COMM 386: More on myths, archetypes, politicians

I don't want to get too pretentious and English major-y about this (even though, well, hell, after all I did major in English), but there's something about this year's presidential race that brings it out in me ... especially when the pundits start talking about myths, images, brands and symbols.

Here's an article on the Politico.com website by Mark Penn, who was behind Sen. Hillary Clinton's beer-and-a-shot imagery during the spring primary season. I think it fits in with the other "think pieces" we've been looking at -- when the day's headlines don't totally dominate -- about how Americans choose our political leaders, the wisdom of crowds and Todd Gitlin's thoughts about mythic leaders.

Penn argues that the economic meltdown augurs well for Democrat Barack Obama because his mythic persona (to use a really, really literary term) fits a multifaceted financial crisis better than Republican John McCain's John-Wayne-riding-over-the-hill image because "because the kinds of people we turn to in an economic crisis are very different from those we would turn to for a national security conflict." Adds Penn:

In the showdown with Russia [over the August invasion of Georgia], America was looking for someone who would be tough, knowledgeable and certain, and would strike enough fear in the hearts of the enemy to gain respect and maybe even stare down our adversaries.

With a sophisticated global economic crisis, the voters would be looking for nuance and mutual cooperation, someone who would reach out to the nation’s economic partners. Rather than calling for moral absolutes, the voters are looking for compromise — they know it’s morally wrong to bail out Wall Street, but they also know they have to do something or they will wind up paying an even bigger bill for this crisis.

So right now the former Harvard Law Review editor, the candidate who is ready to reach out to everyone across the globe and who has a head for sorting out complexity, is the kind of presidential candidate voters are seeking to solve this crisis. It seems like a great fit for Obama.

How well do these archetypes line up with Gitlin's idea of the "warrior turned lawman" and the "community organizer turned law professor ... who rode into town and made a place for himself?"

Or is that too English major-ish? I'm not sure what to think. What do you think?