Michael Dukakis was a Democrat candidate running for President in 1988. He had previously been criticized as being soft on national defense, so in September of that year he orchestrated a photo op in an M1 Abrams tank meant to toughen up his image.

The public found the image of Dukakis in the oversized safety helmet comical, and the photo op had the opposite of the intended effect of making him look tough. So much so that his opponent, George H.W. Bush used footage of Dukakis’ tank ride in his own advertisements.

Photo source.

Wikipedia.

  • @Delphia@lemmy.world
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    2311 months ago

    Now I’m Australian so what I saw might not have been the full picture but it felt like Hillary ran a lazy campaign at least from the international coverage.

    I dont remember a single specific thing about it, no policies, platforms or sound bytes. It wasnt memorable. What I do remember was mostly commentary about how she was clearly better than Trump. It felt like she expected to win on name recognition and because he was so clearly wrong for the job.

    Just my thoughts, I have no doubt there was medding but I also dont think she played a strong game either.

    • @teamevil@lemmy.world
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      2211 months ago

      That was her problem, she basically figured it was her “turn” after Obama and then all she had to beat was that moron Trump. Technically she did have more votes it our stupid electoral college system let him win more electoral votes. She did absolutely suck and there needs to be better options in this country.

    • JJROKCZ
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      1011 months ago

      Yea her campaign was “I’m not trump, and I did decent under Obama” unfortunately those two statements were a major problem for what appears to be nearly half the voting population