McCain Rips Off Obama's Slogan And Logo

Sam Stein

McCain Rips Off Obama's Slogan And Logo

June 4, 2008 04:41 PM

Is John McCain trying to be the older, whiter, more conservative Barack Obama?

On Tuesday, the Senator co-opted the slogan that has come to personify Obama's candidacy, taking the Illinois Democrat's "Change You Can Believe In" and altering it into "A Leader You Can Believe In."

The line donned McCain's lime-green backdrop as he addressed supporters in Louisiana. During that speech, moreover, the Arizonan took his Obama-posing a step further, uttering the word "change" more than 30 times. Not that Obama can claim sole ownership of the word or idea, but still...

Now there is this. On Wednesday, the McCain campaign put out a new homepage, featuring his new, Obama-like slogan, and an image that seems uncannily similar to Obama's trademark campaign logo - the red and white stripped valley under what appears to be a blue sun (or in McCain's case, blue sun rays). Take a look.



McCain's seems to be positioning himself so that he is not caught, like Sen Hillary Clinton, simply ceding the mantle of change to Obama. But when the co-opting of images, logos, and slogans is this blatant, it could prove more embarrassing than advantageous.

A Slogan for John McCain

by Hunter
Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 06:45:52 AM PDT

To a Republican, a slogan is not merely a slogan. The slogan is the campaign. A slogan can substitute for actual governance; it can even substitute for the thought expressed by, er, the slogan itself. Case in point: "Compassionate Conservatism". All you have to do is say it; after that, you don't actually need to show any compassion. You've already expressed it in the slogan: you're done.

So it is a bit depressing to see McCain so blatantly ripping off Obama's own slogan, instead of crafting one himself. Obama's slogan was "Change You Can Believe In"; McCain's new version is "A Leader We Can Believe In". Obama's omnipresent logo consists of blue over a hill of red and white; his website has a field of blue over red, with subtle "sunburst" rays in the background. McCain has chosen for his new theme a field of greenish-blue over red and white... with subtle "sunburst" rays in the background...

<...>

Here were my own suggestions. If any of you see that mule, send him McCain's way.

Compassionate Maverickism. Simple and to the point. The compassion part would serve notice that you have no actual interest in compassion and are just getting that part out of the way right off the bat, while the maverickism sounds appropriately rebellious and manly. Since you haven't technically been a maverick in, what, a decade or two, this also would appeal nicely to the sullen longing-for-the-past that conservatism is so continually engaged in.

A Changely Leader For Nonchangelyness . I like this one because nonchangelyness is a fantastic, very Bushian word. Creative half-literacy would resonate well with the Bush base, while the dual messages of change and non-change would satisfy those that recognize the Bush years have truly sucked, but who still cringe at the thought of attempting anything even the slightest bit different. This slogan properly conveys the message of nearly every modern Republican election, which is "yes, I know we screwed things up last time. But this time will be different, because we're going to do exactly the same thing."

McCain: Get The Hell Off My Lawn . People have been concerned about your age and health: the only way to combat this is to respond to it directly. With a slogan like this, people will know you are still vigorous enough to care whether or not people are on your lawn. Your concern about proper lawn care will resonate with the suburban middle class. And your invocation of hell will enliven the religious base, who are very eager to know that there is some class of people, somewhere, who you are willing to consign to hell for the most petty of reasons.

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