The Casting of An American President Part 2: The Plot Thickens

A hockey mom. A war hero. A devoted dad. And a–what?

All business is show business and politics is no exception. And you can’t step onto the stage without knowing what part you’re gonna play. In showbiz, it’s casting. In business, it’s positioning. The danger of not positioning yourself clearly enough is that you open yourself up to having your competition do your positioning for you. No better example exists than Apple’s MAC vs PC commercials. MAC has a field day positioning it’s competition as bumbling and out of date.

Clearly the Obama campaign has a lot going for it. Of the 4 contenders, no one would deny he’s the most gifted orator. And no one knows how to leverage the social media like the Obama camp. (Check out the You Tube music videos featuring the O-ster.) But it could be argued that the “nuanced” candidate has failed to carve out a clearly enough defined character in the marketplace leaving himself vulnerable to being reduced by his opponents to a flip-flopping “Community Organizer”. On the other hand, maybe his Sidney Poitier meets Martin Luther King with a side order of Audrey Hepburn/Rock Star will be enough. Only time will tell.

The McCain campaign has a lot going for it too. Everyone loves a war hero. And it’s a much more clear cut character–no pesky nuances here. He’d make a great Popeye, the whole “I am what I am” thing. Throw in a fiesty woman for color (“The only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is that we wear lipstick”) and we’re good to go.

Stay tuned. More soon. Can hardly wait to see the drama unfold.