Obama releases two-minute ad on state of economy

Barack Obama has just released this new two-minute campaign ad on his view regarding the state of the U.S. economy, and the current financial crisis taking place this week. From YouTube:



The Associated Press has some interesting details on this latest Obama ad:

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Barack Obama sought to put a personal stamp on his economic policies in troubled times, appearing Wednesday in a two-minute television commercial to outline his plans and caution it won't be easy to fix the nation's worsening financial problems.

The new ad was filmed in Denver on Tuesday and was to be broadcast nationally in the wake of one of the worst days on Wall Street, as the stock market, reeling from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the takeover of Merrill Lynch, fell 500 points. The turmoil continued Tuesday when the Federal Reserve forged an extraordinary $85 billion rescue of insurance giant American International Group Inc.

The ad and a hardening of Obama's rhetoric reflected a turning point in the campaign to zero in on the economy as the No. 1 issue for voters.

Salon.com reports that the ad will "air in battleground states and nationally."

It is an interesting ad. Barack Obama talks about the current economic crisis taking place in the country, and provides his policy points for promoting change in the U.S. government and the economy. Obama does not mention his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, in this ad. The tone of the ad appears to be a Barack Obama speaking to grown-up Americans--we've got bad economic problems, and here is my agenda on how to fix these problems. That is refreshing, considering the partisan attacks, mudslinging, and the negative campaigning we've been seeing throughout this presidential campaign--especially on John McCain's part. Will this ad work? I'm not sure. But by presenting this ad, Obama shifts the campaign back to focusing on the economy, where the Obama campaign believes they can win on this issue. And if the current U.S. economic conditions continue to deteriorate, I wonder if Americans will turn to Obama in the hope that a political party change in the White House will provide the necessary change to place the country back on the right track.

And just to point out, John McCain has released his own political campaign ad in the wake of the financial crisis on Wall Street. It is another negative attack against Barack Obama, with McCain claiming that he is the candidate of change, and promises to clean up "the corruption and greed on Wall Street." There is really nothing new in this latest John McCain ad. From YouTube: