Obama Waffles
Monday, September 15, 2008
Joan Lowy of The Huffington Post recently wrote of the Values Voters Summit, a right wing political shindig sponsored by such organizations as the Family Research Council, American Values and Focus on the Family Action. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were two of the featured speakers.
During the course of said summit, boxes of Obama Waffles waffle mix flew off the shelves at $10 a pop. Obama Waffles - I get it. The party who brings us the candidate with more flip flops than a college sorority is trying to tell us Barack Obama is a flipper himself. Frankly, it's a clever pun and an inspired move, even if it's not true. It's even enough to elicit a few chuckles and make a Democratic campaign manager wish he thought of it first.
But the concept is where it stops being funny. It gets offensive when it includes a caricature of Obama with stereotypical bug eyes and big lips. And that's just the front of the box. The top flap shows him in Arab headgear, pushing the false notion that he's really a Muslim instead of a Christian (implying that Obama isn't what he says he is AND that it's bad to be Muslim, so... double score!). On the back he wears a Mexican sombrero alongside a recipe for Open Border Fiesta Waffles, which serves "4 or more illegal aliens."
To quote Daffy Duck: "Ha, ha. Very funny. It is to laugh."
The creators of this gimmick (who won't be mentioned here because they don't deserve the publicity) shrug off any suggestion of impropriety by comparing it to Paul Newman using a picture of himself wearing a mustache to sell Italian dressing. It seems to have escaped them that their chosen model was not a willing participant and the pictures have nothing to do with the product. (I'm also reasonably certain they can be sued for using his image without his permission, but Obama's the lawyer so I'll let him worry about that one.)
What bugs me most is that these organizations do what they do under the guise of "family values". This was a "Values Voters Summit," after all. How is it a family value to disparage people who have different ideas and opinions? What exactly are these people teaching their children once they get home? Do they give explicit, rigorous lessons on how to offend and marginalize people or is it more subtle? Is there perhaps a cartoon video series for the younger kids?
Thirty years ago, having values included being polite, having a certain level of tolerance, and being kind to those less fortunate. At least that's what I was taught. I don't think that's really changed. The only thing that's changed is that the word "values" has been hijacked for political gain. It's being used by slick hucksters to sell a political brand that bears no real resemblance to its advertising. What kind of value is it to separate immigrant families, deporting the parents and leaving the children to languish in US custody (often in prisons)? What kind of value is it to tell a rape victim she can't have an abortion because it violates the sanctity of life, but attack a sovereign nation, killing thousands of mothers and children?
These people are guilty of false advertising on all fronts. Not just when they try to spread false claims about Obama, but when they try to paint a picture of themselves as benevolent and values-driven. You can call something "sugar free," but if there's high fructose corn syrup in there, it'll still make you fat. You can say someone has "values," but if they continually destroy people for their own gain, they still suck.
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