The Possum is Dead

The Obama campaign's adventure in marketing mistakes is over:

Last week, Barack Obama unveiled a new campaign seal -- and not the kind that swims, barks and balances balls on the end of its nose. Rather, it was the kind that has a big old eagle on it and some Latin (Vero possumus, which translates very loosely to "Yes we can"). It's also a seal that combined elements of Richard Nixon's White House police uniforms and George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished." And it went over about as well. Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times had some fun with it. And Mickey Kaus predicted it would be disappeared over the weekend. His exact words were: "But unless David Axelrod is insane, the thing will never be seen again." Kaus was right. While we don't have full details, someone at Obama's press center, when asked if the seal would be used going forward said simply, "No." There were still a number of vaguely presidential-seal screensavers available at the Obama website, though. (I'll update this post if anyone from Team Obama calls me back with further details. ...Marc Ambinder's hearing the same thing, by the way.)

Will this hurt the campaign? I find that highly unlikely. The Obama camp responded quickly and it's 133 days away from the election.

Ah, but the photo will linger on, just like Michael Dukakis in his Snoopy tank helmet and John Kerry in his bunny suit. The seal will be back, but not from the Obama campaign.

UPDATE - Great headline from Michelle: Obama clubs Seal