Video: Behind the scenes at Invesco and the “regal” stage

posted at 3:10 pm on August 27, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Earlier, I wrote about Barack Obama and the Temple of The One, but the picture we had didn’t give quite the same perspective as this taken by “See Swann”. The intrepid correspondent’s narrative gets a little tiresome, but his access to the field at Invesco/Mile High Stadium gives the best possible look at the staging for Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday night:

Greek or Roman architecture? Based on my limited recollection, the Romans used similar construction but copied it from the Greeks. Perhaps architects can answer that question, but what hasn’t been answered is why Obama decided to go with this theme rather than use a more traditional, American theme for his staging. Should a man who is trying to push back against being defined as an elitist opt to speak from an ersatz Greek temple? What screams elitist more than a Mount Olympus reference?

“See Swann” agrees, albeit unwittingly. In his narration, he approvingly refers to the staging as “regal”. That doesn’t exactly make Obama an egalitarian Everyman. (via Power Line)

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Okay, so everyone everywhere refers to this as a Greek- or Roman-style temple. And so it may be. But I’ve never seen French windows on a temple before.

Now I’m not a racist but Obama’s set designer might be: I think Obama or his aids have unwittingly recreated an antebellum plantation house.

flicker on August 28, 2008 at 4:55 AM

Those aren’t Doric columns on the DNC stage. Those are Dork columns.

viking01 on August 27, 2008 at 6:14 PM

What do you expect when the nominee is this guy?

soundingboard on August 28, 2008 at 5:48 AM

Every good Roman coliseum needs vomitoria.

They will be needed after people listen to Obama.

Steve Z on August 27, 2008 at 5:34 PM

Not to mention all the Kool-Aid.

soundingboard on August 28, 2008 at 5:56 AM

I think the word “satire” needs to be expunged from all dictionaries, and “Obama” put in its place.

RushBaby on August 27, 2008 at 6:33 PM

Seconded. The satirical boundaries have definitely been erased in this election cycle.

soundingboard on August 28, 2008 at 6:02 AM

“It looks like a scene from This is Spinal Tap….” eanax
LOL…Only it was a miniature Stonehenge instead of a portion of a Greek temple. Oh, there are many directions to go with this madness!

Christine on August 27, 2008 at 7:34 PM

Are Pelosi and Reid gonna dance around the set? I mean, they are midgets. Well, mental midgets anyway.

soundingboard on August 28, 2008 at 6:06 AM

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

gooddad on August 28, 2008 at 6:07 AM

That’s straight-up Doric Greek (there was also a Roman Doric), the style of the Parthenon, as well as many others.

I don’t actually see this as “elitist” so much as “pseudo-conservative”. The reason why government buildings and private businesses like banks choose classical themes is to reassure their customers that they are ideologically built upon solid foundations. Western Civilization traces many of its key precepts back through the Roman Empire to the Greek city-states. Using classical architecture is the unspoken promise “You can trust me; I believe in the same principles that you do, that have been handed down to us over millenia from the people who invented this style”.

Which is rather the opposite of CHANGE, now isn’t it?

The Monster on August 27, 2008 at 8:50 PM

And the irony is mind boggling, considering most of BHO’s political mentors want to destroy Western-Civ.

Maybe Billy Ayers will blow it up at the end of BHO’s speech. Symbolically, of course.

soundingboard on August 28, 2008 at 6:15 AM

Seriously. Whatever his campaign is shooting for, modernizing the Grecian style with those windows places the structure in the pre-Civil War American South.

Obama is now portraying himself as the newest iteration of the lord of the plantation.

And that’s change.

flicker on August 28, 2008 at 6:30 AM

There once was a man named Obama
Creating he wanted much drama
Hubris and elitism
Led to much nihilism
Inevitability brung melodrama

Acropolis
Obamopolis
Athens, thou inspiration
Leads to much hesitation
“O-crap-olis”

It’s too late
To recreate
Little home Chuck
“Who is this schmuck?”
All that glory soon to deflate

Carnuntum becomes cunundrum

Entelechy on August 28, 2008 at 7:43 AM

S/b Carnuntum becomes conundrum.

Entelechy on August 28, 2008 at 7:45 AM

The truly frightening part is that Obama’s lemmings cannot comprehend the utter stupidity of this two-bit vaudeville act. The Republic is beginning to rot from the inside.

rplat on August 28, 2008 at 8:41 AM

It’s the O-crapolis!

Dr.Cwac.Cwac on August 28, 2008 at 12:08 PM

Yeah, well great correspondent – he could work for MSNBC.

I wish Sir Rudy was our nominee so he could get a temple like that.

As far as Sen. Obama, I’d have him take a hybrid pickup truck and give his talk to the people, not from some ornate stage. This has to be the GOP punking him!

HotAirJosef on August 28, 2008 at 12:36 PM

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