Video: Behind the scenes at Invesco and the “regal” stage
posted at 3:10 pm on August 27, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
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)
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »
If Obama were so great, he wouldn’t need any additional props: his ideas and reasoned arguments would move us all. It’s only people who either have nothing to offer or no confidence in their own ideas that have to use outside influences, such as: speaking with a louder voice; introducing race or gender into the equation; using props; accompaniment of music; swearing or using “shocking” language; threats or promises of reward; anything that distracts one from the tenets of his/her policy ideas.
As it stands, despite all of the candy coating of irrelevant influences, he’s nothing but an insecure, incompetent megalomaniac, the product of a generation who values not great ideas or excellence, but superficiality and hedonistic pursuits.
Send_Me on August 27, 2008 at 4:49 PM
soundingboard on August 27, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Aww the local leftists are irate:
If he wanted to recreate Washington why bother with Denver at all? He should just commandeer the White House Rose Garden to deliver his acceptance? (of defeat)
Mount Olympus was booked ROTFLMAO!!!!
elduende on August 27, 2008 at 4:50 PM
I have to post this again for the new page.
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 4:51 PM
If we’re going with a mythological theme here:
Obama = Icarus?
: )
catmman on August 27, 2008 at 4:51 PM
Nah. Narcissus.
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Toga, Toga, Toga!
Skipper50 on August 27, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Its been renamed “The Chosen One.”
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 27, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 4:51 PM
Holy Crap I hadn’t even seen that! Thanks for the post! Good grief this is pathetic.
elduende on August 27, 2008 at 4:54 PM
OMG. This is WAY over the top.
Brat on August 27, 2008 at 4:55 PM
I’m still sticking with Ozymandias.
*eats*
Grue in the Attic on August 27, 2008 at 4:57 PM
I wonder how much that full-scale replica of Air Force One set them back, and what the hell is the point of having something like that anyway?
I’m almost starting to feel sorry for Obama. His need to playact at being the president is beginning to look pathological.
AZCoyote on August 27, 2008 at 4:57 PM
Incredible. Are my eyes acting up, or does that have a real presidential seal on it?
Pianobuff on August 27, 2008 at 4:58 PM
Obamalympus, home of the temple of the goddess Arugula.
ReubenJCogburn on August 27, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Per Jim Geraghty the Air Force One Replica was not brought to Invesco by Obama.
Trent1289 on August 27, 2008 at 5:02 PM
Holy Emperor Odious. A fake Air Force One. Will he have a fake military aide as well, carrying a fake nuclear football?
Didn’t any adult take the Caesar of Chicago aside and tell him this may be reaching, just a little?
George Orwell on August 27, 2008 at 5:02 PM
At a Democratic convention? Good luck with that!
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 27, 2008 at 5:02 PM
Whew. The Air Force One couldn’t have been his, anyway… it didn’t have the nifty new Obama Presidential Seal, just the oppressive, racist old one.
George Orwell on August 27, 2008 at 5:04 PM
LOL, maybe they are trying to distract people from noticing that the place will be half empty. That would be funny.
Then again, even if it isn’t half empty, this will turn so many people off. It’s funny that liberals like Obama say that the U.S. is arrogant, but they fail to see their own arrogance. Barky is going down.
MobileVideoEngineer on August 27, 2008 at 5:07 PM
This is creepy insane, in a creepy insane kind of way.
texette on August 27, 2008 at 5:07 PM
I have NOT read other comments.
I AM an architect.
Style: Doric but…
…this reminds me more of the white marble monument Mussolini had built for himself in Rome.
In a word: pompous. (need I say more?!)
One “detail” of note: the central portal (that entry thingy) seems to have been intentionally downscaled compared to the two at the wings both left and right…the impact of which is
a)to increase the appearance of depth of the curve, and
b) to dramatize (i.e. increase) the size of the speaker (remember the varying photos of The Obamboozler and the Siegessäule in Berlin? Sometimes the shots made him look as large as the monument…).
CALLING LENI RIEFENSTAHL….
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 5:08 PM
nuts, I was ready to short Obama hugely at Tradeports
windansea on August 27, 2008 at 5:10 PM
Again, Bush had an equally ostentatious background in 2004. It didn’t turn anyone off then. There are good reasons to argue B-rock is arrogant. This isn’t one of them.
Trent1289 on August 27, 2008 at 5:12 PM
The climax will occur when Viggo Mortensen, reprising his role as the devil in The prophecy comes up through the floor to offer Obama the world, only to have Our Chosen One humbly turn it down in favor of the Presidency.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 27, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Right. Bush had 4 columns that were already there for the convention, Obama is having the minions build a temple for him with a podium that raises from beneath the floor.
Not even close. But nice try.
JustTruth101 on August 27, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Boo! Take the fun out of it.
At least I still have the greek theatre to mock.
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Quiz Time:
Which one is Obama and which one is McCain?
Pianobuff on August 27, 2008 at 5:16 PM
Ah, but you are wrong. First of all, PRESIDENT Bush was actually the PRESIDENT. Second, 4 fake columns (aka digital) is not the same as being surrounded by “real” columns (aka not digital).
MobileVideoEngineer on August 27, 2008 at 5:17 PM
I wonder if Obama will also have someone whisper in his ear, “Memento mori.”
DanStark on August 27, 2008 at 5:18 PM
OMG, Bush had the Presidential Seal on his podium too! ZOMG! He was playing president too! Oh wait…
He was the sitting President. Four columns = Whitehouse representation.
Obama’s stage = greek tragedy.
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Anyone notice that there’s not an American Flag to be seen in the Temple? Hummm, maybe we’ll have to learn Greek not Spanish? Just a thought.
Got to love this Greek Tragedy (Theater).
theeyeman3410 on August 27, 2008 at 5:24 PM
Will Bubba Clinton direct the Dionysian Orgies? Will Ted Kennedy help?
viking01 on August 27, 2008 at 5:26 PM
HERE YOU GO:
http://www.romeinpictures.com/vittore-emanuele-ii-monument-rome-italy.html
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Wow….I’m actually embarrassed for him. Black Narcissus indeed.
Fortunata on August 27, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, bend me your rears. I come to bury Hillary, not to praise her.
All that’s missing is the golden calf.
Steve Z on August 27, 2008 at 5:31 PM
Who Mouns for Adonais (Obama)
theeyeman3410 on August 27, 2008 at 5:32 PM
They’re freaking the F out at HuffPo — “Mr. Axelrod, tear down those columns!”
Cuffy Meigs on August 27, 2008 at 5:32 PM
McCain campaign releases press release to reporters: Appropriate attire for the Barackapolis: Temple of Obama.
Mentions the toga. Awesome.
Toga! Toga!
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 5:32 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Mourns_for_Adonais%3F
theeyeman3410 on August 27, 2008 at 5:33 PM
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
McCain’s campaign has called this “the Barackapolis” (sp?).
BuckeyeSam on August 27, 2008 at 5:36 PM
The poster is right to be concerned, but a quick skim over the comments shows that the nutty HuffPo uberliberal commenters scorn her for her sage advice. Good!
aero on August 27, 2008 at 5:44 PM
Hillary, not Barack, is the Baal buster.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 27, 2008 at 5:44 PM
I get the feeling it will resemble the White House when it is finished…but even that, is not only presumtuous, but further bolsters BO’s egotistical image.
Now if there’s another Obama seal under that white tarp (and if you look closely, there may very well be one), that’ll push this to a whole ‘nother level!
dugan on August 27, 2008 at 5:45 PM
I predict the next Democratic nomination acceptance speech in 2012 will NOT be held at a large stadium. Even Democrats can learn lessons through hard knocks….
elduende on August 27, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Here’s the roll call!
Enoxo on August 27, 2008 at 5:50 PM
Indeed! This is the most enthralling act of self-evisceration I’ve ever witnessed.
The Obama campaign really is run by high-schoolers. How excellent.
The Ritz on August 27, 2008 at 5:50 PM
In order:
It’s six columns (two are smaller). And someone should alert Obama that he could’ve saved on construction AND not be considered elite, if he’d just gone with digital columns instead. That argument doesn’t hold water.
Also, I think we both agree that arrogance should disqualify someone aspiring to the presidency. But I would hope that you would also be opposed to arrogance in the president himself. Excusing said arrogance just because someone has already gotten the job isn’t okay in my book.
No one mentioned the presidential seal; stop titling at windmills. And, again, it’s six columns. Regardless of whether it’s a symbol for the Whitehouse, it’s still a gaudy background. These men aren’t going to stand in front of a burlap sac; everyone goes showy.
This is probably the most persuasive argument.
I’d still point out that that Bush’s background isn’t normally in Madison Square Garden. It was only used at the convention; and I doubt Bush was thinking about how other speakers would look in front of it when he commissioned it. Obama is building a separate background just for himself, but the speech is going to be in a different venue. If he were replacing the background at the Pepsi Center, I’d agree that would be rather arrogant. But it’s not. Invesco is a different place and this is the main event of the convention. If he was standing in front of a simple plain background we’d mock him for being broke.
Trent1289 on August 27, 2008 at 5:54 PM
So, uh, what kind of stage would have been acceptable? I’m sure you guys would be grasping at straws no matter what the stage looked like. :]
an_abstraction on August 27, 2008 at 5:58 PM
He could have built a replica of his brother’s shack to show everyone how he’s down with real people.
Damiano on August 27, 2008 at 6:05 PM
The Clinton’s had similar backdrops during their first inauguration ceremony, using one of our monuments and stepping out from the columns like they were Roman Emperors.
Can you just imagine what liberals would be like if they ever were to achieve the real power the seek and think they deserve? They would replace the wood mock ups for real monuments and statues we all would be forced to worship at or die!
Too extreme a view? History proves otherwise! That is why they need defeated at every opportunity!
JellyToast on August 27, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Not even close. Bush had a backdrop in a convention hall that incorporated neoclassical columns, among several other design elements. Obama’s having a whole temple built for himself in a football stadium.
And it’s f’in hilarious!
Gilda on August 27, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with the Nuremberg inspiring visuals of the Messiah coming out of a Temple…ROTFLMAO!!!!
elduende on August 27, 2008 at 6:08 PM
This set is clearly palladian style architecture. Our founding fathers embraced the palladian style in their homes and Washington D.C. has many examples of it. This is why I found something familiar when I toured the Italian city of Vicenza and saw the buildings designed by Andrea Palladio. Obama is clearly emulating JFK/MLK in his carefully choreographed appearances/speeches. He wants to look “presidential” when he emerges from the fake White House facade and onto the dais to give his acceptance/inauguration speech.
eigafan on August 27, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Here’s what he seems to be emulating.
dick on August 27, 2008 at 6:13 PM
Those aren’t Doric columns on the DNC stage. Those are Dork columns.
viking01 on August 27, 2008 at 6:14 PM
I wonder if the pool at San Simeon is intact.
jfshaughnessy on August 27, 2008 at 6:21 PM
hmmmm the stage at the 1938 Nuremberg rally:
http://members.tripod.com/rationalrevolution0/images/rpt38a.jpg
and
the Obamacropolis
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/08/the_temple_of_obama_1.asp
LOL!
elduende on August 27, 2008 at 6:23 PM
I can’t believe we’re debating the appropriate use of columns at a political convention! This is insane!
Even more insane is that nobody has mentioned this SNL skit:
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/snl-marble-columns/3278923580
YYZ on August 27, 2008 at 6:26 PM
LOL!
I think I’ll like it better if the crowd just throws up on each other.
AZCoyote on August 27, 2008 at 6:27 PM
I gotta read this thread later but DANG! A fake Air Force One?!?
I might need to have an ambulance standing by to watch this thing!
RushBaby on August 27, 2008 at 6:30 PM
This is just another form of spiritual arrogance from a man who’s greatest fear is to be just an ordinary person.
try again later on August 27, 2008 at 6:33 PM
Neo-Classical architecture promoting CHANGE, only in Obama’s world.
Are Obama and Ayers planning on burning down the faux marble columns for theatrical effects with fireworks, since Bill said his only regret was that he had not destroyed enough yet?
maverick muse on August 27, 2008 at 6:33 PM
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
Keeping with the Spinal Tap references
Two word review about Obama’s temple
____ sandwich.
F15Mech on August 27, 2008 at 6:38 PM
Well said! Obama can’t bear the thought of being seen as what he is. Hence, the malleable slip slidin’ away candidate.
I guess he figures he can catch more flies with Classical references than as the Marxist. Besides, Marx tore down those walls. So Barack will again abuse Reagan’s quote, addressing America, “TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS!” just as he chanted in Germany to the beer und braten chorus of anarchist youth.
maverick muse on August 27, 2008 at 6:40 PM
In the Biden tradition this seems to be a plagiarized copy of the temple of Zeus.The big question is whether the stadium will be considered hallowed ground so that the temple may be preserved after the holy pontifications of The One.
Annar on August 27, 2008 at 6:48 PM
I want to see a riot or two, but I draw the line here.
*doesn’t eat*
Grue in the Attic on August 27, 2008 at 6:50 PM
Palladio was best at using pure forms (squares, circles) and the 1:1.618 (golden mean) ratio.
That’s why I think the pomposity speak louder than the forms here:
http://www.romeinpictures.com/vittore-emanuele-ii-monument-rome-italy.html
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 7:05 PM
…but a Vomitorium for the Black Mussolini certainly would be fitting…
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 7:06 PM
It’s not enough that The One has to speak in a stadium … now he has to speak before a back ground of a Greek temple??
Behold the Temple of Narcissus … or
The One at the Barackolis! Bahahahaha!
mick on August 27, 2008 at 7:08 PM
Megalomania, here we come!
INC on August 27, 2008 at 7:15 PM
I don’t know if someone has said this yet or not to many responders to go thru before I forget what I want to say, The whole plan is to make this look like the memorial in DC where Martin Luther King gave his I have a dream speech because Thursday is the annivirisry of that speech so now he wants everyone to think he’s JFK,MLK and RFK all rolled into 1 be very scared people be very scared!
tee866 on August 27, 2008 at 7:15 PM
It looks like a scene from This is Spinal Tap…
eanax on August 27, 2008 at 7:28 PM
“That doesn’t exactly make Obama an egalitarian Everyman.”
No, but this is for the purpose of the loftiest of propaganda. That Reifenschtall (sp) chick is jealous!! Uh huh! And no price is to high to get the masses high on Obama!!!
The music is perfect: Money, money, money, Money, (it’s all about), MONEY! Someone should change all the words to fit the Obama theme.
Also, I want to go to YouTube and find the old Hercules cartoon, you know, the one where he runs thru the air with his ring flashing on his outstretched arm and yelling: ‘OLYMPIA!’ I think the Repubs could use that, despite the fact that Dubya’s team used columns too.
Christine on August 27, 2008 at 7:29 PM
“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
I guess I should have said it looks like a lost scene form This Is Spinal Tap.
This stage in Denver could have been a substitute for Stonehenge in the movie. It still would have been funny.
It’s just so ridiculous…
eanax on August 27, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Leni Riefenstahl called. Wants you to watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcFuHGHfYwE
It’s called The Lincoln Memorial here. You’re welcome to visit anytime!
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Obama’s chair on Possomus One had this sown in it:
line 1:Obama
line 2:President
faraway on August 27, 2008 at 7:47 PM
Corrected.
eanax on August 27, 2008 at 7:47 PM
LOL. Thread Winner.
Lehosh on August 27, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Looks like a setting for that lost satyr play which Arisophanes wrote entitled “The Owasps” about an archetypcal Obama figure who becomes pointedly ludicrous (not Ludakris!) through his prickly arrogance.
The chorus enters chanting:
Obumma! Obumma! The flies called Clintonus swarm!
Let us harken to the voice of the Changed One!
O Barry, pray prattle! Preach! Proclaim! Pontificate!
Then the first column falls over, crushing an entering messenger named Richardsoon the Turnedcoat, who gives his brief exit speech:
O’ …should… have… been… me! (expires).
It’s all downhill from there.
profitsbeard on August 27, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 7:46 PM
Well please excuse my ignorance I was in a hurry and didn’t take time to write the whole name out thinking that people might just be smart enough to figure out which one I meant, so as such I’ll just go back to lurking so I don’t offend anyone again with my ignorance.
tee866 on August 27, 2008 at 8:12 PM
You must be younger and take normal friendliness as sarcasm.
I was born in D.C. and think it’s great when Americans visit their nation’s capital.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Sheesh.
Lockstein13 on August 27, 2008 at 8:35 PM
We should throw Animal House inspired Toga Parties tomorrow, get drunk, and mock Obama.
Mutnodjmet on August 27, 2008 at 8:40 PM
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
Or “I am a god and come worship at my feet.”
eanax on August 27, 2008 at 9:23 PM
It’s amazing, this guy keeps giving the right more and more material to work with.
tx2654 on August 27, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Pretty sure I just heard Otis Day and the Knights will be the back up band.
flyoverland on August 27, 2008 at 9:49 PM
Well since I first saw the stage he was gonna use… It hit me… He is recreating the White House… And now that we know there is gonna be a replica fuselage of Air Force One… I think he doesn’t think he needs u’r vote anymore…
Unless he is gonna make this into a huge joke… It’s not really funny… Other then being funny in the head… For some one to be so egocentric that he doesn’t need an election to be the president… I guess once u’r the MSM president… Whey would u need an election that involves us common not regal, racist folks…
Y314K on August 27, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Most Greek plays are Tragedy,we may be watching history repete it’s self. Good thing the klintons are not of Roman heritage and this is not March 15. Last night’s knife job and the willie tonight give a whole new meaning to faint praise and laundry list. I have this list of BS memorized from 1948 on.
The old one may not be as hip but he seems a better pick than the kid.
The VP pick on Friday is what we are looking at now.
J.Wm.
Col.John Wm. Reed on August 27, 2008 at 10:15 PM
He was gonna quite being a Senator… But then he threw his boys under the bus… And accepted to be a Senator… And has never looked back…
Y314K on August 27, 2008 at 10:27 PM
quite = quit…
Y314K on August 27, 2008 at 10:27 PM
The McCain memo is one of the funniest things that I’ve ever read… You must give these guys credit for having a winning sense of humor and waging a very effective underdog campaign.
Illinidiva on August 27, 2008 at 10:37 PM
This is just too funny. You can’t make this stuff up; when I first read about this, I thought it was from the Daily Onion. Saturday Night Live couldn’t come up with a parody this good. Given all of the problems with image the Obama campaign has produced for itself, making Obama to be the “Messiah”, the “One”, was this really the brightest idea?
AZfederalist on August 27, 2008 at 11:02 PM
True dat! ARe we gonna get King Henry V while he’s up there yakking? The Globe theater was downright austere compared to this.
See Swann is the foshizzle. Word.
Mojave Mark on August 28, 2008 at 1:29 AM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »