Did You Miss It? The Empty Chair Last Night in Charlotte.
Brilliant, subtle, nuanced, on point.
Given the value of the seat real estate next to Michelle Obama, viewers couldn't help but wonder where the president was as Bill Clinton delivered his phenomenal speech at the second evening of the DNC. His chair remained empty. Maybe the tension reported in the media was real. Maybe Michelle Obama was saving a seat for the man who wouldn't sit down for Clinton, wouldn't appear as a lesser light to the former two-term president. Whatever the reason, for the second time in a week Barack Obama was invisible. The space between Michelle and Joe Biden was palpable, odd, noticeable.
...............
But when viewers looked at the empty seat between Michelle Obama and Joe Biden, they looked for Barack Obama. His presence was felt even though he was invisible. Instead of "what the hell is Eastwood doing," each glimpse of the empty seat begged an image of the man Clinton was extolling. But the campaign team managed an incredible visual trick of playing off media rumors and expectation that Obama needed the Big Dog to help him out of his hole, to manage his image and make his case. The seat remained empty: there were no images of Barack Obama gratefully sitting for Bill Clinton. Instead, the flesh and blood president strolled out onto the stage at the end of the speech and received, of all things, a bow from his predecessor.
Nuanced stagecraft, but in a sea of authenticity, a brilliant dig at Tampa.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/06/1128421/-Did-You-Miss-It-The-Empty-Chair-Last-Night-in-Charlotte
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