LINK TO VIDEO.
New SEIU AD (I like this because it speaks to specific middle class issues):
This is a good ad I think. Not gutting and biting like I want but it is substantive and I think the first Obama anti-lobbyist (even populist) ad that will really get people to think hard about who they want in the White House next year.
I think this Ad not only calls out John McCain and his campaign to try to ignore this ad or spin it (feeding the current dishonest Meme on McCain right now), but also it gets all the - "Barack is probably right on the direction this country needs to go in, but I don't know if I can vote for a Black man" - people, to really think hard about the direction they would like this country to go in. It asks them - "Are you really putting your country first?, look at what you'll get if you vote for superficial reasons"?
Obama needs to release more ads like this with specific targeting. Calling them out by name publicly. Now a lot of folks are going to want to know who Bill Timmons is......
Personally I've called for Barack to release an ad with 7 Huge pigs in it:
Label each pig with a failed "McCain/Bush" plan - "McCain's energy plan","McCain's Social Security Plan","McCain's Tax Plan".....and so on....The Ad should be dark in nature with the huge ugly pigs roaming around dangerously in the wilderness; Have a Vince Foster type narrator talk about the future of this country if we let these pigs run astray without constraint......and then near the end of the Ad zoom-in into the face of one of these pigs as the pig looks up.......and show the pig's lips plastered with Bright-Red LIPSTICK!
I don't think folks will forget that ad. It would be a huge FU to McCain.
An UPDATE from the comments that I think is worth noting, because I somewhat agree and I think it is fair to give it exposure.....
From Irmaly:
The reason this ad doesn't work, IMHO, is because it has no direct effect on the voters. (Okay, I know this is important, but it has no bearing on the woman trying to juggle the costs of her kid's medicine and what she must pay for groceries.)
This ad does not affect voters' pocketbooks, it does not affect their daily lives. Therefore, it does not connect with voters.
We can't continue to sit around trying to get the voters to think about our issues. We must talk about their issues. Their issues are not lobbyists in Washington. It is how to keep their heads up out of the water in this economy.
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responding to my own post, but for others out there scratching their heads about what to do to get the message out there in their communities, we here in our NC county have decided to quit waiting on the campaign to get it right and just do it ourselves.
We (the local party) are sending "draft" cards to those under 25 years of age, and social security "pink slips" to those over the age of 62. We're thinking of a "bill" for health care benefits for others.
I love Obama, but this campaign is off track.
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It's Classic for Democrats to do this. We have been canvassing in our county for many years now, and we insist our candidates go out a few times for this very reason. I once had a candidate say to me, "I don't know why the voters can't see what the real issues are." My response was, "The real question is why don't you know what their issues are?" When candidates get out there going door-to-door, they quickly find out what it is voters really think is important.
For the life of me, I can't understand why the Obama Team cannot get a grip on this. I mean, they've had boots on the ground for months on end. Aren't canvassers coming back and telling them that when voters are asked what the most important issue is to them and their families, the response has not been "lobbyists"? We canvass every weekend. The issues are clear:
health care
high gas prices
fear of losing or getting a job.
Why aren't we talking about these things?
You got me.