The
Republican presidential primaries for the 2012 presidential elections have seen
near every candidate utilize a similar set of ideas; the claim that America is
broken, that government is too big, that Obama is bad for the country, and that
they are best able to restore America to greatness. The candidates frame the
problems facing the country through public speeches, written pieces, and
debates. Yet the most useful tool for framing both the problems in America and
how one is competent to fix them is through video. Not only does one have the
ability to carefully craft a message through edification, but they can also
edit in video clips, voice-overs, and music to evoke a significantly more
powerful emotional response that cannot be done independently by language.
This paper will analyze some of the
political videos released by the numerous candidates over the course of the
campaign. These political videos and commercials allow the candidates an
effective means of framing the problems facing the country, his or her
opponents, as well as his or herself for its duration of the video. What
follows will analyze the main themes that are brought forth from these videos
as well as analyze how they attempt to frame themselves as the most able to fix
the country.
With the rise of video, specifically
television, politicians were given a new medium to win over the electorate.
Yet, this new medium also gave politicians a new means to lose the support of the
voters. The most prominent example of this is the first presidential debate of
1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. “People draw a multitude of
inferences from human physical appearance and movements… Many people infer
personality characteristics from human physical features” (Druckman,
561). This implies that those viewing the debate on TV could develop a
different opinion of the candidates than those listening to only the audio
through radio.
