Political Image — Worth A Thousand Words

Image is everything. Will Ferrell is hilarious, Justin Timberlake is sexy-cool and Hope Solo is relentless. In the race to presidency of the United States, the public eye determines the final vote. The image of the candidates is determined by their campaign, slogan, propaganda and publicity.Social studies teacher Rose Ann Salumbides said that the first three words that come to mind when she thinks about President Barack Obama are ‘steadfast,’ ‘progressive’ and ‘inclusive.’According to Salumbides, Obama can be seen as the “American Man” by some of the United States.“Obama is somebody who is in touch with the middle-class, who has experienced some of the similar things that most people struggle with everyday and who has used his education as an avenue to a career,” Salumbides said. “Having an idea of his background is important for voters.”Junior Grace Waring said that she strongly associates Obama with hope. This is due to Obama’s 2008 campaign– the famous red, white and blue ink print posters featuring a photo of Obama with the words “hope,” “change” or “progress” printed beneath his photo.According to Salumbides, Mitt Romeny’s extreme wealth and Mormon religion distance him from the typical “American Man.”“[Like Obama,] Romney too wants to use his experiences to make policy, but he doesn’t have the same life experiences as most of America,” Salumbides said. “He has made a lot of mistakes in his campaign. Normally [candidates] don’t show how disconnected they are from the majority of the people.”Junior Abby Zakharin said that she believes Obama has not done much to change the nation for the better.“At the Republican National Convention, they brought up the question: are we better off than we were four years ago? And the answer is no, we are not,” Zakharin said. “It’s worse; we have a greater debt and more people who are unemployed.”Waring agrees with Zakharin’s point on Obama’s presidency.“I don’t think Obama really did anything during his presidency to reiterate the ‘Hope’ slogan,” Waring said. “However, he is definitely on the more favorable side opposed to Romney.”According to social studies and AP government teacher Nathaniel Acker, Obama has found a way to enhance his message that Romney is out of step with middle-class America.“I don’t think [Romney] has done himself any favors to dispel that notion," Acker said. "That has been a huge issue in his campaign, along with this notion that he is an economic elitist, well out-of-touch with the main stream, was born privileged, doesn’t understand working people of the middle class and his campaign again has done nothing to dispel that notion. If I was Romney, I would have fired my campaign staff a long time ago and started fresh.”According to Salumbides, Obama is gearing his campaign towards the younger vote, but like Romney, is focusing on winning over the independent voters.Salumbides further notes that both candidates are succeeding at utilizing the Internet; they both have appealing websites and use fundraising and social networking to their advantages.Contradicting Salumbides’ opinion, Acker believes Obama has an enormous advantage over Romney in social media because of the 2008 hope posters campaign and the ability to lock in the youth’s vote using Facebook and Twitter.“Access to the Internet has been positive for mobilizing young people because they are much more comfortable with the Internet than older people,” Salumbides said. “Older people tend to get their information from the television and newspaper. [The Internet] is much more current.”According to Salumbides, Obama has tried something new and different to go after the vote of young people.“Obama has been using a lot of celebrities [for campaigning,]” Salumbides said. “Eva Longoria spoke at his convention, George Clooney has been supportive of Obama for a long time and Jessica Alba has helped his campaign by sending out supportive emails and tweets.”Junior Alejandra Magaña has also noticed that many celebrities endorse Obama. For example, Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z hosted a fundraiser for Obama on Sept. 18 in New York City.“Sarah Jessica Parker also threw Obama a fundraiser at her house in New York,” Magaña said. “I like that these celebrities are able to show their support for the candidate they are rooting for.”In addition to the youth, independent voters and celebrities, the rest of America must choose who to vote for based solely on how the candidate appears to the United States.“With elections coming up soon, Obama and Romney will scramble to expose themselves as positively as they can,” Waring said. “Hopefully, America will choose the better man.”emebane@thesamohi.com