Can we just see the end of endorsements forever? Nobody gives a sh*t. [View All]

[CreekDog]

The whole idea that I'm going to vote for someone based on what someone higher up than them says is just outmoded. I could see voting on someone's word if they knew the candidate they were endorsing personally AND there were no other good sources of information for me to base my decision upon.

But the idea that it's credible at all that because Obama supported Specter that he was the better candidate --that's ridiculous. I think the last endorsement that mattered was Ted Kennedy's of Barack Obama --but not so much to change anybody's mind, but to send the signal that his was a serious campaign.

I'm not criticizing Obama for supporting Specter...whatever deal they made turned Specter into a more reliable Democrat in 2009/2010 than he ever was as a Republican. But it just rings hollow. Who needs the help to decide which candidate is better? I don't think anybody. And when both candidates are perfectly acceptable politically, are both comparably strong electorally (as both Sestak and Specter would have been)...what's the point of an endorsement? Nothing all that convincing if you ask me.

In terms of the "machine", there is clearly value in the big time endorsement, as it opens checkbooks, but even that isn't what it used to be and it's not going to be even what it is now. Campaigns need money, but the money advantage created by endorsements is never significant enough if it makes a difference. Sestak had the money he needed and the extra money Specter raised from the endorsements wasn't enough to change that.

And fewer and fewer voters are responding to endorsements...for the same reason fewer of them are responding to advertising in general. Nobody thinks these things are very genuine, or that they are done without alterior motive. In the age of Yelp and Amazon reviews, when people see an endorsement, they often think of that Amazon review..."why would a consumer of that product refer to it as 'new and improved'?" and dismiss everything else because it doesn't seem objective.

To my candidates: stop endorsing people. Want to make something viral? Tell us to make up our own minds...now that might just be the most convincing thing you can endorse.

:D