The problem isn't that Obama isn't fighting back. The problem is

[Thrill]

his Campaign hasn't done any hard hitting, attention grabbing ads. McCain's people have done the opposite. They've generated news with their ads. Obama has to do ads that grab the attention of voters and the media. The MoveOn 'Alex' ad does that.

Why is it that Republicans have mastered this? And the Democrats can't. I know we have some creative minds in this party. Why is it that the party always seems hesitant to take the next step or to be edgy. Think about it, Republicans always seem to have that hard hitting ad that changes things? The Horton ad, Bush's Wolf ad, Swift Boats, the hit on Harold Ford??

I'm not ready to jump off a bridge, nor do I think that we're doomed. I'm just surprised that even with all these new young minds running Obama's campaign, they too seem to be hesitant to really make that edgy ad.

I think a significant amount of voters make their decisions on these 30 sec commercials. Its only August. So they may have a plan to hit them with this after the Convention, when McCain is on Public Financing. But I just hope they can come up with something.

[FrenchieCat]

1. It's August 1st.

So it just became August this morning.

[mth44sc]

4. John Kerry lost the campaign in August

Just sayin'...

[politicasista]

12. Actually there was constant terror alerts, fear mongering and dirty tricks in OH

Not to mention an inept DNC Chairman and a weak, disorganized Ohio Democratic Party. Kerry won all three debates decisively, how did the left leaning pundits do when it came to getting his message out like he is doing for Obama.

[karynnj]

19. Nice summary

The SBVT hurt Kerry in August when he could not afford to use significant money to respond and he thought getting out the simple truth would be enough. However, after those debates, Kerry would have won had that OBL tape not surfaced - exactly when Bush needed it.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. Yes but the convention was in July

To use a sports analogy, the conventions are when the regular season starts and everything before that is pre-season.

And lets be honest, McCain's ads aren't ruining Obama like the Swift Boaters did. The "didn't visit the troops" ad is actually being debunked even by the media whores and the Britney ad is not going to be effective.

McCain is going to have to come up with much better stuff than this for the fall campaign, and unfortunately I think that Rove and co will do just that. Rest assured Obama will have much more aggressive responses when the real game begins.

[KittyWampus]

2. IMO, Democrats tend to be too rational and intellectual. Using symbolism to manipulate people

is the Black Art.

Democrats need to learn to use symbolism for their own ends rather than deriding the BASIC HUMAN REACTIONS TO THEM

[tridim]

3. The Olympics are his first major ad campaign. Stay tuned.

[callous taoboy]

5. Patience. The MEpublicans (Stevens) are our ads for now.

And I'm not sure we need edgy. I heard tonight that 90% of Obama's ads don't even mention McCain and that may be a very calculated, wise move. McCain's ads have been 2/3 attack on Obama, and they've been mainly stupid ads that even his own party find embarrassing. Obama is already focused on policy in his ads, McCain on celebrities.

[Jersey Devil]

6. Ye of so little faith

So you think that the Obama campaign has won the nomination from perhaps the best funded and most touted person to have ever sought the nomination by being a bunch of clueless idiots?

[derby378]

14. The days of Obama preaching to the choir are over...

He has to make the case to independents, fence-sitters, ticket-splitters, and soft Republicans. And his recent ads aren't gonna do it. Obama needs to find a way to channel the fire of his speeches into his campaign ads.

It's never too late to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Obama cannot let this happen.

[Impedimentus]

7. Like Lyndon Johnson's The Daisy Girl ad against Goldwater

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKs-bTL-pRg&feature=related

[AndyTiedye]

10. We Should do a Remake of That One!

McInsane's temper is the scariest thing about him.

[AndyTiedye]

8. Free Re-Runs of Ads is a Special Service the Networks Extend ONLY to Republicans!

It doesn't matter how "hard-hitting" Obama's ads are, we will still have to pay for every second of airtime we get. A million dollars a minute at prime time.

McCain being on public financing won't matter, because every ad he runs gets amplified a hundredfold by the Mighty Slime Machine!

[madeline_con]

9. The simplest way to go, IMO, is to run ads showing McLame

saying susch and such, then the opposite, with the dates on the bottom of the screen.

[RazBerryBeret]

11. yesterday the Obama campaign

received 100,000 donations; 1/3 of them from NEW donors--that's in ONE day. they thank the McCain ad for that.

[movonne]

15. Did he really get 100,000 donations yesterday???

[RazBerryBeret]

16. yep.

check it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFMUfjUI5Ro


pretty dramatic.

[Hippo_Tron]

21. Obama is going to be sitting on mounds of cash after August

And so it makes more sense to spend it when McThesulah has very limited funds to respond with.

[Median Democrat]

13. So, You Are Saying Some Magical Ad Will Turn Fox Liberal?

That if Obama comes up with an ad that is as clever as Britany and Paris, and as insightful as spliced basketall footage, that Fox News will see the error of its ways, and play Obama's ad for free in an endless loop with entire episodes of Hannity and Combs devoted to dissecting the ad?

Sorry, there is no pot of gold or magical ad that will overcome the structural bias of the MSM. MSM does not give Obama's ads hours of free air play because the MSM is biased, and is owned by only 5 multi-billion dollar corporations. This is not a coincidence. McCain's ads are fairly stupid if not false. However, this does not matter so long as they get hundreds of free showings nationally even though McCain has only paid for 12 showings in a small local market.

<>

Sadly, things are worse now, then they were in the past, which is why it has become harder for Democrats to get a fair shake through the MSM, which is controlled by less and less companies:

<>

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

17. What the MSM says is less important when the Democrat

is sitting on a $250-300 million dollar pile of cash. This has never happened before. Dems have always been playing with their own money while the Repukes play with the house's money. Obama can literally snap his fingers and millions of dollars fall out of the sky from hundreds of thousands of people. He has changed the rules under which Presidential campaigns have traditionally been fought. Add to that the DNC funds that Howard Dean and co. are raising and the playing field is much different than the Chimp/Gore and Chimp/Kerry elections. Remember, Barack beat the most overwhelmingly favored non-incumbent in the history of party primaries, and did so handily. No matter what the Hillary people say, and I respect them, the nomination was decided by March 1.

Furthermore, when the likes of Andrea Mitchell basically calls Grampy a liar on national (cable) television the dynamics are different that four or eight years ago.

[Median Democrat]

22. Agree, Obama Has Run A Masterful Grassroots Campaign

That heavily relied on organization, and grass roots supports, particularly in the caucas states. Ultimately, this is what gives Obama a chance against the GOP/Big Media. The GOP controls Big Media, but the Democrats have more active grass roots support, and Obama's use of alternative media has given the Obama campaign a fighting chance through Youtube, text messages, and the internet, which help mitigate some of the impact of Big Media.

Big Media can't be completely arbitrary, otherwise the illusion of an impartial media is lost. Look at Fox News. A lot of liberals and moderates don't watch it due to the upfront bias. However, other channels are biased, but they are just more discreet about it. Yet, when all of the MSM news shows repeat the GOP word of the day on cue "presumptuous" or "celebrity," that is no accident. That is a reflection of the fact that media is controlled by only five companies.

The Democrats will need to rely on their strengths, rather than expecting to beat the GOP at Karl Rove's game.

[DuaneBidoux]

18. The reason? We don't want to or can't believe this about people.

We are good people...but as much as we wish to believe good things about the others sometimes they simply are not good. And in some real way, at certain points in time, this makes us just weak enough to lose.

[Barack_America]

23. If we have no choice but to act like 5 year-olds...

...our country is truly fucked.

:(

[AllentownJake]

24. We had a bad week and the problem isn't the ads

and we were blind sided. No one expected the negative attacks to start this early with this intensity.

McCain's team didn't make these ads all this week. Some of the images were placed in (Germany trip) this week but their strategy all while he was overseas was to blast him Monday. They had an attack plan of 3-4 ads ready to go this week after his trip. The first was going to be the troops and they had one ready to go whether or not he went to Landstuhl or not. They planned on calling Obama a race baiter by mid-week.

The problem is and has been when the American people think about the actual issues Democrats win. When they are distracted by nonsense and bullshit democrats lose. That is why the GOP is good at this because since 1988 correct that 1960 (the last good GOP and decent man who was President was Eisenhower) its the only way they have been able to win elections. Its a Nixonian strategy and its been very succesful for the bastards for a long time.

We have to find a way to bring it back to issues and not the mud pit McCain wants us to get into.

[Whisp]

25. it was a bad week for McCain.

funny how that glass half empty half full works. ;)