It always surprises me that during political campaigns when all the marbles are on the table and the competition is fierce for the most effective advertisement with which to skewer the opponent that more use is not made of humor. What better way to get through to an audience than by first getting them to relax with a few laughs before you make your point with the turgid, issue-laden prose to follow.
One clever way to get your message across is to couch an otherwise top-heavy political opinion in the guise of some all too familiar yet playful form.
Take the nursery rhyme. Once the comforting sand-box play-pal like finger-painting and your favorite "blanky", this delightful mind candy that you couldn't get enough of when a burbling gurgling child, could now be a powerful source for trenchant comment and withering assaults on the weakness and failures of the other side. The simplest verse, while a nostalgic evocation of days gone by when conjoined to critical talking points could surely find a happy place in the armory of campaign WMD.
Couldn't the Obama campaign make use of this old chestnut?
Hillary Billary dock
Barrack is now a lock
The Clintons slip - could yet be Vip
Hillary Billary shock.
Simple, to the point and yet a rib-tickler.
On the other side the Clinton campaign would be foolish to pass up the chance to slay her rival with a little poetic injustice.
Twinkle, twinkle super-star
How did Barack get this far
He misjudged the Reverends soul
Looked so gay when he tried to bowl
Comes across as an elitist poll
Still could be my poverty czar.
Finally, both campaigns need to turn the nursery rhyme gun on the big target. The Republicans and their straight-talking mannequin John McCain.
There once a man named McCain
Who believed the Irani's insane
For regime-change he vowed,
Persian rug mushroom cloud.
Full marks for a Neo-con trainee.
All in fun. You get to re-visit your childhood while winning an election.
Get out and vote.
