From the perspective of visual communication, a kinda subjective neutral's point of view just to give you all a little hope.
It's almost 5am as I write (will publish later) and I've stayed up late both nights to get the measure of what these two candidates are about, watching John McCain's nomination speech on C-Span over teh interwebs. And I swear, I have never seen such an unconvincing display of political speechmaking for a major candidate in the last twenty years. The disconnect was palpable.
If you think there's going to be a bounce after tonight, it will have been stepped on by one of the most dull, unconvincing, patently false and jarring pieces of image-making to have the misfortune to be globally broadcast.
I feel sorry for the guy.
What I heard and saw:
I saw John McCain attempting to present himself as an agent of change, while looking and speaking like a very old politician. No matter what you say, if the picture doesn't match the words, it feels false. The words failed to penetrate and resonate; I can't remember a single memorable point he made except about his arms being broken.
I saw a man who looked unhealthy and distracted, empty seats, worried faces in the audience, people yawning, protestors actually getting screen time with a legible message.
I saw a candidate deeply uncomfortable with many of the words he was speaking; his stumbling, blinking and grinning was oddly disconcerting and drew attention to his mannerisms rather than reinforcing what he was saying.
I saw someone who didn't speak to the future. The words were there but they had no meaning, no optimism. I saw someone who fears he is going to lose.
If you can't take advantage of your few moments to directly speak to your audience, you're in trouble. If you can't present a united picture of yourself and your running mate — and they look an extremely odd pair — and can't get them to the press, you're in danger of giving up an extremely important advantage in the psychological space in people's hearts and minds.
That's why Obama's unstaged press conference was so illuminating yesterday. Not because of what he said, but because he was essentially saying 'I'm here (unlike them), what do want to know?'
Hanging around here the last few days has been interesting. I feel every bump in the road as it is lived out; the polls are up, the polls are down, Sarah Palin will slaughter us in our beds...
But the fact of the matter is: John McCain is a weak and uncompelling candidate as he presents himself. The Republicans are boxed into a corner of attempting to run against themselves. Steve Schmidt's work is cut out for him and all they have is smoke and mirrors.
As the intensity of the campaign steps up, the Republicans will have to use advertising and myth-making on a grand scale to combat the image of Obama's youth and stamina because this doesn't seem like a man who is ready for the long grind ahead.
It's there for the taking... so take heart and move forward.