Obama Uses Infomercial, Bill Clinton to Gain Midweek Buzz

By: Maria Gavrilovic
Topics: Barack Obama

(CBS)

From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(NORFOLK, VA.) - There is a lot of attention and focus on Barack Obama today – not just because it's just 6 days until the election but because the campaign planned it that way.

Today, Obama will appear in a 30-minute infomercial simultaneously on multiple TV networks, will campaign with Bill Clinton for the first time ever, and will appear in several interviews, including one on the Daily Show. So why is today so important?

According to aides, they are trying to gain midweek momentum that they hope will carry them through Election Day. By airing the infomercial at 8pm and planning an event with Clinton in Orlando, Flam, just hours afterwards, the campaign has managed to inject a little bit of excitement into their sometimes-too-cautious campaign.

For weeks now, Obama has been playing it safe, sticking to his message on the economy and defending his tax plan. The campaign calls this "consistency" but for some voters, the end of the campaign season may have become a bit run-of-the-mill. The campaign hopes to change that today – with a one-two punch.

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by paulzfun October 29, 2008 4:39 PM EDT: Republican''s are such trained seals that anything McCain, Bush or Palin says gets parroted in every blog. The ''socialist'' ''marxist'' and ''communist'' assertion are baseless. America has experienced 8 years of wealth redistribution the the richest 1% of it''s citizens. Topped off by a massive $700 billion dollar parting gift to Bush''s supporters. What strikes me as odd is that most people who support these extreme republican policies do not even benefit from them. They would actually be better off with Obama''s plan, as they were during the Clinton presidency. The post Reagan republicans have been a dismal failure. The audacity you have to infere that Obama is a socialist, when the current administration and Senator McCain only sap the strength from middle America and hand off the profits to the richest people in the land. 80% of American corporations pay zero income taxes, yet get huge subsidies of tax dollars. You consider an ownership stake in banks to be capatalist??? I think many of you need to read up on socialism and communism. Obama/Biden ''o8; Reply to this comment


by blforo08 October 29, 2008 4:31 PM EDT: Sure seems like the die hard republicans are completely scared - partly from their party using constant scare tactics and partly from years of keeping their eyes closed to the forward march of civilization. It isn''t 1957 any more, or even 1980 any more, and we can be a more caring, compassionate, proactive and competitive country on the world stage - if we don''t continue down the same path we''ve been on for years. Come on folks - this is not about Socialism . This is about stepping up to the plate in 2008 and beyond, and empowering ALL of our citizens to be healthy, happy, contributing participants in the greatest country in the world. We can retain our pride and unite our country, but it''s going to take some real change. I hope those that are scared of this will be willing to see how we can really work together to become a demonstration of the ideals that this country was founded on. I''m not a socialist, and I''m not for socialism, but the past 80+ years have sure put most of the money in the pockets of less than 1% of our citizens. That''s not healthy, as the recent economic disaster has demonstrated as it is a result of the greed of the few. So let''s move forward with unity and excitement for how we can grow this country and have all of our citizens prosper!

Get out and vote everyone!; Reply to this comment


by imrichie33 October 29, 2008 3:58 PM EDT: rickwar
think about this, how did i,rickwar, become so out of step with conventional thinking? is it that my life turned into nothing and i have become a bitter old man living in a fantasy of the past, or am i just a dumbshitt! as briannorwood described above?; Reply to this comment


by rickwar October 29, 2008 2:17 PM EDT: The National parties and their presidential candidates, with the Eastern Establishment assiduously fostering the process behind the scenes, moved closer together and nearly met in the center with almost identical candidates and platforms, although the process was concealed as much as possible, by the revival of obsolescent or meaningless war cries and slogans (often going back to the Civil War). %u2026 The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can %u201Cthrow the rascals out%u201D at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy. %u2026 Either party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.
- Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (New York: Macmillan, 1966), pp. 1247-1248.]

Think about it.; Reply to this comment


by rickwar October 29, 2008 2:14 PM EDT: "We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism."

- Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev, 1959

Ignore this message at your own peril, Americans.

Reject Barack Obama.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by OneAmerican7 at 10:11 AM : Oct 29, 2008

SOS Different day. Think about this quote:

"Democracy is the most vile form of government... democracies have
ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been
found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property:
and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been
violent in their deaths."

None other than:

- James Madison; Reply to this comment


by fcb155 October 29, 2008 2:04 PM EDT: This life long Republican. Veteran. Father and Grandfather will vote for OBAMA. America needs vision and honesty.
We all need a change from Palin/Bush/McCain.; Reply to this comment


by briannorwood October 29, 2008 1:50 PM EDT: OneAmerican7:

Hey dumbshitt! Do some research. Kruschev never said anything like that stupid quote you blathering right-wingers have been posting all over the place for the past couple of days.

Only goes to prove the point...you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can ALWAYS fool an idiot!; Reply to this comment


by briannorwood October 29, 2008 1:44 PM EDT: Obama with Bill Clinton. 30 minute infomercial, late night blanket coverage.

I gotta say, Obama has run a really, really smart campaign. This will be one for the history books.

Tactically and strategically, nearly flawless.

Hope he runs the country with such methodic efficiency.; Reply to this comment


by mattcat25 October 29, 2008 1:41 PM EDT: OneAmerican7 is stuck in 1957, and so is most of the Republican Party that has attempted to lead our country into the Military Industrial Complex warned of by outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower in%u2026.1959.

Move forward America!
reject corruption.; Reply to this comment