of the advertisements on the website either attack or make fun of Obama and Biden. McCain also focuses on appealing to typical Republican positions of small government in his warnings that Obama will "spread the wealth around," insinuating that Obama is a "socialist" or backs ideals of a large and uncontrolled government. McCain argues that Obama will raise taxes on the hard working "Joe the Plumbers" of the world - his new go-to icon and talking point.
McCain attempts to spread his message via flashy videos, pictures and slogans, shying away from concrete facts and direct policy comparisons to Barack Obama. This is evident from the first entry into his website, as the audience is immediately shown a video, while concrete facts require deeper navigation. While this video featured once depicted Sarah Palin introducing herself with a wink and a smile, it now displays McCain talking directly into the camera, simplifying America's problems into a few bullet points. Even more striking is the video that follows, introducing McCain as a former Naval pilot and POW, attempting to establish credibility primarily through his military service and experience on an international stage.
Earlier on the website, there was a video of Sarah Palin, the running mate for McCain and it served as her introduction to the presidential race. Since her recent press conferences and deeper scrutiny into her background, polls have shown that Palin's popularity has decreased and she has been ineffective in swaying undecided voters. As the second most prominent member to the McCain campaign, Palin has been reduced to just a smiling face. On the McCain website, Palin is only seen through pictures and when attempting to find out more information on her through the "About" section, her name is even below that of McCain's wife. It seems as if the McCain campaign has resigned itself to the fact that Palin will not attract a significant amount of new voters.
Comments
Concerning the issue of McCain critising and attacking Obama because he wants to "spread the wealth around" and that he is a socialist. I believe that McCain is unintentioanlly praising Obama because the United States suffers from a large gap between the rich and the poor and some American citizens are below the poverty line. However, what Obama is trying to address in his presidential campaign, that if he won in the elections he will redisribute wealth among the American citizens to solve the problem of inequality by raising taxes and applying some economic policies such as progressive taxation. Therefore, McCain is doing nothing except that he is supporting Obama unintentionally.
Posted by: Soliman Mohsen | November 3, 2008 02:03 PM