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Dianne Hardisty: Age may make a difference in race
| Thursday, Aug 21 2008 6:53 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 22 2008 8:20 AM
Ya gotta give Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign points for spin. While late night comics are ridiculing the guy for his age, McCain's campaign is turning it into a money-maker.
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From the mail last week plopped a letter from Cindy. (I'm sure she wouldn't mind me calling her Cindy. After reading her letter, I now feel like family.)
The candidate's wife penned a chatty note telling me McCain will celebrate his birthday on Aug. 29. She was sure I'd like to send him a card. She even included one for me to send.
Just like getting invited to a wedding, she made gift-giving a cinch. He's "registered" with the U.S. Treasury. Make a $500, $100, $50 or $25 campaign donation.
That's where I sever the family ties. I have a lot of blood relatives who can't squeeze $25 out of me for their birthday.
If voters elect McCain in November, he will be the oldest person sworn into a first term as president. He will be 72 next week.
"Thankfully, many Americans find John's age an important asset in this year's presidential contest," Cindy wrote. "It stands as a testament to his invaluable experience and years of leadership."
Speaking of age. (We were, weren't we? I sometimes forget.) I thought I was just not cool enough to vote for Democrat Barack Obama.
It started with that "fist bump" thing. (No, I don't think it is a terrorist signal.) Now what husband and wife do that? So when Michelle and Barack did the fist bump (OK, if the McCains want me to feel like family, I'm going to pretend the Obamas do, too) I felt sort of left out. Like no one invited me to join the club to do the secret handshake thing.
And then I noticed the logo thing. I've watched a lot of political campaigns. They create images using candidates' names and wrap themselves in red, white and blue. I can't remember any creating an actual logo. You've seen Obama's a circle, with a blue arc and three red stripes.
It was designed by a Chicago graphics team. The circle stands for Obama; the white center, the sun rising over the horizon (evoking "hope"), and the red stripes the nation's farmlands.
The logo appears on the candidate's airplane and just about anything else. But handlers stepped over the line when they smacked it onto a presidential-looking seal. After days of mocking the "Audacity of Hype," the seal was scrapped.
As I carried on about all this cool Obama stuff and how un-cool it made me feel, a co-worker tried to cheer me up. It's not that you aren't cool enough, she said. You're just too old.
Ouch! While the 47-year-old Obama is technically a boomer, he appeals to the Millennium generation text-messaging, Facebooking hip young voters.
It's like those Carl's Jr. ads that aren't directed to women certainly not mature women. I don't fit the demographics for Carl's Jr. Maybe I don't fit Obama's demographics, either.
But on the eve of the Democratic Convention and with the Republican Convention another week away, we learn McCain and Obama are statistically tied.
It amazes me that Carl's Jr. can write off women and other people who don't want to clog their arteries with greasy fast food. Can Obama afford to write off un-cool or un-young people?
UPDATE
"We're from the government and we're here to help you." When you hear that, often your problems have just started.
But when I wrote a few weeks ago about the traffic hazard at the intersection of Auburn Street and Morning Drive, the government did show up, and did help.
Bakersfield city crews installed stop signs at the intersection. It's much safer. A big thanks!