Can someone explain it to me? I hope the actual campaign comes up with a better video, one that actually tells people which measure (Proposition One) to vote ‘yes’ on.
13 Replies to “I don’t get this”
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Can someone explain it to me? I hope the actual campaign comes up with a better video, one that actually tells people which measure (Proposition One) to vote ‘yes’ on.
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I played this without any audio but it seems wierd to link the Obama campaign with Sound Transit. I’m not sure what the correlation is between likely Mccain voters and voters who would vote no on Prop 1( My gut tells me its pretty high although I’d like to be wrong),but trying to swing voters to your side on Prop 1 while showing the candidate most likely to be voted against by those same voters seems like a lame choice.
Of course maybe I’m just totally misreading the ad and its more aimed at encouraging the pro transit people to come out in force and vote for it.
Maybe its not an official ad but just a video somebody created to support transit expansion? Video dosen’t look really professional and dosen’t say what people are actually voting for. WHat does Obama have to do with Prop 1 anyway?
It’s not an official ad or anything like that. Some guy created a video in Windows Movie Maker (Live Pro?), and it was posted on horsesass.org
actually, im pretty sure its iMovie on a Mac.
How about a clip that actually includes Obama actually talking about transit (for example, in Oregon), and doesn’t have that terrible music playing?
It’s someone trying to connect the excitement about Obama with Prop 1.
I hate to rip an amateur enthusiast, but this kind of thing will wear out the power of the “yes we can” mantra, such as it is.
I like the enthusiasm, but I don’t see the correlation either.
You know, I really like it. I like the trains rolling, I still don’t know what it has to do with Barack Obama, but I’ve decided I like it.
I think it’s trying to say “if you like Obama, vote for Sound Transit too,” as though they won’t do so anyway.
I rather like that. It’s more direct. Sure, it may not be that well done, but the message is clear.
i don’t think anyone other than us transit nerds are going to see it anyways, so i guess it doesn’t really matter.
Well, if you remember the recent post on how the “Yes” campaign was going to try and reach young people through viral marketing, this add is probably the result of that goal. I don’t think its effective at all, then again, I’m not 24 anymore.
What it does clearly show is what Sound Transit clearly lacks: a regional leader from government/business/community who can rise above area sociology (Bellevue vs. Seattle, for instance) and personify Sound Transit, and create a vision of a rail oriented future that connects with people on an emotional level.
Sort of old-fashioned civic boosterism. Sound Transit doesn’t have a “Mr. Rail”, not in the same way the World’s Fair and Seattle Center had it’s high-profile boosters. And so for most of the people who are persuadable towards rail, it remains merely a dry policy proposal.
By contrast, look at the two major groups of opponenents. The first crowd (comprised of either pro-roads or anti-everything types) is against ST because it runs directly counter to their anti-government, hyper-individualist, libertarian view of the world, both in the project, as well as the nature of transportation via mass transit itself. The second group (comprised of pro-bus, pro-BRT types) is againes rail because they fear it will bring increased density-not in a handful of targeted locations-but everywhere, destroying old neighborhoods, etc. I think these guys are wrong, but I totally understand their concern. If you’ve lived here any length of time at all, you are shell-shocked by how the Western Washington of just a few years ago has almost completely vanished, without a trace.
Both of those arguments are a direct emotional connection to how people see themselves and the world around them, on a gut level.
Sound Transit needs an equivalent, that destroys the first group, wins over the second, and rallies its own.
the video would have been a good one for the ST board before the ST2 vote. it would remind them that Obama will increase turnout of those more likely to vote yes on ST2. That battle is past.
ST2 will get postive cheer leading from horsesass.org.
the music is obnoxious.
The ST2 electorate is more fractured than suggested by Zach. Most large fiscal measures start out with about 30 percent opposed. That group may grow larger in the face of recession or economic uncertainty. The Freeman-Eyman opposition is to transit; that is a second group. There will be a substantial group in Pierce County that might have voted affirmatively, but are not wowed by the package. As described by Zach, the BRT group is very small. There may be another small group that supports transit and even Link, but not the entire package. There are other small groups offended by the sales tax or the timing.
Seattle has two property tax measures this year.