This Copywriter’s POV: Today’s the Time to Stand Up for Right

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Did you see the deplorable ‘presidential’ debate on ABC last week?  Have you seen the fallout?

Maybe you don’t think ABC’s Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos acted more like lame ducks than respected TV news journalists …  but I found it deplorable!

With our nation in dire need of new leadership, due to the mess our current illustrous leaders have gotten us into, and for the billionth debate … shouldn’t they at least attempt to get Clinton and Obama to talk about something more important than a lapel pin?

 As I sat stunned on my couch, I was hoping against hope that Obama would stand up for right … and refuse to wallow in the pettiness of such idiotic questioning.

But he didn’t.

Was it political correctness or the response of a genuine gentleman?

In Denny Hatch’s, Business Common Sense, he captured my sentiments exactly.  To Mr. Gibson’s question about the lapel pin, Barack Obama replied …

SEN. OBAMA: Well, look, I revere the American flag, and I would not be running for president if I did not revere this country. This is—I would not be standing here if it wasn’t for this country.And I’ve said this—again, there’s no other country in which my story is even possible; somebody who was born to a teenage mom, raised by a single mother and grandparents from small towns in Kansas, you know, who was able to get an education, blah, blah, blah …Among Barack Obama’s many attributes is that he is a gentleman.I was not in the mood for a gentlemanly rejoinder. I cringed with embarrassment at the question and Obama’s failure to serve a high hard one back into ABC’s court.

The Exchange I was Hoping for
SEN. OBAMA: Excuse me, Mr. Gibson. Are you going to also ask Senator Clinton why she does not wear an American flag pin on her lapel? Or around her neck? Or in her hair?

MR. GIBSON: Uh …

SEN. OBAMA: Because, Mr. Gibson, people are dying all over the world in wars and acts of violence. The price of food is skyrocketing and millions are starving in Haiti, in Africa and places in between.

MR. GIBSON: Senator Obama …

SEN. OBAMA: Let me finish. Forty-seven million Americans have no health insurance. We are involved in two endless, unwinnable wars that are costing over $20 billion a month—wars that are bankrupting our military, our country, and our children and grandchildren.

In the city of Philadelphia, where we are right now, more than one person every day is murdered. Every month, thousands of illegal immigrants are pouring unchecked into the country, bringing with them drugs and crime.

The Middle East is turning into a vast cauldron of sectarian violence, and the United States is regarded as a pariah all over the world as the invader and occupier of a Muslim nation. The price of oil is $110 a barrel and rising.

These are just some of the huge issues facing the next president of the United States, and you have reduced them to a quarter-inch-square piece of jewelry that you claim is missing from my lapel.

And, the story continues on the next page, getting even better!

Personally, I’m an Independent.  But, so what?  I still don’t have anyone to vote for out of all 3 of the candidates.  And I know I’m not the only one, who feels this way!

With America teetering on the brink of too many disasters to even list … why can’t someone step up to the plate of ‘right’ and tell it like it is!

I fear, with all of my heart, that we could very well be on the verge of a revolt.  When the people do not have sufficient leadership in Washington to run the country for the good of the country (middle class?), but rather sell-out our country to special interests, other countries and wage war under the guise of ‘freeing another country’ (after WMD didn’t work) …

a revolution may soon be the only answer.

How applicable might these immortal words, of Thomas Jefferson in 1787, be today, I wonder?

“What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? … The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  It is its natural manure.”

There may not be a helluva lot we, as individuals, can do about this runaway train, headed for disaster right now.  But, in our own lives, as mothers, fathers, sons, daughters … at school and in our work with each other and our customers … let’s stand for right every chance we get.

In business, let your word be your bond.  Let your marketing messages be transparent, without hidden traps that set out to trick, rather than honestly communicate your sales/marketing message.

I think when we stand up for the little things, they’ll accrue to the bigger things.

And, if your marketing calls for a “higher octave” copywriter, I know where you can find one!   

Standing up,

Carolyn

http://www.kickasscopywriter.com