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New Obama Ad Hammers McCain, Blames Spending On Iraq For Poor Economy
Here's a new ad from Obama reclaiming the offensive with an attack on McCain over the economy:
The ad features a book called "economics by John McCain" that says he "supports George Bush 95% of the time." The spot also directly ties the poor economy to our sky-high spending on McCain's Iraq War, a line of attack that we haven't seen as much as we might. Good stuff.
The spot will be running in 16 battleground states. Script after the jump.
Economics ... by John McCain. Support George Bush 95 percent of the time. Keep spending ten billion dollars a month for the war in Iraq...While the Iraqis sell oil for record prices. Giving Iraq a $79 billion oil surplus...And hurting our economy. Barack Obama's plan: End the war responsibly. Better schools. No more tax breaks for oil companies. Barack Obama ... the Middle Class first.
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"end the war responsiblly"
"no more tax breaks for oil companies"
"the middle class first"
Good phrases.
August 13, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is Obama's best ad of the election. Starts with hitting McCain on Bush, Iraq, and economy, and pivots to his own, positive message.
I've been disappointed with the ads thus far, but this one is his best.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
August 13, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree ..this is an very good ad...connects McCain to Bush, highlights his incompetence on the economy and emphasizes Obama's economic plan to those who are hurting.
August 13, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. So far Obama's ads have been weak. This is a good starrt. Also it goes on offense and attacks McCain. Good stuff.
August 13, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget "better schools"
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good ad. Finally, pointing out a few of the negative macroeconomic impacts of the Iraq war that Joe Stiglitz has been writing about with loads of details and facts. Of course, you still have a few wingnuts out there saying no amount spent on Iraq is too much for keeping them safe.
August 13, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
"the middle class first"
I'm not a huge fan of that tagline. It's only a matter of time until the GOP turns it around and says "what about the working class" in PA and OH.
Not that the GOP has two legs to stand on on that issue, but they will use it. I would have used "American families first".
August 13, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
that is one of those bizarre things about American politics... virtually every candidate says they're all about the middle class and only the middle class, as if it's like, "screw you, other classes!"
virtually everyone uses this language so i figure it's ok... although it does seem like an odd contrast with Mac's "country first!" slogan
August 13, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, they talk about the middle class for several reasons. For one, the middle class is dominantly self-made, and consequently feel routinely ignored and screwed over, regardless of the scale of focus on them given in campaigns. They are a large voting block, and compared to 'working class' and 'upper class' are much more inclined to be a swing demographic. However, it seems to me that Obama is the first candidate to be seriously considering doing anything for this block of the American public, whom carry the bulk of its tax burden, and is also one of the first to include the upper middle class in his rhetoric.
August 13, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. They talk this way because very few Americans are in fact willing to identify as "working class."
People who are objectively working class consider themselves to be middle class.
If you recall Hillary stuttering a bit and saying "hard-working Americans" wanted to vote for her? Part of what created the awkwardness was that you can't say "my supporters are working class." You have to say they're "hard-working Americans."
So Obama saying "the middle class first" is, in fact, a statement that means less and costs less than it might appear to.
August 13, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
the problem is people who make under 100K think they are middle class.
in todays nation, unless you live in Oklahoma or WV... 50K is considered dirt poor, but they think they are middle class.
so when you say 'middle class' pretty much everyone under 150K counts
August 13, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Studies have shown for years that an overwhelming majority of Americans self-identify as middle class -- from true Working Class stiffs making $24K/year to Wall Street DINK's making $200K+. It's the power of the unique US mythology.
August 13, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! Only folks on welfare do not consider themselves middle class. Americans have to be on food stamps and living in a shelter before they do not say they are middle class. Even folks in subsidized housing tell you they are middle class.
August 13, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since when is the working class NOT the middle class?
Define please.
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
it's called "FAULTY ANALYSIS"
we should offer one chance to claim a "mis-statement", and if the offer is accepted, we can consider avatar a suspect
if he doesn't avail himself to the offer, we can know that avatar is an idiot, and ignore him like we ignore the other trolls
August 13, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, the Repubs will try something....hence the absolute necessity for the Dems to firmly debunk that McCain meme about Obama "raising your taxes". Even if it takes a 527 (other than Moveon.org,maybe) to show the relevant part of the McCain Ad and then plaster LIE over it and absolutely show the facts....This is the one thing that the Republicans say over and over....we need to nail it.
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously you do not have to address the working class because they think they are middleclass.
August 13, 2008 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The working class IS the middle class so I think that line is just fine.
One thing I would add is his $1000 tax break for the middle class.
August 13, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The opposite of 'working class'is 'leisure class'. Paper millionaires and trust fund babies.
Middle class is better, but we know where the real problem is.
August 13, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
What I meant is that the working class IS part of the middle class although they are the lower income middle class.
I like that ad. It's a start and hopefully get get more and more harsher as time passes on.
August 13, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Working class needs to be defined. Because as far as I know everyone in the middle class WORKS for a paycheck just like the so called working class.
Unless, you are independently wealthy, the working class IS the middle class and vice-versa.
Hell, most folks in the union make over $25K a year and so do waitresses...so who the heck is the working class if they are not the middle class?
August 13, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
This could also tie into how wages are taxed more than money making money.
August 13, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. I would love to see an ad that shows how much the middle class pays in taxes i.e.they pay 95% of the taxes in this country.
August 13, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now were talking! Slap him in the face then end the commercial with a positive forward looking message.
Thank you Obama campaign for begining to layout the obvious lines of attack in the last couple of ads. I was starting to wonder if you thought the case against McCain was going to be made for you by osmosis.
August 13, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I too like "the middle class first". It certainly does not exclude working class families, especially in the context of his stump speeches, and it is a clever retort to the more abstract and nationalistic "country first", which makes one think of this.
August 13, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Probably the single most important part of the ad, I think. It's a great contrast with "country first" because it aligns Obama with economic issues.
August 13, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the Olympic ad is good, where they show the HANDS of a factory worker now being used to build solar panels, etc...
That tells the working class he had a VISION of NEW JOBS.
August 13, 2008 12:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is a slap in the face of McCain's "country first". Sure McCain puts "country first" but he puts the wealthy first not the middle class.
Obama can build and build on that line "middle class first".
McCain's "country first" plays on Obama lacking patriotism while Obama's "middle class first" plays on McCain being for corporations and the rich.
August 13, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes! It is a great contrast to 'corporations first' and that is the subliminal message to the working classes.
Along with the HANDs ad being visionary the message is clear to the working classes and the message is clear on the moving the economy forward in ways that are in the best interest of workers vs. corporations recording breaking profits and huge tax breaks for them vs. the workers.
This is a very good ad.
August 13, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can just see the McCain camps response. I'm guessing it will be 30 seconds of McCain mooning a cardboard cut-out of Obama. That would certainly be in keeping with their latest ads.
August 13, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ugh. I'm sure that wrinkly white-haired guy isn't just wrinkly in his face and neck.
It'd be much more effective to have Paris or Britney do the honors.
August 13, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like it. He really needs to hit home that Iraq is killing our economy. Every single time McCain says something about cutting "wasteful spending" Obama just needs to point to Iraq, which is the largest piece of wasteful spending in decades, and McCain wants more and more.
August 13, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a great line. Most voters probably do not know the exact figure and it needs to hammered. The more I listen to it, the more I like it.
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah but now I can see McCain turning it into "Obama doesn't want to fund and support our troops in Iraq."
August 13, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I can see the middle class twisting that to mean they should continue to suffer without jobs, soaring gass and food prices along with home foreclosures to fund a war that has done nothing for America and not even improved our National Security as it was a LIE , the WMD's didn't exist and now they are suffering and have no more security.
The middle class will get the message that war is not good for them to continually fund when their own families cannot eat and they are still unsecure.
August 13, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you poll people most Americans would say that they are middle class. From someone making 35,000 up to someone making 150,000 both groups will say they are middle class.
August 13, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's exactly right.
So "putting the middle class first" is going to sink home with all those voters who think that they are middle class, whether they are, or not.
August 13, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
It is the promise of being middle class that underpins the entire American ideals. You can rise up and be anything you want in this country.
Just like Obama who has middle 'working' class roots has rose from his middle class bkgrd to be a candidate for the President of the USA.
His grandmother started out as a bank secretary and rose to become a VP at the bank. that is the promise of America.
His mother rose up from her middle class roots to become a Ph.D. anthropologist who travelled the global and pioneer microfinancing for women in third world countries. All
All of which gave Barack a birds eye view of what it means to be working class and how women struggle to raise families and instill in their children the promise of better lives and the aspiration to be all that they can be.
This is a good narrative for Obama. He needs to emphasize it more.
His is the quintessential American Dream narrative and he needs to emphasize that in contrast to 'the other' message. If his background is 'the other' then so too are all those who forebears came here as immigrants and worked hard to become middle class so their children would have brighter futures.
Obama's life embodies the American Dream and he needs to emphasize that his growing up American demonstrates what it means to 'put country first'.
It is in his DNA.
August 13, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
It somehow also brings to mind the fact McGoldigger and Cindy are the un-middle class in every respect, thus dampening the elistist meme.
August 13, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a start, but it's getting late. He should have been hammering McCain with this kind of stuff weeks ago.
August 13, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure. I think the Obama camp has purposefully been sandbagging these past couple of months. I suspect they'll get really aggressive around mid-to-late September, when most Americans start to really pay attention.
August 13, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I certainly hope so. I believe Muhammad Ali called it "rope a dope."
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Timing is everything.
August 13, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Late? The election is in November.
August 13, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bah, it should have been a pop-up book.
August 13, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the ultimate TPMEC comment. All subsequent comments are now redundant, forever.
I only wish Jonze had come out with it a bit sooner.
And it could be a little harder-hitting.
But otherwise, it's the ultimate comment.
August 13, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word, Absurd.
August 13, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish there was some way Obama could, in a 30 second ad, explain that McCain's econimic Guru Graham is largely responsible for the mortgage crisis and the Enron debacle.
We need to redefine "deregulation" for what it really is: fucking over the middle class on the behalf of the uber wealthy.
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hell Yes! Tie McCain to Enron with his #1 economic advisor. Hammer it home again and again ..... McCain gets his advice from the wonderful people who brought you Enron! And then hit him with a little Keating 5 history lesson about playing the whore for wealthy con artists ...... and then mention that he is a golddigger with his mistress/new wife Cindy Moneybags and their 7 homes ...... worrying about your mortgage people??? John and Cindy don't worry about little people ....!!!
August 13, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe Barry Soetoro voted to fund the war once he was in office.
Blaming the entire economy's status on McCain is laughable.
This is a Soetoro shell game. He want to just shift the spending from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan anyhow. Who's he kidding.
McCain's gonna make him look like the amateur he is on this one.
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I believe Barry Soetoro voted to fund the war once he was in office."
..funding the troops who are already there is different from originally opposing the war. Even your feeble mind can grasp that concept.
"Blaming the entire economy's status on McCain is laughable."
..almost as laughable as you thinking that Hillary will still be the nominee. :)
"McCain's gonna make him look like the amateur he is on this one."
..not when McCain is constantly mispronouncing the names of leaders, getting sunni and shia mixed up, and getting basic geography wrong.
August 13, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can have you opinions as distasteful as they might be. I think we both can agree that his name as Barrack Obama and not Barry Soetoro.
August 13, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems his legal birth certificate says Barry Soetoro. That's the name he used as an Indonesian citizen.
He has not furnished any legal documentation that he ever changed his name. He continues to conceal this history. Why?
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It seems his legal birth certificate says Barry Soetoro. That's the name he used as an Indonesian citizen."
It seems that these people thoroughly debunked that bit of lunacy. http://www.reason.com/blog/show/128025.html
Any time you get your information from NoQuarter, you lose.
August 13, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you're claiming that the State of Hawaii does not require official documentation in an adoption that shows the new legal name of the child.
Prove it.
August 13, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, the burden of proof fallacy.
Good job, fogu. Just when you seem to be at your dumbest, you up the ante.
August 13, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly, the tactics of a losing argument.
August 13, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
There now that wan't so hard. Where os Barry Soetoro's documentation?
(b),\ If a new birth certificate is issued, the original birth certificate shall be sealed and filed with the decree or the abstract thereof, and the sealed package shall be opened only as provided in section 578-15(b).
http://www.adoptlink.com/hawaii_law.htm
August 13, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, you can copy/paste irrelevant quotes that offer no direct evidence for your assertions!
Fail.
August 13, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Big time fail, fogu is lookin