Here is a CBC video that breaks down the whole NAFTA flap that very well may have screwed Obama over yesterday (especially in Ohio). Seems it was all a big misunderstanding/set-up. Either way, Obama got a raw deal.
Oh, and in the video the CBC has a clip from the Ohio debate which
very closely resembles the "Muslimized-blackened" Obama from the Clinton ad. [NOTE: image added at right]
Perhaps it is a case of source video rather than malevolence from the Clinton campaign. I'm not quite ready to drop it, but I'm open to other possibilites...
UPDATE: Here's a new diary at Kos discussing the variations that occur when uploading video, converting to Flash, etc... This might explain things (or not) but raises enough questions that I will concede benefit of the doubt on this issue for now. I'd be curious to see actual tv footage of the ad rather than multi-generational online YouTube footage. Though it should be noted that Clinton website's video also exhibited the "problem." I added the CBC image above, and it appears washed out and the color desaturated, perhaps as a result of the factors noted in the diary.
UPDATE 2: Using the two highest quality sources I could find, MSNBC's stream of the debate, and a hi-res Quicktime version of the ad from Hillary's website (no youTube factor in either case) there is still a clear color shift.
It is not as dramatic a difference as the examples presented in many places earlier, which are all open to a biased selection to fit the argument (NOTE: I used those images in my post yesterday as well). While not a light (or lightened?) as examples provided yesterday, Obama's debate image is noticeably warmer and less high-contrast, while the HRC ad remains shifted in hue and contrast.
It is my opinion as a person who edits photos as part of their job (and used state of the art equipment, software and the best available originals) that Obama's image was altered—whether this is a result of the standard practice employed to present a political opponent in "an unfavorable light" or a deliberate attempt to capitalize on Obama's race and distort his appearance because of that is unclear. But to pretend this was all incidental and can be blamed on uploads and an unfortunate (or happy) coincidence like the Kos diary link above does is ludicrous.
It was deliberate. It indicates either negligence on the part of the Clinton campaign to realize that when your opponent is a different race, perhaps you don't mess with their skin, or, a conscious decision to disregard that and use it as an intentional strategy.
They get a one-time pass for this on the chance that the political ad chop shop did it unthinkingly. If it happens again, they should be fucking nailed to the wall for it.
UPDATE 3:I took the MSNBC original (far left) and tried to replicate the HRC ad (far right). My file in the center.
It took dramatic shifts in hue, saturation, brightness and contrast to approach what the HRC ad looked like. I am having a harder time believing it was an accident. It may not have been the malicious race-baiting intent, but I think it was deliberate.
