Chicago Tribune: Crafting the Obama Brand

[illinoisprogressive]

This is an excellent article but, long. 4 pages. but, it takes us from the beginning of 2005 thru today in how Barack Obama and his advisors planned out a long term plan that got somewhat upset and moved up unexpectedly last fall.
It's worth a read for anyone in the making of a presidential candidate.

One evening in February 2005, in a four-hour meeting stoked by pepperoni pizza and grand ambition, Sen. Barack Obama and his senior advisers crafted a strategy to fit the Obama "brand."

The charismatic celebrity-politician had rocketed from the Illinois state legislature to the U.S. Senate, stirring national interest. The challenge was to maintain altitude despite the limited tools available to a freshman senator whose party was in the minority.

Yet even in those early days, Obama and his advisers were thinking ahead. Some called it the "2010-2012-2016" plan: a potential bid for governor or re-election to the Senate in 2010, followed by a bid for the White House as soon as 2012 or, if not, 2016. The way to get there, they decided, was by carefully building a record that matched the brand identity: Obama as unifier and consensus-builder, an almost postpolitical leader.

The staffers in that after-hours session, convened by Obama's Senate staff and including Chicago political adviser David Axelrod, planned a low-profile strategy that would emphasize workhorse results over headlines. Obama would invest in his long-term profile by not seeming too eager for the bright lights.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obama_senate_recordjun12,1,3193322.story

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

1. Exactly. Long on branding, short on issues

That pretty much sums up Obama's corporate-and-puke-associated campaign.

:puke:

[Benhurst]

2. The Chicago Tribune is a very Republican paper. I trust this is a hit piece.