viz.

(Image credit: Chicago Tribune)

Did anybody notice how many American flags graced the stage of Mitt Romney’s rally last week on Election Night? Why were they grouped in threes? What was the Romney campaign trying to suggest by dressing the stage in such a way? That Mitt Romney was patriotic and put America before all things? That not only is Mitt Romney patriotic, but he can afford many American flags? That like all-things American, our flags should come in large proportions? Is there anything in Mormon theology that preferences the number three? If three is somehow significant, why give us four sets of three? Maybe we got four sets of three because this way Romney could be positioned in the middle of flags during his speech? Are the three sets of gaps between the tri-flags on Mitt Romney’s Election Night stage significant? If Mitt Romney’s was supposed to stand between one of the gaps, and Paul Ryan was supposed to stand in another, does anybody know who was supposed to stand in the third gap? Does anybody know where one can buy 12 regulation-size American flags? Never mind the flags, does anybody know where one can get the flag poles that have the eagles on top?

(Image credit: Chicago Tribune)

The Obama campaign’s setup made a bit more sense. The only thing I was initially wondering about was the fact that there were high school gym bleachers behind the podium where Obama was to address the nation. And I noticed this during the Carl Rove-recall-Ohio debacle, at which point MSNBC (the station I was watching) was talking about Rove’s confusion and showing a broad shot of the Obama supporters celebrating in the Chicago convention center. From this angle, the riser at the back did look a bit out of place. Of course, when Obama came out and started speaking, from the TV angle it looked just as if he had a diverse group of people behind him, which is certainly what his campaign must have been going for. I don’t watch too many campaign speeches, or at least I like to tell myself that I don’t watch too many campaign speeches, but I’ve got to think that having bleachers in back is almost a standard of the genre. Whenever clips of such events are shown on The Daily Show or wherever else I see them, it makes complete sense that folks are standing behind a given candidate.

I wonder if the difference between the Romney and Obama campaigns here speaks to a larger point, and something that ultimately has to do with how things turned out. The Obama team was clearly aware of who their audience was (folks watching around the country on TVs), and of how their Election Night stage would come across to those tuning in. The Romney campaign apparently didn’t think of such things. Or if they did, they must have come to the conclusion that their fans wanted a certain cynical and gaudy excessiveness.