I'm just glad to know someone in the Obama camp is actuallt paying attention.

It seemed McLame can call Obama anything and everything and would be harshly and thoroughly quelled by a Bill Burton response.

I like it. It must take dozens of takes with the narrator to get one where he's not laughing hysterically.

Mmmm, friendly derision...

Nice the way it frames McCain, then leaves the viewer with 3 effective ways an Obama Administration would address the issue in concrete ways ...

Even as we speak, Ye Olde Republican Candidate has taken Quill in hand to scratch out a sharp response. Goose Quills; the internet devises of Janus McCain's day!

Well done!
Not sure why Greg implies that there's something wrong with using the same type of response used against Hillary's spurious charges...

Since the McSame ads have run in Ohio, I can't wait to see this response ad on local TV.

Let's see if any of talking heads give this as much air time as they did Mcdesparate

I particularly liked the incredulity of the narrator's voice when dismissing the ad, how quickly McCain's claims were dismissed, and how they managed to get in serious policy positions into it. They took something negative and made it into an opportunity for Obama to reiterate good ideas.

Using his opponent's momentum against him...

The ad may be effective to a point, but it peters out into nice wonkishness. Obama needs to say something specific he is proposing to help downscale families who are struggling NOW with higher costs. McCain's drilling proposal works that way -- not really as a solution, but as a metaphor for immediate action. People will appreciate the stance, even if they sort of know the ideas are bull.

I have my doubts that Demcoratic intra-primary tactics will work for the general election, and we might want to keep in mind that they did not work all they well for Obama versus Clinton in the last two months of the primaries, either.

Summer time is crucial, and Obama seems to be using it mainly for biographical positioning. Why can't he do some tight, tough comparison ads on concrete bread and butter issues like Social Security and health care -- to pin McCain back a bit? Now that McCain has gone ruthlessly negative on character issues, contrast ads on issues where Obama/Dems have a huge advantage would seem mild by comparison.

Having an entire election about whether Obama seems too "risky" -- or is really safe and reassuring -- seems strategically unwise to me. Why not do some work this summer in key issue areas to define McCain as risky, too? His health care plan, for example, is a radical threat to existing health benefits for millions of middle class Americans, as well as being totally inadequate to deal with no insurance or high co-pays for the un- or underinsured. And McCain's Social Security ideas are equally radical and threatening. Voters do not know these things. Tell them now -- and then tell them again in October. Democrats often seem to think they need only say things once, but repetition is the key with regular folks. (That turns out to be true in college lectures, too, but professors have been slow to learn it...)

Theda Skocpol

It's not exactly the same. Nobody's calling McSame a bitch or a cunt, like y'all did to Hillary.

My mom told me of a campaign a few years ago iin my home town of Columbus, Ohio. A Black city councilman, Michael Coleman, was running for mayor against a GOPer city councilwoman. She ran an add accusing him of being tangentially involved in something that happened in Toledo. So he ran a response add. In it, he denied being involved in the Toledo thing. He also denied starting the Chicago fire, the Hindemberg, etc.

I wish Barack's people had thought of doing something real hard hitting like that. Something edgy but funny that would make you say "Ole Uncle John, he can't help himself."

Simple and effective ad. I'm glad he finally responded.

I would like any response to include the millions of acres in oil leases that have not been developed by the big corporations. I think most everyone feels that the oil companies are only trying to take advantage of the situation that they manufactured. Just a list of all the different companies that own leases that aren't being developed rolling in a background graphic showing acreage would be nice. Maybe cross reference these companies with McCain campaign donations.

I dunno. I think it's kind of lame.

I want him to point out in detail how McCain's charges & claims are false, and I want him to directly address the drilling issue providing counterpoints to the R's claims.

Obama said he wouldn't treat McCain with the same kid gloves treatment he gave Hillary, but so far, he seems to be even more laid back in his responses. I hope there's stronger stuff down the road.

This ad is weak. In fact all of Obama's commercials suck. They're so plain and political. You'd think he of all people would come at us with something new.

You Obamabots are funny. Yeah, wow what a great come back Obama. Ha, cracks me up!!! What is really gonna crack me up is when Obama and McCain do the debate ( McCain wanted many debates/townhall meetings and Obama only wanted one for some reason} well, anyways when the debate is here and McCain will prove that he is the voice of experience and wisdom and Obama will be struggling for words, yeah I'm gonna laugh my butt off at that. Then , in November, when Obama loses I really am gonna laugh...out loud.

Love that smile.

How about an ad that justiposes the McCain grimace grin with Obama's light up the room smile ...

And yah, I can't wait for the debates either. Listen to McCain mispeak the names or locations of key countries and remind us over and over he was tortured in the last war the US should never have gotten into and waited too long to leave.

If you think that's judgement, well, I guess you've backed the right guy. Maybe cutting taxes on the idiots who've brought us the mortgage crisis and oil speculation will help you pay your bills, but it doesn't do much for me.

PeyPey, you silly, silly person. I really thought that the last eight years of Georgie Boy would wake EVERYONE up, but I guess it's really true: Some people NEVER learn.

I just watched the McCain ad again for the first time since the original post. (I wanted to have the direct contrast in mind). I'm glad I did. At the end of the advert, just before the "I'm John McCain and I approved this message" bit, the voiceover states "Don't hope for more energy... Vote for it..."

I know exactly how they intended "more energy," but I really, really, really, don't think they want to go there. That was just one absurdity among many. But it was the closing absurdity. And I can see the obvious wisecrack being tossed out from couches across America...

I don't know what to think.

I went through this whole emotional cycle during the primaries. It started in the early days when I just could NOT understand why Barack was being so passive and quiet -- campaigning, as Kos noted, as if he were the frontrunner, despite trailing by 20+ points in many polls.

Then, boom, he wins Iowa. Wins BIG in Iowa. And suddenly I thought, this guy Axelrod is a genius. All along they were saying stuff about timing, about Barack coming along at just the right pace, not peaking too early, and wow -- they were right! All the way through February this seemed like the perfect candidate running the perfect campaign.

Then Hillary got out the Ginzu knives and started winning primaries and pretty much driving the campaign narrative, and I couldn't figure out what the Obama camp was thinking. It was pretty clear they were gonna win, but was it wise to limp across the finish line, all battered and bloody?

So now ... here we go again. McCain has gone stark Roving mad and is throwing every knife in the drawer at our golden boy. Is it wise to let this continue? There are five or six (or maybe 10 or 20) separate and simultaneous lines of attack, some official and others driven by e-mail and talk radio and whatnot -- and we're supposed to feel reassured because the Obama team has put out a soft-spoken response to **ONE** of them?

On the other hand, maybe this Axelrod guy is a genius, and it's all a matter of timing, and the main event in November is Iowa all over again, for keeps. I just really don't know.