Theories about what Block intended have run the gamut from James Carville's "He was drunk," to amateurish campaigning, to post-modern genius. Me? I'm leaning toward accidental brilliance.
For those who missed it, and who therefore probably are not reading this, the ad is a 56-second clip of Block talking about his commitment to his candidate, not unusual in a chief of staff. He ends by taking the famous drag.
Did he just blow smoke in your face? Kind of, but he's not just blowing smoke. He's saying: "Don't like me smoking? Tough."
Odder than Block's Marlboro-mannish toke was a final frame showing a tight shot of Cain looking at the camera with a "Here's looking at you" expression that morphs into a beaming smile held somewhat longer than most people can manage without a twitch of self-consciousness. One nanosecond longer and you expect the smile to morph into something else. Hysterical laughter? Maniacal cackling?
The message in Cain's strangely funny and wildly successful, viral campaign ad may not have had a target in mind other than to steal the news cycle from Rick Perry's flat tax plan, which it did. But it hit a bull's-eye right in the heart of a large demographic - older, bluer-collared voters who happen to be smokers. What's 50 million smokers times a $20 donation?
No one associated with the campaign is saying this, of course. Cain has denied any subliminal intent.
Not to give too much credit where none may be due, but Cain is now too deep in the dough to plead, "But I'm just a pizza man." The ad was sheer blinding brilliance, and denial will only serve to win him more fans.
The ad succeeded precisely because the sight of someone smoking in a political clip was so jolting. It was especially discombobulating to Americans under, say, 45. Except in movies, people smoking on camera is a relatively unfamiliar sight. No politician would dare smoke in public view. Older Americans, however, remember when cigarette commercials not only were commonplace on television, but TV personalities smoked on air. To them, ol' Block doesn't look strange or ridiculous with that cigarette. He looks familiar. The nostalgia for a bygone America that Cain is tapping into includes an ashtray.
He's also mining the widespread resentment of big government that has hit smokers hardest, casting them as pariahs and banishing them to the sidewalks. One doesn't have to smoke (I don't) or sympathize with smokers to think the nation's regulatory bureaucracy has become a bit thick. What better way to make that statement than by blowing smoke in nanny's face?
Those who want to take this country back, as Block puts it in his smokin' flick, may well have found a kindred spirit in Cain, whose previously low-budget campaign suddenly seems like a gold mine of blind luck. He's blowing smoke rings around the competition in polling, and the cash is flowing at a rate of $1 million per week. If you view political campaigns as entertainment, Cain's crazy ad was a lucky strike.
(Sourch)