Obama Takes a Risk with a Two-Minute Economic Ad

Senator Obama has an unusual team. At times they seem flat-footed and unable to coherently respond to McCain's attacks . . . then they attempt innovative approaches like this one.

Elyas, I suspect you are right . . . the intent was that, even if folks don't pay attention, the take away is that Obama is a Serious Candidate thinking Seriously about a Serious Issue (unlike the flashy attack ads from the GOP).

Personally, I think this take away is effective. In uncertain times, people want the security of a thoughtful person in charge.

But then, what do I know? I think the TMV people are inclined to favor policy wonkishness . . . or at least the existence of a new approach to economic policy instead of more of the same . . . and may not be representative of the great American populace in that regard.

I think it's smart because he looks serious and Presidential. Look, people may ignore policy wonkery when times are OK. But in crisis people want answers and leadership. Not only did Barack Obama give a hint at what his specific plans will do, he put his website out there to fill in the details.

Did you see the light emanating from behind him? Now that's subliminal (similar to the cross in Huckabee's ad)...

OK, In all seriousness, it may be a bit lengthy and it's just him talking. There really isn't any imagery to capture attention. But it certainly is a breath of fresh air to actually hear something about policy and vision, as opposed to why "the other guy" is so bad.

It's a good move. While Sen. McCain is still trying to explain his gaffes , this shows Sen. Obama as being ready to lead and confront the issues really facing our country.

Great ad.

I personally subscribe to the theory that Tom Mozloom (www.themnetwork.com) has been dead on with his analysis of branding this election cycle. He has been on XM radio each Monday on the POTUS channel talking about each campaign. During the primaries, he thought the "all Obama, all the time" approach was great. Obama got way away from that.

Apparently, they are getting back to it -- second ad with Obama talking direct to the camera in the last two weeks with a great ad attacking the McCain drift through the mud. Lots better than that crappy ad about McCain's e-mails ...

Good for him!

Now he's on the right track. I'm telling you, McCain's gang of thugs are defenseless when it comes to the real issues (or should I say "issue"-singular) that is gutting our nation.

McCain's group was banking on tabloidism screening out the meat. Now we're eating the real red meat and something tells me McCain is going to get a tummy ache, or maybe even a bleeding ulcer...

Way to go Obama!

I have to agree with everyone else here that this is the way to go. Obama can't win a "culture war". Won't work. And after seeing this, I take back my earlier suggestions that Obama needs to get more fiery. He just needs to bombard the airwaves with ads like this: looking presidential.

Now we'll see how McCain responds.

Right.

I’m sure the people who don’t know who the current Vice President is (the ones who are going to cast the deciding votes in this election) will be sitting at attention while Barack drones on and on.

Good luck with that.

Nice to see the reasoned, adult approach in an ad. It doesn't surprise me to see this coming from Obama.

FOLKS LIKE IT when a candiadte speaks to them as intelligent sentient sapient beings, make sure a nice chnage than to be considered as stupid fodder by those FOX people

I want to hear what Jon Stewart makes of it on his Daily Show :-)

I am so happy to see this ad. I e-mailed both Obama's ad agency and Michelle Obama last week, asking for precisely this ad. I share that not because I believe what I said has anything at all to do with this at all, but to show just how desperate I have been for a commercial like this.

Obama is a different kind of candidate, and he needs to run a different kind of ad. Smears and silly attacks (like the "e-mails" ad) just make him look ridiculous. Instead, this ad highlights exactly what we like so much about him - he is serious about these issues, he has a real plan to fix them, and when he talks directly to people he can really make a connection.

More ads like these, and we will start to see a real shift in the tone of the campaign. No way can John McCain continue his playground bullying and lies while Obama takes the high road like this. He'd look like a fool.

Too long and too wonkish. Here is what Obama needs to do:

www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/obam...

Obama's ad was predictable fluff. [sigh] At least for a change he did _something_ right, which doesn't earn much credit given how obvious the decision needed to be, in seizing the economy as an issue he can exploit. Based merely on what I see in comments on this thread, among the intended target audience, the exploitation will be an easy matter.

Fluff? What are you talking about? This is one of the most substance-filled ads we've seen so far. The guy pushed aside all these gimicky ads and finally gave us a clear, serious message. I wish McCain would give us a similar ad so we could finally compare the quality of their policies and not the volume of their whines.

And exploitation? What do you think the neo-cons have been doing for years, playing off the fears of Americans? Talk about exploiting.

Are you really that far in the tank for McCain?

C'mon DLS. Some of us like it when we aren't hearing about lipstick laden pigs or e-mail issues. But I'm no fool and do realize that jwest's earlier comment is much truer than what some people may think.

The only point that Obama wants undecideds to come away with is "Obama has a plan." The rest is for the small minority who care about the details. If a good number of voters come away with those 4 words, "Obama has a plan," then the ad was effective. It will take a very effective counter-ad from McCain to combat this. One route would be to run a similar ad with McCain's plan, but most people cannot evaluate which plan is better and so at best leaves the impression that both have plans. The safest route would be to ridicule Obama's plan in some way so that we don't want that plan of his, but unless it's really effective, I think most will still come away thinking, "well, I don't know if McCain's criticisms are right, but Obama's going to do something." McCain's counter ad needs to make us fear Obama's ideas to truly work.

One thing not discussed is: how many people will even see this? Does it play nationally or only in two battleground states? A 2-minute ad is REALLY expensive.

On the attention span issue, didn't 40-45 million people tune in to hear each convention with people running on and on for half an hour or more? Maybe it was just each party's die-hards waiting to hear their candidate make fun of the other party, but I don't think so. Many people wanted to find out about these candidates. If they can make it through 4 days of conventions, they can make it through 2 minutes.

I believe that the ad only needs to be seen once to be effective. Due to its length, I doubt that most viewers will sit through repeat viewings especially if it is as prevalent an ad as others this cycle. That being said, the major message of the ad and its presentation of Obama as a presidential figure are communicated very well with just a single viewing.

Excellent ad on Obama's part.

Could have been slightly shorter, but good effort nonetheless. Now McCain needs to do something like this.

But Michael, wouldn't McCain have to have a plan besides pointing at Bush and saying "Whatever he just said."?