The Role of Actors in the 9th Democratic Debate

In the introduction of The Performative Presidency, by Jason L. Mast, an actor is named as one of the six elements of cultural performance. Mast writes: “Actors control their own meanings through their speech and comportment, but they are never fully in control over their entire semiotic domain. Actors take on meanings in relation to other actors in the drama, and in relation to the settings, plots, and vagaries of everyday life that can be picked up by a video camera” (10-11). It is up to the actor’s performance to sway an audience one way or another, and it is important to keep in mind, as Mast notes, that “[a]udiences decode what actors have encoded  (Hall 2005 [1980])” (11). Therefore, actors are often cognizant of how an audience might decode and in turn perceive a statement or in this case, debate performance. In this post, I will be looking at Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders as actors in Las Vegas in the ninth democratic debate.

Throughout this debate, Joe Biden repetitively uses the tactic of bluntly distinguishing himself from the other candidates on the stage. Following up Bernie Sanders’ points on healthcare, Biden waves his hands a bit and says confidently, “Hey, I’m the only one on this stage who actually got anything done for healthcare.” He precedes to criticize the lack of explanation as to how people will pay for Sanders’ proposals. As an audience member, I see this as Biden prompting the audience to decode his statement as “I am experienced and level-headed. You can trust me.” I’m not saying that the whole audience trusts him, but that is the image of himself that he seems to be sculpting. He later points out that he is the only one of the candidates who has beaten Mitch McConnell. However, this specific point is undermined by Elizabeth Warren who calls out Biden’s claims and references a quote of Biden saying that he hoped McConnell would get re-elected, to which Biden retorts that this was taken out of context. Warren reminds the audience that McConnell “stole a Supreme Court seat from the Democrats.” The audience then erupts in support of Warren, and the camera cuts to a wide-eyed and exasperated looking Joe Biden. This camera work also plays a role in the performance and how viewers at home are shaping their view of the candidates. When Biden gives the impression that he is flustered or unable to form a response, he is seen as weaker on the stage. Overall, he maintains a collected composure with some instances of confusion or puzzlement.

While Sanders has plenty of experience and a history in politics, he takes a different approach as an actor. Sanders continuously restates his stances in a way that might be perceived as redundant, but paints him as a constant and trustworthy candidate who will not flip flop on important issues. When Sanders’ health is called into question, he responds that he has addressed his medical history and is releasing health reports. Doctors, he says, have affirmed his fitness and strength to lead the country. Sanders maintains his assertive tone and unwavering voice in his response, making it hard for the audience to doubt his mental sharpness. In response to a question about the climate crises and keeping places such as Las Vegas and Reno “livable,” Sanders reiterates that he wants an entire ban on fracking, and one of the moderators comments on this, hinting that it might be too radical of an action to appeal to enough people. However, Sanders retorts, reminding the audience that “this is a moral issue” and that leaving a livable planet for America’s children and grandchildren is “more important than the profits of the fossil fuel industry.” In this case, the moderator assisted in cementing Sanders’ values as an actor, reaffirming authenticity and the belief in what is right as opposed to what is moderate enough to gain support. In a sense, Sanders is able to act out authenticity on the spot in front of his audience, in the act of maintaining his priorities. 

In some ways, Biden is successful as an actor; his answers are noticeably more direct in this debate. By separating himself from the group, Biden attempts to elevate himself from his competitors and imply that he is just on another level in terms of skill set and experience. Yet his performance falls short in many ways, as he relies on what he assumes has already been established, and his side comments and calm (in comparison to Sanders) attitude can be seen as either a comfortable politician or one that is not trying hard enough. Sanders’ demeanor is many times the exact opposite. He excites the crowd and demands the attention of the audience. Even those who don’t like him find it difficult to turn away. Sanders’ commitment to the working class and ethical standards that he holds himself and others to effectively earns support and portrays him as reliable. 

Works Cited

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton    Years. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

NBC News. “Watch the Full NBC News/MSNBC Democratic Debate in Las Vegas.” Accessed Feb. 20, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZkV0ISxcQY.

Authentic Actors Debate #9

            Looking at the ninth Democratic Presidential debate we are brought to Las Vegas where Bernie Sanders had been surging in the polls after a recent Iowa caucus win and some stumbling from both the Biden and Warren campaigns along the presidential trail. Mast explains that, “Actors take on meanings in relation to other actors in the drama, and in relation to the settings, plots, and vagaries of everyday life that can be picked up by a video camera” (mast 11) In the ninth debate we saw that the actors or rather, candidates, in the ninth debate would be defined by their reactions to the emergence of Mike Bloomberg as a candidate and the opportunity he presented to these actors to redefine their own images under the glowing light of positive relativity to the former New York Mayor.

            We can start by looking at Joe Biden’s performance to analyze how the former Vice President made use of the new actor (Mike Bloomberg) to reshape how he was perceived by a national audience. Mast explains the authenticity is prized in actors, but isn’t inherent to any one person rather it is something that is interpretative and can be shaped by political posturing. In this campaign the political values of the democratic party had been dragged to the left by progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and therefore redefined what it meant to be a Democrat; however, because these policies also were focused around social and economic equity the political trait of authenticity started to become aligned around candidates level of support of these more progressive ideas. This party reposturing left Joe Biden fairly far to the right when it came to his policy and left him looking out of touch and inauthentic when it came to his calls for political change, but with Mike Bloomberg entering the fray as essentially a billionaire republican Joe was given a golden opportunity in the ninth debate.

            Biden, along with the other candidates, attacked Bloomberg on everything from his failed stop and frisk policies (racial injustices), to lack of political prowess, and finally his history of sexual harassment and litany of non-disclosure agreements that paid his female employees to keep quite about such instances. Where Biden had been relegated to the position of the older moderate Democrat who was out of touch with the changing tides, Mike Bloomberg allowed for a rebalancing of the playing field. Because Bloomberg was so un-progressive in his platform and because of his history of blatant racial and sexual offenses he allowed for the perception of Joe Biden to shift by giving the Vice President opportunities to call out the blatantly bad billionaire track record that mayor bloomberg had.

            While Bernie mostly stayed on brand in this debate and attacked Bloomberg on par with the amount that other candidates did it just didn’t seem to have the same effect. We already knew that Bernie stood for progressive economic and social justice reform, and as an audience America didn’t need to see Bernie get angry about these issues in relation to Bloomberg in particular to let us know what Senator Sanders stood for; however, with Biden we got to see him take a fiery stance in opposition to Bloomberg that gave off the perception that he was inching closer towards some of the progressive ideals other candidates stood for, which only helped his campaign at the conclusion of this debate.

           

Symbolic Production and Mise-en-scene...What Does it all Mean?: A Deeper Look Into the 9th Democratic Debate

       Symbolic production and mise-en-scene are two important concepts that are introduced to us in the introduction of Mast’s The Performative Presidency. These two elements of performance are critical in being able to fully understand the gravity of the democratic debates. Symbolic production is the way that the physical objects that surround the actor convey and add meaning to their performance. (Mast; 2012)  Mise-en-scene refers to the way that all the elements of a performance are choreographed in a specific way to convey meaning, it is more so about the way that space and timing are utilized in a performance. (Mast; 2012) In this blog, we will be taking a closer look at how Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden’s performances in the 9th democratic debate, and how symbolic production and mise-en-scene played into said performances.   

In terms of symbolic production, the debate starts off with what seems to be a ‘highlight reel’ of all the candidates. Each one seems to be about five seconds long, and it would appear that these clips are meant to communicate the main message of each candidate. In Sanders’ clip, he appears to be at a rally and says, “let us, create the political revolution this country needs.” (Sanders, 2020). Biden’s clip, also appearing to come from one of his rallies, shows him saying, “I can’t do it alone, I need your help to climb that mountain. And together we’re gonna beat Donald Trump!” (Biden, 2020). Both candidates are calling for unity here, but the cause for which they are fighting for appears to be somewhat different, and the choice to use these specific clips in this intro is important to understanding that. Sanders’ goal, like any other democratic candidate, is to defeat Trump—but unlike Biden, it is not his main point when he calls for people to come together. Rather than asking for people to come together against Trump, Sanders asks for the American people to come together for themselves and against the unfair systems of this country. Biden’s message, on the other hand, is one that often specifically calls out Trump and calls for unity against him. He does not want the ‘revolution’ that Bernie calls for, but rather a return to something more similar to the Obama administration, which he often refers to during debates. While these clips are just small parts of a much larger event, the fact that they are in the very beginning and are so short give them an almost iconic feel that can stick with the viewer throughout the entirety of the debate; they make it easy to understand who a candidate is and what they stand for. 

       Following this, we are introduced to the democratic candidates on stage, and behind them is what appears to be a digital display of the white house. In the lineup of candidates, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are directly next to each other in the middle. This all is a part of the mise-en-scene, and it conveys a powerful message about these two candidates and their standing in comparison to the other candidates on stage. Furthermore, it seems to imply almost a direct competition between the two of them that is separate from the general competition on stage. In terms of the way camera angles and the way that Biden and Sanders are displayed while they are speaking, I personally felt there were more isolated shots of Bernie in this debate than the previous one, or shots with him and just one other candidate. This made it so there was more attention directly on Sanders, but perhaps it was also meant to communicate that Sanders is separated from his fellow candidates in terms of policy and his vision for the United States. Biden was displayed similarly to how he was in the previous debate, but also was shown engaging with his fellow candidates more than Bernie did, such as when he had an exchange with Mayor Pete Buttigieg regarding Bloomberg’s disclosure agreements. 

     These debates are large-scale, comprehensive events that have multitudes of meanings attached to them. So, while it may seem like I am only looking at small moments in this blog post, it is important to note that these ‘small moments’ must be perceived and understood in order to truly be able to see the bigger picture regarding the performances of both candidates here. 

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton 

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Anon. 2020. “ The Full NBC News/MSNBC Democratic Debate In Las Vegas | NBC News.” Youtube. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZkV0ISxcQY).

Slander as a System of Collective Representation: 9th Democratic Debate

This post is meant to look at a system of collective representation through a grander scale than just Biden and Bernie, and rather look at the system of collective representation in which they existed during this debate.

The ninth democratic debate was both tenacious and pugnacious. At times it was hard to determine whether the remaining candidates were looking to better their own campaign or if they were there to damage the others. But how much blame do these candidates deserve for their dividing behavior and slander at such a crucial point for both the electoral process and for the state of our nation? Or was this behavior on stage a reflection of what audiences really want. Oftentimes and specifically now, the chaos of actors bantering, audiences deciphering, and the media and several other analysts throwing in their two cents can make these immensely symbolically rooted debates feel shallow and illusory. The politics of today makes it increasingly difficult to find any symbolic meaning, let alone a system of collective representation, and the ninth democratic debate was no exception. 

Defined as a group of symbols and images that share common meaning amongst a group or groups of people, systems of collective representation help us convey both ideas and values while creating social solidarity. In this post I will work to highlight systems of collective representation in the Ninth Democratic Debate from Las Vegas on February 19th, 2020.    

The most notable system of collective representation is unlike the typical systems. Unlike constellations and wedding rings this system is more encoded and perhaps more ingrained into daily life than the previously noted systems. Insults were the most prominent system of collective representation seen that night in Las Vegas. The binary codes of civil society that specify the characteristics of social actors, relationships, and institutions come out of the political universe (Mast, 12). The symbolic world of politics was both ephemeral and lasting, this system represents talking points which are meant to transcend into daily life and be reiterated through conversation. The insults that night in Vegas were certainly meant to carry through the walls of that arena and into the homes of Americans. It was a battle field in which bullets were replaced by words, something that all of us are much more familiar with. 

This system is both complex and simple in that it is an obvious tactic but its implications may be deeper and grander than an audience member may understand. Instead of any candidate trying to create an image of themselves being draped in the American Flag, they fought to make every candidate besides themselves seem as the last person that would drape themselves in the American flag. Characteristic of politics in recent years, it feels the days of kissing babies and shaking hands has transformed into snarky remarks and media slander.

Will this trend continue as a lasting form of collective representation? One would hope the American political scene will work to take on a more positively connoted system.

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton 

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

The Power of the Audience during the 9th Debate.... What is a “Bernie Bro”? By Bijan Khaghani

Figure 1: Sanders' RallyBixby, Scott. "Bernie Bros Are Loud, Proud, and Toxic to Sanders' Campaign." The Daily Beast. January 22, 2020. https://www.thedailybeast.com/bernie-bros-are-loud-proud-and-toxic-to-bernie-sanders-campaign.

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to another post on Blogging Berden! Before we begin I want to give a quick shout out to one of my peers on this blog, Eli Rocke, who really got me thinking about what it exactly means to win a debate. Specifically, in our last big blog post (which I highly suggest you go watch if you haven’t!) when I asked the group who they thought won the 8th democratic debate. Eli came in with the answer, “well that depends where you look,” and I found that to be very true! Depending on where we look we will see different results based on where people stand with each candidate and ultimately the kind of audience member. Sanders supporters may say Sanders won by a landslide while more moderate Democrats may say Biden won effortlessly.

The Agenda for Today.

With that in mind, today’s post will be centered around the 9th Democratic debate which occurred in Las Vegas on February 19th, 2020. However, unlike last time I will be focusing more heavily on the Bernie 2020 campaign. Specifically Bernie’s audience, since by that point in the race there were certain supporters of Sanders known as the “Bernie bros” who were tarnishing Sanders' image by attacking his political opponents online.

Who are the “Bernie Bros” and why were they so important by this point in the election?

To give a quick summary on the origins of the Bernie Bros, back in 2016 groups of Sanders supporters began to wage war against anyone who even had a single bad thought about the Vermont Senator or his backers. These individuals would go on to be called the Bernie Bros and were argued as one of the reasons why Hilary Clinton did not win the presidency in 2016. By the time of February 19th 2020, the Bernie Bros were once again in full swing calling out all other campaigns, especially Warren and Biden’s campaigns in every way imaginable. Ultimately, the media deemed that this sort of support was in fact bullying and Sanders has on many occasions stated that those who do and support this sort of online bullying are not truly a part of his campaign. What made Bernie Bros so important during this debate compared to previous debates was that the number of candidates who were running for the nomination was dropping and  it became a question of who is the best leader and base left to beat Donald Trump in the upcoming general election.

What is so important about having a strong base?  (Joe Biden V.S. Bernie Sanders)

To quote Pete Buttigieg during the debate:

-  “Leadership isn't just about policy. I think at least in broad terms, we're largely pulling in the same direction on policy, but leadership is also about how you motivate people to treat other people. I think you have to accept some responsibility and ask yourself what it is about your campaign in particular that seems to be motivating this behavior more than others, because in order to turn the page on the Trump era, we're going to need a president, not just a candidate who can win, but a president who can move us forward.”

As previously mentioned in my last post about Biden and Sanders, according to Jason L. Mast, a global research fellow at Warwick University’s Institute for Advanced Study, “a political actor has the power to give life and communicate their message to an audience by inhibiting their political roles.“ Actors make choices that vary from prescient to poor and embody or speak their symbolic intentions with varying degrees of deftness.” (Mast 2012) However, Mast also recognizes that political actors do not have complete autonomy in how their message is received. Ultimately, the audience has the true power in being able to take in that message and register it within their minds. Though, depending on the kind of supporter they could have different feelings about what is said.

Yağmur Karakaya and the different sorts of Audience members/voters

Yağmur Karakaya, a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Minnesota, wrote about the different types of audience members in his article called “The conquest of hearts: the central role of Ottoman nostalgia within contemporary Turkish populism.” He specifically brings up types such as Spectacle Seekers, Appraising Skeptics, and History Guardians. In this case Sanders supporters fall under Karakaya’s definition of Spectacle Seekers in the sense that they feed into that togetherness and emotional rise which Sanders and his team bring out through his speeches and rallies. Meanwhile, one could argue that Biden supporters are more Appraising Skeptics because they find that Biden has already proved his credibility through his years as Vice President and therefore that his political rallies only serve to paint the image that he is for “the people,” just like Sanders. A leader’s following can build them up and tear them down. While I agree with Buttiegeg’s sentiment that we all need to be accountable for our supporters, at some point the internet is going to be dark no matter how hard we try to stop it. This is frustrating for a candidate like Sanders whose main demographic is young tech-savvy voters who are more capable and therefore likely to engage in this type of behavior.

Could Bernie Bros be the passionate end for the Sanders campaign? The Power and Backlash of KYDSA’s announcement.

Figure 2: KYDSA logo "Kenyon College Young Democratic Socialists of America." Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/KenyonYDSA/.

Yes! Looking at how powerful a base can be, it’s a major set back when your supporters are considered to be this hostile irrational group. Take Kenyon College for an example, around the time of this debate the Kenyon Young Democratic Socialists of America or KYDSA announced that they would support Sanders for the 2020 election. Immediately after this many students on campus felt a grand divide among their peers as after this announcement there became a stigma on campus where if you didn’t vote for Sanders your vote was considered incorrect. I personally know several of my classmates who were yelled at in close corners just because they openly talked about their support for other candidates such as Joe Biden. While it wasn’t the KYDSA’s fault for the social situation at school, what it ultimately led to was many students outside of KYDSA’s circle to consider Sanders’ supporters as crazy, and that ultimately Biden was the logical choice in comparison. The impression that students got of Sanders supporters ultimately led to them believing that Sanders was hostile which ruined his image on campus among common students.

So what does this all mean moving forward?

Figure 3. Settle For Biden shirt made after Sanders dropped out of the race"Settle for Biden 2020 Gift by Kader85." TeePublic. https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/8472266-settle-for-biden-2020-gift eed_sku=8472266D1V&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=AgencyWithin_Shopping_AllDesigns_NonChildSKUs&gclsrc=aw.ds&?ar_clx=yes&ar_channel=google&ar_campaign=9182645456&ar_adgroup=90282973622&ar_ad=415256327458&ar_strategy=search&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1o3n8fOG6QIVCovICh10xAsVEAQYASABEgK9fPD_BwE.

 With Biden as the current Nominee I believe that Biden will continue to face challenges with getting Sanders supporters to follow him. All around social media there are shirts and slogans saying things such as “Settle for Biden,” which ultimately makes him seem like a weaker candidate. What the Democrats need to do is to unite together in these trying times. However, a Biden campaign could divide moderate and young liberal democrats in the general election. Even though Sanders endorses Biden and even though we all would want a party that sticks together no matter the nominee, the truth is voters have the power in painting the image of our political actors and the way we are painting Joe Biden now may lead to another Trump presidency. We must do everything we can to stop that!

Citations

Beauchamp, Zack. "The Raging Controversy over "Bernie Bros" and the So-called Dirtbag Left, Explained." Vox. March 09, 2020. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/9/21168312/bernie-bros-bernie-sanders-chapo-trap-house-dirtbag-left.

"Bernie Sanders Supporters Get a Bad Reputation Online." BBC News. January 28, 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-35422316.

"Full Transcript: Ninth Democratic Debate in Las Vegas." NBCNews.com. February 20, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/full-transcript-ninth-democratic-debate-las-vegas-n1139546.

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton

Karakaya, Yağmur. "The Conquest of Hearts: The Central Role of Ottoman Nostalgia within Contemporary Turkish Populism." American Journal of Cultural Sociology, 2018. doi:10.1057/s41290-018-0065-y.

"Settle for Biden 2020 Gift by Kader85." TeePublic. https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/8472266-settle-for-biden-2020-gift eed_sku=8472266D1V&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=AgencyWithin_Shopping_AllDesigns_NonChildSKUs&gclsrc=aw.ds&?ar_clx=yes&ar_channel=google&ar_campaign=9182645456&ar_adgroup=90282973622&ar_ad=415256327458&ar_strategy=search&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1o3n8fOG6QIVCovICh10xAsVEAQYASABEgK9fPD_BwE.

Blogging Burden Group Discussion: What Went down of February 8th.... Let's talk about that!

Hello there! Welcome to the first Blogging Berden's big discussion. Click the link below to watch us talk about what we've learned! If you have any questions of your own please leave a comment and we can talk about it in our next video which will come shortly! For now please enjoy our video by clicking the link below!

Social Power's Role in the Eighth Democratic Debate

Bernie vs Biden

Social Power

In this blog post, I will be focusing on candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden during the Democratic presidential Manchester debate in February, in order to analyze social power, which is one of the elements of cultural pragmatics. Jason L. Mast writes in The Performative Presidency that the six elements are “actors, audiences, systems of collective representation, means of symbolic production, mise-en-scene, and social power” (10). Concerning social power, he goes on to write that “Forms of power are distributed unequally, of course, and social performances are enabled and constrained accordingly. Access to the variety of forms of social power (Mann 1986, 1993) influences the size, scope, and reach of performances, but in no means determines their effectiveness” (13). In other words, Biden and Sanders will each reach some of the same but also some different crowds, yet access is not decisive for productivity. We should make note of the performative means which influence how attempts at gaining social power are perceived. For example, the audience erupting in applause signals to us that the speaker they are responding to was able to reach them and rally their emotions, at least in that moment. Defeating Trump is certainly a goal, but the candidates have differing opinions on the way in which that should be achieved.

Over the course of the debate, Senator Bernie Sanders specifically addresses the working class, the elderly, and the youth, saying in the first ten minutes that “the way we beat Trump is by having the largest voter turnout in the history of this country, and that is appealing to working class people who have given up on the political process, because we don’t believe anybody is hearing their pain, receiving their pain, feeling their pain. And we gotta bring young people in the political process.” Sanders repeats the word pain, and I would argue that most if not all of the audience has felt pain as a result of Trump’s presidency. We can be quick to brush off emotional appeals as ramblings, yet emotions are an important part of politics. While sincerity and authenticity can always be up for debate, it is undeniable that we vote with our hearts as well as our heads. In The conquest of hearts: the central role of Ottoman nostalgia within contemporary Turkish populism, Karakaya acknowledges the role of emotion as he argues that “[r]ather than existing in juxtaposition, cognitions come bundled up with emotions and are meaningful or powerful for this reason (Goodwin et al. et al. 2001, p.15)” (6). Bernie Sanders does embody a populist, but I would like to clarify that populism is not inherently negative, and although there are many harmful examples that we hear about in the media, its effect is determined by the politician employing it. Therefore, in his recognition of a universal sentiment that casts a heavy weight over this nation, Sanders is developing a reasoning behind his campaign and indirectly showcasing his ability to mobilize support, which is present when he says, in discussing insurance companies and healthcare (about twenty minutes later), that “this country belongs to all of us.” 

Joe Biden’s social power is especially grounded in his experience in government, notably as Barack Obama’s Vice-President. He references his experience throughout the debate, and inserts that Sanders does not understand how difficult it is to pass bills, in response to healthcare initiatives. In this sense, Biden portrays himself as an economic voice of reason, which is amplified by his chuckling and grinning during times when other candidates are explaining their plans. While Biden does not refer to specific sectors of the population, Biden's language as a whole does not appear to elicit the same emotional reaction as Sanders’. However, Biden does have the crowd physically participate when he asks them to stand up and clap for Colonel Vindman. He utilizes visualization and active participation again when discussing foreign policy; Biden (towards the end of the first hour) instructs, “Close your eyes everybody. Remember what you saw on television. You saw a woman up there standing up there holding her baby, Kurds saying, please don’t leave us and armed military women and men going out in Humvees with their heads down, ashamed of what they did.” Biden mobilizes emotion here in a different way than Sanders does, as he uses less of an “us” and more of a removed conceptualizing. However, when Biden talks about being a single dad, having a net worth of 0, and having to move due to his own dad not having a job, he is attempting to humanize himself and connect with the crowd. To the point of childcare and America’s education system, he sums up his point by saying, “The fact is, we have to focus on what is at stake here. These aren’t someone else’s children. They’re all our children.” This draws immense support in the form of cheering and applause from the crowd. Joe Biden’s ongoing references to numbers and statistics might paint him as legitimate in the eyes of some, and inaccessible and confusing to others, but his call for social responsibility here breaks down a wall between him and his audience. Both candidates have social power, both use it, and the more we can decode the language surrounding it, the better we will understand each candidate’s platform and supporters.

Works Cited

Hernandez, Monica. 2020 Democratic Presidential debate, parts 1-3. WMUR 9, ABC 7 Feb.       2020, Updated 8 Feb., 2020.  https://www.wmur.com/article/video-2020-democratic-     presidential-debate-part-1/30819551

Karakaya, Yagmur. 2018. The conquest of hearts: the central role of Ottoman nostalgia within             contemporary Turkish populism. University of Minnesota, 909 Social Sciences, 267 19th     Ave Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton    Years. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Political Actors at Work! What Went Down After the Iowa Caucus By Bijan Khaghani

Dear Reader,

Before we begin, I would first like to say, Hello! Welcome to Blogging Berden! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read our blog. We are happy to have you here and we hope you find our posts to be thought-provoking and entertaining. With that being said I should introduce myself! My name is Bijan Khaghani. I am a First-Year student at Kenyon College. While I am not sure what exactly I am going to major in, my future plans involve some sort of work in the fields of either Political Science or Sociology.

With all that aside, let’s get into the topic for today’s post. Like the name of our blog hints at, we will be focusing on former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders for our analysis. The time frame which we have chosen to look at them is between the 8th Democratic Presidential Debate and the last one, which took place from February 7th, 2020 to March 16th, 2020. For this post specifically, I will be looking at the Democratic Presidential Debate which occurred on February 7th, 2020 and I will be focusing on how Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders conducted themselves as actors during this debate.


Setting the Stage. What Exactly was going on February 7th, 2020?

To set the stage we should look at multiple major events that happened between February 5th to February 7th, 2020. Firstly, the Iowa caucus results were released after days of controversy leading to Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders being the declared winners with 26.2 and 26.1 percent of the votes respectively. At the same time, President Donald Trump was acquitted after a long and tense impeachment trial resulting in many lawmakers believing that this outcome showed how hyper-partisan the government really was at this point. Also as a result of this trial, President Trump fired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council staff due to his involvement in testifying against the president.

Why is this important? What exactly is a Political Actor?

The reason it’s so important to understand the background of what was going on at the time circling this debate is that it’s these sorts of events: highly publicized and dramatized, that political actors will use as examples in order to help portray their message and, in this case, to seem more presidential. According to Jason L. Mast, a global research fellow at Warwick University’s Institute for Advanced Study, a political actor has the power to give life and communicate their message to an audience by inhibiting their political roles. “Actors make choices that vary from prescient to poor and embody or speak their symbolic intentions with varying degrees of deftness.” (Mast 2012)  Most importantly, political actors do a balancing act between giving off a powerful message and being authentic and down to earth when doing so. For example, in his book, The Performative Presidency, Mast discusses that politicians such as Bill Clinton will portray a speech in a certain way. When Clinton does this, it is in order to get his message across, which his staff helped him craft, while also seeming as if what he’s saying is spontaneous and, again, authentic in nature-- as if what he is saying isn’t an act; it’s how he truly feels. So how exactly do we see this all play out on February 7th on the debate stage?

Joe Biden: “The casual voice of reason?”

Over the course of the over two-hour debate, Joe Biden, while centerstage, takes much less heat from his political opponents Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. However, Biden does get a fair amount of time to portray himself as what I consider to be the “chill voice of reason.” Mast, in regards to Bill Clinton’s campaign, says that it “worked hard to fashion its lead as an intelligent, personable, and youthful self-made man.” Many political theorists believe that in order to be “fit for the job,” a presidential candidate must be someone that the people would be willing to “sit down and have a beer with.” This idea is reflected in Biden when he directly admits to the audience that he definitely lost Iowa and that he will probably continue to lose. However,  his supporters should not worry because this is only “the starting line” in his eyes. Biden, in admitting defeat, seems to have a very defeatist mentality. However, it’s the exact opposite. In saying this, Biden portrays a message of hope for his campaign while also acting as a level headed, down to earth option for democratic voters who, early on, are not sure who they should vote for. He does this not by hiding from his failings such as his loss in Iowa but rather turns the loss into a form of motivation through using world events in order to prove to the audience that he is not only down to earth, but that he is also knowledgeable and presidential.


Joe Biden: “Stand For Vindman”

One instance of this is when Biden is asked about the investigation of his son, Hunter Biden. In a warm, circuitous style Biden changes the subject, saying that “we cannot let the Republicans distract us.” He then continues by imploring, “We have to be authentic with the American people, and how are we gonna do it?” In talking about authenticity, Biden again appeals to the audience as an actor by saying that the Democrats need to hold the standard, which the President clearly does not. Now, having set the norm, Biden uses his captivated audience to discuss the issue of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, saying that he should be receiving the medal of honor for listening in on the July 25th phone call with Ukraine's president rather than be thrown out. However, the big moment is when Biden quite literally commands the audience by yelling “Stand For Vindman.” The cameras then pan to the audience, which unanimously stands to clap and scream in approval. This, to me, is the ultimate example of a political actor using his power effectively.





Fig. 1 Audience standing after Joe Biden yells “Stand for Vindman”





So was Joe Biden a good Political Actor in this Debate?

Undoubtedly yes! In the course of minutes, Biden went from being judged under a microscope to being the crowd favorite! This is no small feat; in fact, in this debate, Biden essentially embodies what Mast says is the full potential of political actors. Biden effortlessly walks the line of giving off a powerful message while also seeming like the most authentic person in the room.

Bernie Sanders: a Populist Leader?

As previously mentioned, Senator Bernie Sanders leading up to this debate had recently won the Iowa primary alongside Pete Buttigieg. With that in mind from the start, Sanders immediately has a completely different attitude compared to his fellow nominees. Sanders being the front runner by this point in the race is a very big deal considering the fact that Sanders is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist and up to this point, the United States has never had anything close to a Socialist president. However, Sanders, in a very different manner than Biden, also fits Mast’s model of what it means to be a political actor. Sanders, in the political sense, embodies what it means to be a populist leader. The reason why I say, “in the political sense,” is because there are two very different ways of looking at populism. The way we have come to know populism culturally is that it’s used by corrupt leaders who play on the fears of the people and act like underdogs.  But Sanders does not prey on the fear of the audience; he attempts to appeal to voters who feel that their concerns are disregarded by speaking in terms of “we” rather than “I” or “me.”

Bernie Sanders: What’s “We” Gotta Do With It?

From the beginning of his campaign, Sanders has stood as the embodiment of change for his audience; on and off the stage, he speaks with such power and passion within him which empowers voters to find him presidential. The way Sanders becomes authentic is through personifying the message he presents. Sanders, even in the first questions of the debate, does not hide from criticism that he has very progressive views; instead, he embraces it, even making a joke when all the candidates are asked: “who is afraid of a Democratic Socialist being at the top?” Sanders, after a second of awkward silence, answers, “well I’m not” to which the audience laughs and claps in approval.

The use of “we” is then yet another way Sanders attempts to be authentic and embody his message while also still being able to be clear and powerful with it. An example of this is when Sanders is asked if he believes he or any other candidates on the stage could beat President Trump. Sanders takes a second to answer, then starts with the sentiment that, “we must stand together to beat Trump,” however, he then goes one step further to talk about middle-class families and about how they are currently being underrepresented entirely within this election. Sanders later discusses the voter turnout saying that “we” had the best voter turnout of voters under 29 in the history of the country. As a whole, Sanders’ words are appealing to most voter groups in one way or another and he does this with such a raw passion.

So was Bernie Sanders a Good Political Actor In This Debate?

While Sanders took multiple hits from his fellow nominees, he stood firm and continued to be the embodiment of his ideals. While it wasn’t in the same clean manner that Biden used, Sanders also played perfectly into Mast’s definition of what makes an effective political leader. However, in his writing, when talking about the Clinton era, brings up Newt Gingrich’s campaign. In talking about Gingrich, Mast specifically cites that Gingrich’s persona had Americans mesmerized as what he put out was so radical. But as time went on, Gingrich’s blunt persona turned out to be a double-edged sword as it quickly began to put off the American middle class. The reason I bring up this example is that as we go on through the debates I theorize that we will see a similar issue happen with Sanders whereby the final debate there will be a lack of faith in the candidate, similar to Gingrich’s dilemma. But would I say that means that Sanders on February 7th was a bad political actor? No-- in fact, I think he truly was on a victory lap that night and he took it with pride. He stayed true to his base while also getting his message across to undecided voters.

Where Do We Go From Here? 

In the future, there will be more posts, all with more complex discussions about each candidate. Ironically, just like Joe Biden said, this is only the starting point! At this time I cannot make any true conclusions on how well Biden and Sanders are as political leaders as a whole but what I can say is that this is a phenomenal start for both of them! As the weeks go by I hope you continue to stay updated with our posts and even add your own thoughts in the comments. With all that being said, thank you for reading my post. I hope this was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write. Until next time I hope you have a lovely day!


Sincerely,
Bijan Khaghani

Citations 

Choi, David. "Lt. Col. Vindman's Former Army Commander Pushes Back on Trump's Decision to Dismiss Officer from National Security Council Staff." Military Times. February 10, 2020. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/02/10/lt-col-vindmans-former-army-commander-pushes-back-on-trumps-decision-to-dismiss-officer-from-national-security-council-staff/.

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton
Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

"Senators Clashed over Hunter Biden Probe in Classified Briefing." POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/hunter-biden-senate-probe-162118.

Systems of Collective Representation in the Eighth Democratic Debate

“Like constellations in the night’s sky, or the anchoring radii of a spider’s web, collective representations order the symbolic worlds into which we are born and socialized.” (Mast; 2012).

In The Performative Presidency by Jason L. Mast, we are introduced the concept of systems of collective representation. Collective representations are powerful symbols that our cultural universe is organized around, and they exist in various capacities ranging from the binary codes of civil society to the ‘talking points’ of a political party. (Mast; 2012)

The performances of Senator Bernie Sanders and Former Vice-President Joe Biden in the eighth democratic debate of 2020 sees both of them invoking collective representations to “wrap oneself in a metaphorical flag that connotes the narratives of democracy and liberty” as Mast says. (Mast; 2012). Both Sanders and Biden call upon democratic and counter democratic codes to emphasize the strength of the democratic party and to condemn Trump and his policies. An example of this on Biden’s end would be when he praises Colonel Vindman for getting thrown out of the White House, then calls upon the audience to stand up and clap for the Colonel while saying, “Who we are. That’s who we are. We are not what Trump is.” (Biden; 2020). In saying this, there is a collective, unspoken understanding that Biden and the democratic party are the good guys, and Trump is the villain here. Biden, in this statement, is aligning himself and his followers with a figure that stood up against Trump; basically saying that he is here to do the same. In Sanders’ case, he mentions Donald Trump’s lies and corruption then follows by stating that “everybody up here, by the way, is united. No matter who wins this damn thing, we’re all going to stand together to defeat Donald Trump.” (Sanders; 2020). The concept of unity and togetherness is a counter to the corruption and selfishness of the Trump campaign, and this togetherness extends beyond the candidates to the American people. In this, Bernie is channeling the democratic code and calling upon the American people to also collectively unite under these values for the greater good, just as the democratic candidates are. 

These are just small examples in the grand scheme of this debate, but I think they denote the audiences that Sanders and Biden are attempting to call upon. While Biden and Bernie take somewhat different approaches, they are united under the common goal of defeating Trump and the counter democratic codes associated with him. 

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton 

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Anon. n.d. “New Hampshire Democratic Debate Transcript.” Rev. Retrieved April 20, 2020 (https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/new-hampshire-democratic-debate-transcript).

Symbolic Production & Mise-En-Scene in the Eighth Democratic Debate

In Mast’s The Performative Presidency we are introduced to the concept of cultural pragmatics and the idea that political campaigns are in many ways concertedly curated cultural performances (Mast 10). One of the six components Mast highlights as making up these cultural performances is symbolic production, which he describes as being, “the material environments from which actors project their meanings. The material objects that surround the actor, from the stage and setting, to props and costumes, all contribute to the meanings a performance

will project” (Mast 12).

            Using this component that Mast introduces, we can better analyze the eighth Democratic Debate of 2020, which took place in New Hampshire, to assess how the material environment that was constructed for the democratic candidates played a role in conveying both explicit and implicit meanings to the American audience. More specifically, we can look at how the material objects that surrounded the candidates played a role in how the eventual final democratic candidates (Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders) were conveyed to potential voters in the 2020 democratic primaries. Before the democratic candidates were presented to the american public and before the political barbs would be exchanged on stage the television audience was presented with the scene and stage itself. The debate was hosted by the ABC television network and was filmed in front of a live audience in a large arena in New Hampshire. The audience was dimly lit while the stage itself consisted of a massive backlight digital screen that was lit up in red, white, and blue and had patriotic american symbols like stars floating across the background to convey the importance of not only the debate that was to come, but the democratic tradition and ideals of the United States of America. Freedom of political discourse and the gravity of democratic ideals were being put on display through the pomp, circumstance, and symbolism that were embodied in this stage setup. As the debate began, each candidate was introduced and led to stand in front of a straight line of podiums where the moderators explained that candidates would be placed based on their recent national poll standings as well as the candidate’s standing in the state of New Hampshire. The leading candidates, which happened to be Joe Biden and Bernie at the time, were placed in the center of the collection of candidates and stood directly next to each other. The placement of the candidates was an explicit indication of who the American people should, and frankly already had been, listening to and projected the viability and strength of the leading candidates visually to the television audience by literally centering their visual attention. Finally, the props/costumes used in the debate were typical for American politicians. The men wore suits and ties while the women wore pants suits with blazers. If we look more closely though we can see even in these par for the course political uniforms there are differentiations that convey slight, yet significant, cultural meanings. For the men in particular you can look at the lapel pins which they attached to their suits to decipher more about each candidate. Joe Biden wore a classic American flag pin on his suit, while Bernie opted for a congressional pin he received for his political service, even Andrew Yang had his own touch as opted not to wear a tie and chose a “math” pin to attach to his suit. Each candidate's choice of “costume” in Mast’s description of symbolic production carries a different meaning. Joe Biden’s costume and pin are an implicit message that he is a patriot, Bernie the dedicated social/political servant, and Yang the political outsider whose expertise comes from the more tangible world between the lines of politics.

            Mast also introduces us to the concept of Mise-en-scene or the ‘spatial and temporal choreography’ or dramatic components to the political performance. To start, the debate is introduced with a dramatic, yet inspiring score that highlights both the political urgency that our country faces with the upcoming 2020 election, but also the inspiration that these candidates hope to provide by debating how to best proceed for a better American future. Some of ABC’s choreographed components include: introducing the candidates in order by popularity and to different levels of live audience response, subsequent interaction and handshakes between opponents placed according to rank, dramatic camera cuts that move in and out and other cuts that put debating candidates directly into visual opposition with one another for the audience. Focusing more specifically on Biden and Bernie though, the two candidates both received a significant amount of the questions that were given to the candidates and therefore received larger portions of airtime relative to their counterparts, which only helps them build a rapport with audiences and build a better sense of candidate recognition across America. Where these two candidates’ Mise-en-scene differed was in how the camera cuts were choreographed for each. More often than not, when Joe Biden was talking the camera would remain fixed on him in a single candidate camera shot unless he directly attacked or was attacked mid-speech by another opponent; however, when Bernie was talking the camera had a tendency to zoom out and encompass the entire pool of candidates in the camera shot, so that the audience could see visible signs of disagreement whether it was disgruntled facial cues from other opponents or a lone finger raised in the air to indicate to the moderators that they disagreed with Bernie. This distinction in the Mise-en-scene might have been important, as a main topic of contention in this debate and throughout the democratic primary race was: could Bernie Sanders build, or rather unite, a democratic coalition that encompassed many demographics of voters and was inclusive of them. This camera angle habit during the debate could have been a way of implicitly pointing out what some viewers and voters already believed to be true about Senator Sanders: he was divisive and had few political adversaries. Whether this opinion regarding Sander’s inability to unite a nation is true remains to be seen.

           

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

A Look At Audiences From the 8th Democratic Debate

Audiences and in general, humans, look for the winner or leader in everything. A winner is an actor who allows the audience to decode their (encoded) messages from within their scripts in an effective and symbolically interactive way. The scripts performed by the actors incorporate specific devices to more effectively engage and transcend their messages within their audiences. Thus, scripts, and performers alike, must act towards the audience in a specific way to create the intended behavior the actor seeks. These interpretations are highly dependent on the ways an actor plays to their social, cultural, and biographical familiarity of symbolic understanding to the script being performed (Mast, 2012). This symbolic content should incorporate both an emotional and cognitive level of understanding in the audience. Capitalizing on these aspects is what allows politicians to maintain and hold power.

Politics through this cultural pragmatic lens can then be described as a persuasive collection of performances set by political actors with the intention to shape an audience's view, all in the context of a shared system of collective symbolic representation (Mast, 2012).

In this analysis of an audience, the reaction from this audience is in response to the front runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders' eighth democratic debate. Their audience will be examined and explained through the context of performance.

Joe Biden ignited feelings of passion, anger, and bluntness from the audience that night in Manchester, New Hampshire. Biden’s new found cries for urgent change were met by crowd applause and cheers. But at times, the audience seemed unengaged or confused by sentences and claims that seemed to trail off to nowhere. Biden’s visible stumbles were met with criticism from the audience that attacked his old age and inconsistent track record. Why is it that when an actor simply mumbles or stutters one of the first responses it to say “Wow! Sleepy Joe doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing.” (Trump, 2020) ? Critical audiences look for any crack in an actor and work to pry it apart, Joe Biden is no exception. Above the critical audiences, it was clear that from this debate his grasp of several audiences, primarily those of different ethnicity, will work to elevate his campaign.
            Former Vice-President Biden worked to paint himself as a candidate for the entire spectrum of race in America. Biden’s momentum behind the black vote was crucial in this debate as he worked to show the audience he was separated from the field of seven behind him.  Biden’s actions on stage came at a pivotal time for his own campaign, as audiences looked on after a disappointing finish in the Iowa caucuses. Understanding his vulnerability, Biden emerged as someone who embodied urgency and spark. Biden elevated his campaign in this debate by using emotional calls to action that seemed to reach out and engage the audience.

While Biden used a newly found fiery charisma to engage the crowd, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-V) found momentum from the audience within his cries of elevating the middle working class. The foundation of his campaign, Sanders repetitively called to build momentum in his “sweeping” grass roots movement. However, in a debate that was seemingly set on attacking the actor's character rather than policy, Sanders took heat on his status as a democratic-socialist. But Bernie Sanders' audience of followers has proven to be fiercely loyal to the socialist from Vermont throughout the past four years. In examining Sanders' audience's reaction, the reaction can be broken down to two camps, those with and those against. Consistently after most Bernie Sanders appearances audiences will either cheer and see his vision and script as the future, or hiss and scowl and the thought of socialism in America. Audiences can either agree or disagree on the actors factual content, but audiences may have issues separating their thoughts on whether they “like” the candidate for who they are as a person aside from any views they may have. Senator Sanders’ emotionally charged followers are an extremely devout group not only to Sanders political views but also to himself as a person. Sanders' critical audience may all disagree on any of his political views, but may have a hard time distinguishing what they think of him as a person. For Sanders’ overcoming his polarized audiences will play a pivotal role moving forward.

Senator Sanders’ political team after this debate must strive to continue drawing in their strong hold of followers without forgetting to reach out and win over new audience members. The American political stage includes a giant middle that is extremely malleable and autonomous (Mast, 2012). After this debate Bernie Sanders has solidified two camps, he must see that there is a third camp and audience available to be incorporated.

Citations

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency Crisis and Resurrection during the Clinton

Years. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press.

Trump, Donald (@realDonaldTrump) “Wow! Sleepy Joe doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing.” 2 March 2020, Tweet.