Well, uh, that’s probably not the best idea. Yeah, sure, Clint may be 81 years old, but something tells us he’s probably still able to deliver on the second part of that “Make My Day” comment. What do you think?
Apparently last night’s Chrysler “Halftime in America” ad which aired during the Super Bowl and starred the grizzled octogenarian has launched debate on whether it accurately portrays the current state of Detroit, the auto industry’s lifeblood in this country, or was a thinly veiled shill ad for President Obama and the auto bailouts.
Eastwood says in the ad:
“People are out of work and they’re hurting, and they’re all wondering what they’re gonna do to make a comeback. And we’re all scared because this isn’t a game. The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together. Now, Motor City is fighting again.”
Conservatives today are criticizing the ad as an endorsement of the federal government’s auto industry bailouts, and the horn blowing of a State that is currently still in dire straights with a $200 million budget deficit and cash flow concerns that have it fending off a state takeover.
But was it a Sneaky, Sneak, Oh, My God, How Dare They Bring Up the Auto Industry! ad as the Conservatives say? Chrysler for its part was near collapse in 2009, but after a $12.5 billion government bailout and a stint in bankruptcy, the company survived, and has since repaid its U.S. and Canadian government loans by refinancing them, even though the U.S. government lost about $1.3 billion in the process. Wasn’t repaying the loans the whole point? And what if the company wanted to remind viewers (also voters) that the auto bailout, at least for them, was successful? It’s not as if there was a “President Obama approves this message” statement at the tail end of the ad. Chrysler says:
“I can’t stop anybody from associating themselves with a message, but it was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part,” Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told WJR-AM in Detroit on Monday. “You know, we’re just an ingredient of a big machine here in this country that makes us go on.”
After all, no one made comments about a similar ad last year that featured Detroit-native Eminem driving a Chrysler 200 through the city streets and introduced the tagline “Imported From Detroit.” Somehow though it’s different when the ad features people working in factories (you know working in those manufacturing jobs that have helped the up tick in the last few month’s jobs numbers nationwide, and also given a slight surge in the polls for the President, but that’s what’s supposed to happen. He’s not vying for the presidency here. He is the president. These are things that should be a concern.)
And while we’re on the subject, even if it were a kind of campaign ad, and we’re not saying it was, how is it different than an ad produced by the Republican favorite savior and undead muse, Ronald Reagan, whose “Morning in America” ad in 1984, tried to capture a feeling of American optimism during his re-election campaign? Reagan’s ad also showed optimism with images of people going to work, buying homes, and getting married in greater numbers. “It’s morning again in America,” a narrator says in a calm voice.
Karl Rove, silly bloated gasbag, told Fox News that he was “offended” by Chrysler’s ad, saying it amounted to “using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best-wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they’ll never pay back.”
Dirty Harry Clint Eastwood, who’s a fiscal conservative but more liberal on social issues including gay marriage and environmental protections, returned volley and told Fox News that he’s not politically affiliated with the president and that:
“It was meant to be a message just about job growth and the spirit of America. “I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK.”
Well, that sounds logical. Can’t really argue with that, right? America, good. Job growth, good.
Bang, Rove, you’re dead.
What do you think? Re-election ad or ad about America’s optimism?
