Monday, Fun-day: Mother’s Day from Two Ends of the Spectrum

The Obama and Romney campaigns respectively released Mother’s Day “tribute” videos this weekend. I watched the two of them in quick succession and found it fascinating to see how each campaign has attempted to pander to their respective electorates through a narrative that has the strong current of each of the party’s ideologies.

1.) President Obama’s Mother’s Day Video

In President Obama’s video, we see a narrative being woven of three very distinct women from three different generations, each of whom faced their own obstacles but were ultimately able to attain success not only as mothers, but also as professionals and/or strong independent women. After the revelation of these stories, President Obama takes the opportunity to emphasize the idea that the rights of mothers impact everyone. He uses Democrat policies instituted during his tenure (like affordable child care and equitable pay for work) as examples to illustrate the idea that “mother’s rights are human rights”.  Even the broad spectrum of images representing diverse women in the video (young women, old women, women with disabilities, and women of different races) gets to the core of the Democrats’ general principles surrounding equal representation.

2.) Mitt Romney’s Mother’s Day Video

The Mitt Romney video, in stark contrast, only tells the story of one mother; Lenore Romney. This video by the Republican party weaves a narrative that (in my opinion) seeks to reinforce the sanctity of the traditional family structure. The five Romney sons talk about their mother, their childhood, and Lenore’s success as a mother and wife. The video is filled with childhood stories and images that, in my mind, has traditionally pervaded Western thought about what the setup of the nuclear family ought to look like. No mention of Republican policy is made, but I think what is not said makes a greater statement.

Before you accuse me of being biased in my brief analysis, I’d like to point out that these two videos are intended to be campaign videos. They are not solely meant to be heart-warming stories about mothers. While Mitt Romney’s video makes no mention of policy, I think the implications of what he shows in his video speaks for itself and can be extrapolated to the general Republican ideals. His video is not intended to be an innocuous depiction of his childhood. The same can be said about President Obama’s video.

I think the twisted part in all of this is that the personal stories of these politicians are intentionally being used as a tool to rally the support of various segments of the population.

Take a look at these videos and decide for yourself if you think certain political ideologies have infiltrated the messages being put forth by the respective candidates.