That is a very astute observation. Obama's going for zingers and losing touch with what is supposed to be his message.
His team is so Web-savvy they’ve forgotten how to campaign….
Well, "web-savvy" in that they know how to turn a computer on and get the Interwebs, but it looks like they didn't know much more than that. They didn't know how to integrate the web with other media to put a larger strategy together.
Two points made on Red Eye about the Lena Dunham ad. First, in 2008 young Obama supporters made their own truly "viral" web videos and put them on Youtube. This time the campaign gave its stamp of approval to what was pretty clearly inferior work.
Second, people who watch Lena's show watch it to hate her and the other characters for being such stereotypical Manhattan artsy slackers. I haven't seen the show, but I came away with that impression from seeing her films.
That he is indeed absolutely zero. No skills to speak of. none. nada. His once considered brilliant oratorical skills have gone by the wayside as it became apparent that without his teleprompter, he was nothing more than a mumbling, stuttering, disconnected animatronic puppet.
Historically that is what oratory is, delivering a pre-written speech, or oration. It might have included speaking from carefully prepared notes. Speaking wholly off the cuff doesn't really qualify as "oratory" or "oratorical" and may not have played much of a role in 18th or 19th century politics. We don't know how well the orators of the past would have performed in a more intimate medium like television.
Beyond that, 30% or 40% of the country is going to hate any candidate and love his opponent or overrate the performance of one and underrate the performance of the other. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and the voters in the middle decide the election.
I did a search on “Lena Dunham” since I didn’t know who she was, though I have seen that ad.
The top search results seem to indicate that it may not have a positive effect at all, in the end.