Selling an Image

The main goal of a political campaign is to get people to side with you, and eventually vote for you. Political campaigning has been a hot topic ever since Super Pacs started forming. Campaigns inevitably involve one form of advertisement or another, but when does advertising cross the line into the territory of being a sellout? Here is a video of Mitt Romney in Jacksonville Florida:

I have never seen such an awkward encounter in my life. Keep in mind this is a Harvard graduate. When I go outside of the Northshore bubble on the CTA, I don't suddenly start speaking differently because I'm in a different neighborhood. This was 4 years ago, and Romney wasn't the nominee yet, so it was easy to make mistakes. But what about now, only a month before the election? Paul Ryan made a little mistake while campaigning in Ohio. From the New York Times:

       "Afterward, Mr. Ryan stopped with his wife and children at a nearby soup kitchen. The family put on aprons and washed several large pans, though they did not appear to need washing, according to a pool reporter. There also was no one to serve at the soup kitchen, as breakfast had ended."

Here is a picture from the above event:

Why do candidates feel such a strong need to have embarrassing fake photo-ops and say slang which is clearly directed to a certain race or population? I know that the president isn't just in office to make decisions, he's also there to be a symbol for America. But what is the line between representing America and being just a shell that you sell to get votes?  Is it okay to sell an image of themselves for campaigning, even though it doesn't represent who they truly are?