Sunday, December 20, 2009

What Is The "Brand Obama" Product's Retail Niche?

I realized just today, for some reason, that I had been comparing the Obamanable Sno-Job to the wrong consumer product.

I had been used to regarding "thePrez" as a kind of political "Febreez," a cosmetic, applied over odors too difficult to completely remove, but which must be camouflaged for reasons of, call it, "etiquette." Murka's grotesque and embedded structural racism was finally too much of a black mark (as it were) for the self-regard of the Owners to continue to comfortably endure. I had thought Obama's selection was mainly a way to 'freshen the air' in the system, to help improve the Owners' image, and to deflect attention away from the increasingly vast chasm between the rich and the rest. "If a black man can be President, the dream is still alive." That kinda crap. And that is still true; it is a disguise. But there's more to it...

I now think the relevant product is the Sham-wow. Once I began to understand better that Obamanable's role in the political equation is NOT merely to cover up the disagreeable stench of the previous 30 years, but is actually to become the scapegoat for it, I had to recast my metaphorical net. And the ShamWow is the perfect replacement. It works on more than one level, too.

First, because, like the legendarily absorptive miracle-fibers of the Sham-Wow, Obamanable now functions for the primary purpose of absorbing all the rage and disappointment arising from the past 30 years of corpoRat Statism--the economic fracture, the wars, the helplessness folks feel in the toils of the banksters, and the ALL the rest--which would be now, and still, be being leveled at "White" people-- if this person (i.e., "thePrez") were not now conveniently occupying the WhiteHouse.

GOPuke candidate is being his usual obstreperous self railing against Obama for taking positions McCain himself nce defended, but we should not be too hard on ol Bombin' John. He really is aggrieved: What McCain most resents is that he knows his "party" threw the election--his only chance to surpass his father--in order to place in office somebody--Pres. ShamWow--who could make white folks forget how much they were starting to hate the busheviki who are, by the way, the epitome of the white ownership class. If McCain had been elected, then the suffering people would still have White folks to blame, and that would never do.

And there's the rhetorical level, too: Sham -- that is, pretense: Pres. ShamWow campaigned as someone and/or something he was not and studiously disguised precisely what it was he is. Plus, the "Wow" factor with which thePrez" endowed the whole charade.

So now I realize it's not just one, it's BOTH, an brand new Niche market: President Febreez ShamWow to both absorb the shit--make the Ownership's political landscape "dry" as new--and smell sweet, too...

To those who might condemn me for trivializing the matter, I will only point to the fact that the Obama Brand was named most successful advertizing/public relations campaign in the world last year ('08) by the Ad Council/Ad Week.

1 comment:

Flying Junior said...

There's really nothing to explain. You're just channeling deeper and deeper into your own mind. Though I do suppose you have it pretty well sorted out by now.