Renown actor and director Clint Eastwood was the big mystery
guest at the Republic Convention last week . As PSYOPers we know that we need
to select our messages and our desired results before we engage spokes people
and energize the campaign. If you didn’t see the speech, then check it out on
YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoqKdWY692k
which is also the photo source. This is the official version published by
gopconvention2012.
The 11 minute performance was perceived in predicable ways.
Republicans and Conservatives thought it was great while Democrats and Liberals
felt it was neither well done, nor
effective. Spokes people are often wild cards – Eastwood is above all a
performer, and likely a performer with his own agenda – an agenda which
apparently was close to, but not exactly a total match for with the Republican
one.
To be fair Eastwood made a few good jabs and it was nice to
see a more conservative actor on the political stage for a change. His conversation
with an imaginary Obama had its up and downs. He made the point that attorneys
shouldn’t be president – an easy target, no one favors attorneys. He also hit
the key points of jobs and his feeling that President Obama hasn’t lived up to
his own campaign promises.
Probably Mr. Eastwood was a warm up act – an act designed to
energize the faithful and set the stage for the Nominee. He was credible to the
target audience and he certainly has the communications skills needed to get
his point across.
The results were indeed mixed.
The bottom line is that you roll the dice every time at
spokes person gets up and speaks or is quoted. Pandering safe lines to a safe
and captive audience is always a safe bet. If Mr. Eastwood’s purpose was to
fire up the troops- he succeeded. If his objective was to leverage off his star
power to change minds and votes then he was a likely a flop.
After all, not every spokes person can make your day.
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