Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has launched a strategic ad on debate day, featuring former President Barack Obama poking fun at Donald Trump's preoccupation with crowd sizes.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the ad, titled "Crowd Size," uses a clip from Obama's Democratic National Convention speech to highlight Harris' ability to draw large audiences while taking a jab at the former president.
The advertisement begins with Obama's humorous remarks about Trump's fixation on attendance numbers. "This weird obsession with crowd sizes," Obama says in the clip, "It just goes on and on and on."
The former president's statement is accompanied by a hand gesture that some interpret as an insinuation about Trump's physical attributes.
Obama's DNC Speech Becomes Campaign Tool
The Harris campaign's decision to use Obama's speech comes at a time when Trump has expressed frustration over Harris' ability to attract Obama-like crowds.
This frustration stems from the stark contrast between the packed venues Harris has been drawing and the smaller, COVID-conscious events that characterized President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign against Trump.
The ad cleverly juxtaposes images of empty stands at a Trump rally, complete with cricket sounds and exaggerated yawning, against scenes of a packed house for Harris. This visual contrast is punctuated by Obama's proclamation: "America's ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris."
During the recent Democratic National Convention, Harris demonstrated her crowd-pulling power by filling Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum with approximately 15,000 supporters.
This move was seen as a direct challenge to Trump, as the venue had been the site of the July Republican National Convention.
Historical Context Of Size-Related Political Jabs
The ad's focus on size-related mockery is not without precedent in American politics. In fact, critiques of Trump's hand size date back to the 1980s, when former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter famously referred to Trump as a "short-fingered vulgarian" in a 1988 issue of Spy magazine.
This line of attack resurfaced during the 2016 Republican primary when Florida Senator Marco Rubio made a similar insinuation. "And you know what they say about men with small hands?" Rubio quipped at a campaign stop before adding, "You can't trust them, you can't trust them."
The Harris campaign's use of this tactic reflects a broader strategy of employing humor and past criticisms to challenge Trump's image. By recycling Obama's remarks and linking them to crowd sizes, the ad seeks to energize Democratic voters and potentially get under Trump's skin on an important debate day.
Conclusion
The "Crowd Size" ad represents a bold move by the Harris campaign, leveraging Obama's popularity and oratory skills to boost her own presidential bid. By highlighting her ability to draw large crowds and contrasting it with Trump's past events, Harris is positioning herself as a formidable contender capable of generating the kind of enthusiasm often associated with Obama's campaigns.
