Mar/10
09:11 139
Brazen Cameron casts himself as Obama
The Conservatives have embarked on a foolhardy bid to appropriate the visual iconography of the Obama campaign. ConservativeHome made great play of the following images last night, calling them “Obama-esque” and highlighting the that they “are from the official CCHQ photographer”. If this was a speech rather than some photos, he’d be fighting off accusations of plagiarism:
Supporters visible behind you? Check! Sign with ‘Change’ in the background? Check! Remind you of anyone?
When Blair stole from Clinton at least they included some policies.
Plagiarism you can believe in?
UPDATE 17:38 An earlier version of this post made reference to this article from Politics.co.uk, which some observers have cast aspersions on. As you are currently reading an evidence-based gossip blog [geddit?], Scrapbook is happy to remove this little aside.
With regard to shrieks along the lines of “This is nothing to do with Obama! Cameron used the language of ‘change’ in his leadership campaign!” Scrapbook can only point out:
- As if it wasn’t obvious enough already (check out the shirtsleeves too), CCHQ are briefing that the posters were deliberately “Obama-esque”.
- Campaign managers don’t take a massive detour from brand discipline without a good reason. The ‘CHANGE’ sign in the background is, from a design point of view, completely alien to what they’ve used before.
9:57am on March 16th, 2010
Even if Labour had thought of it, can you imagine a shirtsleeved Brown being able to carry a speech off in similar style ?
Compare and contrast Brown’s weekend TV intererview trainsmash with Cameron’s relaxed performance whilst being heckled in Lewisham on Monday morning.
10:10am on March 16th, 2010
Obama didn’t even say that sentence. By the way, I would rather a leader of my party aspired to be like Obama, than have an unbalanced sociopath who aspires to be like an inmate of Bedlam lunatic asylum.
10:12am on March 16th, 2010
You can prove anything with a URL:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/sep/04/obama-taken-with-cameron
10:45am on March 16th, 2010
you certainly can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwzeRoFKTfg
10:58am on March 16th, 2010
you confuse conservativehome with conservatives.com. he hasnt cast himself as Obama at all
11:47am on March 16th, 2010
Obama is a good orator, so is Cameron. Brown doesn’t give a speech, he just reads out loud.
“When Blair stole from Clinton at least they included some policies.”
Clinton had some policies. Obama, like Brown, seems totally devoid of any realistic ones.
12:02pm on March 16th, 2010
Main difference between the two (aside from Cameron being a tosser that is) is that, unlike Dave, Obama doesn’t have to bus in supporters to sit behind him:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/10/cameron-student-crowd-doubts
The old Etonian and the son of a goat herder, yep, Dave and Obama really have a lot in common don’t they!
12:12pm on March 16th, 2010
I overheard the Pope and Mother Theresa on the bus the other day, they both said Cameron was a shallow salesman. Oh and er I’ve voted Tory all my life etc etc.
12:36pm on March 16th, 2010
I think the so called quote from Obama has been pretty comprehensively trashed. What about when he was meant to say that Brown was ‘depressing’ and Cameron had ‘pizzaz’ I think we have had ample evidence of Brown desperate to get ‘face time’ and having a flaky – as we say in Glasgow- when he couldn’t get near him.
4:49pm on March 16th, 2010
I may be getting on in years (62), but I am not forgetful. Cameron was advocating changing and imroving the Conservative party more than 4 years ago. Way, way before President Obama started his marvelous campaign.
Personally as a commited Conservative I would be delighted for Mr C to be aligned and compared with President O. I can think of no finer politician to be compared with! Obama has class in abundance….
I feel really sorry for Labour supporters right now, what with their current unelected leader, and what about that Unite(d) togetherness?
Labour seems to me to be a political party that is relying almost solely on BIG Union money and a couple of billionaires. You wrote a load of piffle – look to sorting out you own lot, nefore casting aspersions to others.
4:49pm on March 16th, 2010
Sorry for all the spelling errors in my post….
5:58pm on March 16th, 2010
@Josephine that’s okay!