Campaign Audio from PRX

Probably the most remarkable thing about the Obama campaign has been its ability to commandeer the reform/change sentiment and steer it (so far) successfully.  A hard thing to do.

The more predictably successful alternative is the golden days approach where wannabe leaders hearken back to “the good ol’days” sometime in the near distant past stirring emotions of lost innocence.  Regan did this well but it goes back way further, to Homer (the poet) and Hammurabi.

But this hope for change is something unique that doesn’t really come around much.  Here indy producer Barbara Bernstein remembers the last time it occurred on a major scale when she was an activist in 1968.  She compares the feeling back then to today.

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What set Obama apart during the primaries was his whole-hearted opposition to the war in Iraq.  What sets McCain apart from most everyone else now is his “stay until we win” strategy.  But once one of these men becomes president, what do either of these promises mean?  Shia Levitt asks an Iraq vet and a policy expert these questions.

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The media has made much ado of Jewish voters who get “shpilkes” — or “jitters” — at the thought of “President Barack Hussein Obama.” But does the Democratic candidate really have a “Jewish problem”?

Rebecca Sheir takes a walk through Boston’s Brookline neighborhood to get a pulse on this elusive Jewish vote.

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McCain, being the free market bloke he is, sees the solution for outsourced jobs as job training.  Here Todd Melby talks to a woman who tried job training and ended up working two jobs instead.

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Kicking off PRX’s series on campaign promises we look at the two biggest promises this year: change and health care.

Here Snigdha Prakash takes a tour of Washington to explore the reality of “change” with health care.

You can license the audio here.  The flash is below:

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Gearing up for McCain’s big night but I wanted to dash something off quick on Palin’s speech last night.

I doubt the genius of her speech will ever really be recognized outright.  And it will take a few weeks for people to see what a brilliant pick for VP this woman is for a country still uncomfortable voting for an African American (see here).  Palin is the perfect, or perhaps only, edge McCain has that can cut Obama off from the White House.

McCain’s route to victory is matching his biography against Obama’s and claiming that his ticket is more American and less “foreign” than Obama’s.  As of now, Palin has the appearance of the American mom, a snappy cheerleader all grown up with her high school sweetheart and a tribe of youngins with average grades and boyfriends of their own.

For suburban and small town Americans, she’s Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington.  I did a mash up of last night’s speech to prove my point.  You can license the whole thing here.

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