Below is an article I ran across on Yahoo. It's an AP deal dealing with the new Obama/McCain ads. All I really have to say is, "Seriously?" You are actually going to run for President on the platform that you can use the internet better than the old guy? Really? That's what you've got?
Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."
The newest ad showcasing their hard line includes unflattering footage of McCain at a hearing in the early '80s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubik's Cube.
"1982, John McCain goes to Washington," an announcer says over chirpy elevator music. "Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't.
"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class," it says. It shows video of McCain getting out of a golf cart with former President George H.W. Bush and closes with a photo of him standing with the current President Bush at the White House. "After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."
Let's see, what do you stand for? What "change" are you really proposing? What can you do better than McCain? Does this ad answer any of those questions. Nope. Look, I'm probably voting for McCain. I do think the press has given Obama a free pass on just about everything. No one is questioning his experience while Gov. Palin addresses it everyday. But I don't want to be a whiny voter.
The reality is that much of the mainstream media loves Obama, wants to see him elected. And it's getting increasingly hard to do so when McCain clearly has more experience and clearly picked a better VP. What I hate about all of this is that I've had a lot of respect for Obama. I don't agree with his redistribution of income policies, nor do I think we should just abandon Iraq, but he seems to be a man of character, he certainly looks Presidential, and he has carried himself well during this campaign. But these ads are just ridiculous. He has to be smarter than that. Surely he believes that the average American voter is smarter than that.
And comparing Bush and McCain? Really? Does anyone else remember how the press portrayed them as polar opposites during the 2000 primaries? Now suddenly they are the same guy? That just lacks thought. Yes, McCain, as a moderate conservative has seen eye to eye with Bush on some things but it doesn't take a genius to realize that those two aren't exactly buddies.
It's like the lipstick on a pig thing. Clearly Obama wasn't taking a shot at Palin, he was just going off script and using a little color in his speech. It was dumb and made him sound provincial, but McCain's guys framing it as some sexist jab is stupid and beneath the intelligence of most people. What is sexist is the grilling that Gov. Palin receives on experience vs. Obama. She has executive experience, he does not and that does need to be discussed. Oh yeah and the whole, "That takes a lot of hubris" comment from Charlie Gibson after asking if Sarah Palin believed she could lead the country and she responding in the affirmative; it does take a little hubris there Chuck. To think that you can lead the most powerful nation in the world takes a little ego and that's not a bad thing as long as you show humility too. If she says yes, she's arrogant. If she says no, she's destroyed her campaign. Yeah, good question. I can see why ABC pays you the big bucks.
Anyway, here's hoping that the ads get a bit more intelligent. If that "he can't use the Internet" thing is the best Obama's guys have got, they have pretty much lost the election.
