Let the baa-d puns begin — unless you’ve been living under a rock (or living anywhere other than California), you’ve probably seen the latest advertisement put out by Carly Fiorina, ex-Hewlett Packard CEO and current candidate for the Republican Senate nomination in California (to take on current Senator Barbara Boxer). She’s running against Tom Campbell, a former congressman-turned-finance director for Governor Schwarzenegger, with whose name California voters are familiar (he ran, unsuccessfully, in 1992 and 2000 for Senate). I’ll let the advertisement speak for itself.
I’m not an advertising aficionada. I can’t speak to the technical aspects of the advertisement, but I can doubt its legitimacy in both effectively promoting her message in the public sphere (Numerous bloggers have already questioned the superficial aspects of the video; NPR does an excellent job of rounding up the public response to the video, which ranges from “awesomely bizarre” to “deranged”). My focus is on the political content of the advertisement — if it contains any, rather — and the way that it’s shaping the political landscape for this fall’s election.
It’s not unusual to hear of the “outsider” in a political race that has the advantage of claiming innocence from the dark and dirty politics of DC (or in this case, Sacramento). Usually, this “outsider” has the unique ability to give insight into situations that haven’t already withstood the test of “tried and true” politics, thus informing voters on multiple alternative solutions to one problem. Election cycles have the special ability to engage the public in an open discussion about the best policies for our society. Fiorina camp has implicitly embraced this outsider status thus far in the race, citing that her business experience managing Hewlett-Packard could be advantageous for raising the state out of bankruptcy. Given her background in the business industry, I was curious to see what discussions would come of her obvious clash with former finance director Tom Campbell, her main opponent in the Republican primary. I was hoping for a clarification of each of their stances in regards to taxation, small businesses, and how to alleviate the struggling California economy. Instead, this advertisement has given news outlets everywhere a field day, with bloggers snidely latching on to the ridiculous sheep of the video as opposed to the content — which, if you haven’t caught, bizarrely attacks Tom Campbell as a tax-loving, “false” fiscal conservative — without providing any political substance of her own. The advertisement does succeed in provoking discussion, but it’s a discussion that belongs outside of the political sphere.
I had a lot of strong reactions to the video, which is precisely what the Fiorina campaign intended; I don’t think that they were the reactions that they wanted from the average voter, though. I questioned the year (Is it really 2010?). I questioned whether Carly Fiorina had, in fact, served as the CEO of Hewlett Packard (A quick Google search proved affirmative). I questioned whether the message that the Fiorina camp ultimately wanted me to take away from the advertisement was that Campbell is a FCINO — a “Fiscal Conservative in Name Only” — without any consideration to how her own policies would affect the California economy. If discourse is the ultimate aim in this political race, I’ll be looking elsewhere.
(For candidate Chuck DeVore’s hilarious and scary response to the demon sheep, click here.)
