And What is the Change?

Chris Hedges, a former New York Times journalist recently published a piece about the "branding" of President Obama, and how his presidency may be about maintaining the brand of "change" rather than actually bringing about change.

You can read the article by clicking here.

It certainly is true that this Administration has tapped into needs for a certain type of image, which apparently have been pent-up for 8 years.  Carefully staged and crafted photo-ops of this president, his wife, children, and the vice-president give us images of guys who love their wives and kids, a woman invested in organic foods, and adorable, well loved children.  There is even a picture of President Obama teasing Caroline Kennedy about the famous picture of her brother peeking through the president's desk.  We have Brand Obama, cool, hip, caring, or what are the new words...transparent and empathetic.

But the real meat is in what is being done.  And here is where Hedges takes aim.  Of course the relationships between politics and the financial institutions is an obvious place to hammer home that while the brand may change from Bush to Obama, the results which impact average Americans have not changed.

It's interesting that the current generations, Baby Boomers to the current crop of young people, have been subjected to sophisticated advertising campaigns for their life times.  You would think we could see through all this branding, demand quality and authenticity.  But we don't.

If we want change, I think, we need to begin by looking at ourselves and how we respond to the "branding" campaigns.  Including the most important one right now: Brand Obama.