Obama Ad: "Still"

Slublog wrote about this ad and suggested some substantive McCain responses below. He asked if Obama is falling into (another) trap. I think so.

I had pretty much the same reaction as Allah when I saw it. It's a great one --for McCain.

What’s especially stupid about the spot is that it’s a line of attack with a lot more downside than upside: No one outside of The One’s core nutroots constituency is going to be offended at the thought of McCain relying on one of his thousand aides or secretaries to answer messages, but there may be some offense taken by the 20 percent of Americans who don’t use e-mail themselves — many of whom are no doubt senior citizens.

As strange as it may be to imagine, there are Americans who don't use email, many who use it rarely, and many who don't like it. Implying that they are stuck in the '80s does not seem like a smart move. A lot of these folks are sensitive to being called "out of date" or "out of touch."

What starts as an attack on John McCain--"he can't use a computer"--sounds a lot like an attack on everyone who doesn't. As Allah says, that's a lot of seniors. But not just seniors. It's a personal attack on anyone who doesn't switch on their computers right after they switch on their coffeemakers.

Sure, it squeezes in an attempt at a substantive issue--"he doesn't understand the economy"--but the gist of the whole ad is that McCain is old and old things aren't cool. That's what the shot of the brick cellphone and the rubix cube are all about. But something that Obama obviously didn't consider is that old people hold grudges, especially when some half-grown dandy spits in their faces.

Obama keeps complaining that he is portrayed as a sneering, snobbish elite. Rhetorical question: I wonder why that is?

posted by Gabriel Malor at 01:15 PM

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