People don't like it when they think they're being played

We all know the famous story about how radio listeners thought Nixon won the Kennedy-Nixon debates, while television viewers thought the better looking, better shaved Kennedy won the debate.  But don't you get the impression that the Obama campaign has over-learned the importance of imagery?

In this television and internet saturated country, people have caught on to the idea that appearance is often constructed.  And while many may still be affected by it, at least a certain part of the population may start to feel that their intelligence is being insulted by a candidate who spends too much time on his appearence.  After all, what did this do to John Edwards' campaign?  Now take the Obama campaign:   More than his personal looks are tightly controlled: literally every visual of Obama seems to be part of a tightly-written movie script. 

Unfortunately for Senator Obama, the Presidency is not a movie.  I think Americans understand the difference between the two.  It may take a couple of our own videos/statements to help Americans better understand how the Obama campaign is playing them for mindless tv-drones, but I think the potential for a substantial blowback against the Obama campaign is there.