Hillary Clinton is running a new ad in Texas arguing that the world’s too sunafe to trust to Barack Obama.
“It’s 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep,” the announcer says. “But there’s a phone in the White House, and it’s ringing — something’s happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call.”
Jason Zengerle wonders “if McCain can just buy the first 25 seconds of it from her and then recut the ending so he can use it in the general election.”
It’s certainly a more effective ad for someone who actually does know the military. Indeed, even knowing it was a Clinton ad the whole time I was watching it, I laughed when I got to the end and saw Hillary on the phone. The idea that I would find it comforting to have Hillary Clinton answering the Hot Line at 3 a.m. was quite literally laugh-out-loud funny.
Barack Obama, however, is not amused. His campaign has issued a terse statement:
I don’t think these ads will work this time because the question is not about picking up the phone. The question is, what kind of judgment will you exercise when you pick up that phone. In fact, we have had a red phone moment; it was the decision to invade Iraq.
Senator Clinton gave the wrong answer. George Bush gave the wrong answer. John McCain gave the wrong answer. I stood up and I said that a war in Iraq would be unwise. It cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars. I said that it would distract us from the real threat that we face, and that we should take the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan. That’s the judgment I made on the most important foreign policy decision of our generation.
I will never see the threat of terrorism as a way to scare up votes, because it’s a threat that should rally the country around our common enemies. That is the judgment we need at 3:00 a.m., and that’s the judgment that I am running for as president of the United States of America.
Regardless, the title and surreal quality of the ad immediately brought to mind the Matchbox 20 song of the same title.
UPDATE (Alex Knapp): The Obama campaign has already issued a response ad:
That’s a pretty effective ad response, too, I might add, because it not only highlights one of Obama’s best election assets (he opposed the Iraq War), but it also highlights his very good work in helping to contain nuclear proliferation.
(link via Oliver Willis)
