Ad Critic: McCain Rezko Spot

by Josh Kahn | August 21, 2008 at 7:59 PM

Finally. Here's hoping it's well done and that there are many more to follow.

Update: Here's the spot, and a quick review:

This is a generally solid ad with one major flaw. The opening line "Barack Obama knows a lot about housing problems" and the closing line "that's a housing problem" are complete inside baseball. No one who hasn't been paying neurotically close attention this race (ok, like me and probably everyone reading this blog) knows what the heck the spot means by this. It's a comeback to the Obama ad that just went up on rotation, sure, but that's way too obscure for a normal person who's isn't a political junkie.

Those two lines may not seem like much to pick on, but they make up 1/3rd of the ad's total run time (not counting the disclaimer). That's a lot of air to waste. Just stick with the corruption message next time guys.

Average:

Your rating: None Average: 5 (1 vote)

Comments

Bush 41 ran against Massachusetts

Submitted by Ironman on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 20:18.

McCain should cut to the chase and run against Chicago......a synonym for corruption and crime

Barack will be our opponent's new middle name.

"Chicago politician" will be his new first name.

Run Against Chicago machine politics - YES

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 23:27.

Good idea. I would add the word "machine" as we are running against the Daley & Co. organization, not the city itself.

Obama has been part of Chicago Machine Politics. Run against that.

It seems pretty clear that the obama campaign, with the help of willing helpers in the Obamedia, set up McCain on the houses he owns as a way to deflect from this issue.

That IMHO makes the ad all wrong. The Dems will run their counter ad, and unfortunately they will make it sound like its a match over who has a bigger house.

I think there needs to be a whole different approach ... a "Friends and Family" that in 'discover the network' manner, exposes Obama's links to Rezko and the other folks in the corrupt 'circle of friends' in Chicago.

"Who's in Chicago politician Barack Obama's Favorite Five ... "is it 'my good friend, my mentor' Jeremiah Wright? Is it Tony Rezko? Is it Bill Ayers, who gave his first fundraiser? Is it Illinois Gov Blagevovich? ... etc. and point out the stuff he did for friends, like his earmarks for Rev Pfleger and Rev Wright's Trinity church, etc.