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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > August > 29 > Entry
Eye On Ohio: Obama ‘Don’t Know Much’ ad
By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The ad: “Don’t Know Much,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing in battleground states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Obama: “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.”
Male vocalist (to the tune of the Sam Cooke song “Wonderful World”): “I’m not up on the economy. Don’t know much about industry. Really can’t explain the price of gas. Or what has happened to the middle-class. But I know that one and one is two, and if I could be just like you, what a wonderful world this would be.”
Male announcer: “Do we really want four more years of the same old tune?”
Video: The centerpiece of the ad is a 2007 quote from John McCain: “Economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” It ends with photos of President George W. Bush and McCain embracing.
Analysis: This attack on McCain’s understanding of economics came the same day that McCain launched an attack on Obama’s foreign-policy experience. Obama’s ad is more lighthearted and — depending on your political point of view — annoyingly flippant or outrageously funny. It also plays into the refrain that McCain is seeking “Bush’s third term.”
The genesis of the ad is that McCain, in trademark candor, said that economic policy is not his strength. There are two accounts of that quote — both from newspaper reporters aboard the McCain bus in New Hampshire on Dec. 18.
Sasha Issenberg, writing in the Boston Globe’s Political Intelligence blog, suggested it was a self-deprecating remark: “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” McCain said. “I’ve got (former Fed Chairman Alan) Greenspan’s book.”
The Chicago Tribune’s Jill Zuckman had a slightly different version of the quote: “The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should. I understand the basics, the fundamentals, the vision, all that kind of stuff. But I would like to have someone I’m close to that really is a good strong economist. As long as Alan Greenspan is around, I would certainly use him for advice and counsel. …
“All of us bring strengths and weaknesses to an office, and you want to complement your weaknesses. That’s not an admission of failure, it’s just the best way to govern,” McCain said.
Gregory Korte is a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: gkorte@enquirer.com.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Eye on Ohio
Comments
By Alice
August 30, 2008 11:12 PM | Link to this
Blackwoman: There you go blaming the MSM when you don’t have anything substantial to say other than to mock. As Palin said in an interview last spring regarding Hillary’s candidacy, stop whining because it doesn’t look very good and it only hurts your “cause”. I’ve done plenty of research on my own and my resources don’t include fanatical right and left wing wannabe journalism. Given your paranoia, wait until November and then YES YOU CAN be very afraid.By Savanation
August 30, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this
I think Sen. Obama said it best. Do you really think a person who has supported George Bush’s actions over 90% of the time has the correct temperment and judgement to guide the United States?That in itself should be enough to tell any voter that this man isn’t bright enough to be our President. McCain has a lot of experience. Unfortunately almost all that experience has been on the wrong side of the important issues that America faces today. And he isn’t smart enough to realize that fact. Nor does it seem that Pay Attention or blackwoman cares too much about the facts either.By blackwoman
August 29, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this
Alice, Obama has the “brains, temperament, and judgement to run this country?” Excuse me? Obviously you’ve been educated on this man by the “main-stream media” instead of investigating him yourself. I could definitely define all three words for you, but space does not allow it. I will just end with Obama is a man to be feared if elected!By Alice
August 29, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
As a businessman, PayAttention would hire someone who is admittedly bad with economics to run his business because at least he could admit it. Note to self: on my next interview, tell potential boss that I don’t know anything about using a computer because he will find it refreshingly honest and endearing; I can just a co-worker how to do it! That’s what’s wrong with our economy… this idea that you don’t need to know anything about it to run it. Our current president didn’t know anything about economics and he surrounded himself with friends that could tell him all about the economy and then he listened to them and here we are.By Alice
August 29, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this
The “inexperience” argument was used against many former presidents, including Lincoln and Kennedy, and is being used now to cover up the fact that McCain’s camp can’t attack on the issues. The Republicans have worn out the “he’s not one of us” argument. Obama has the BRAINS and the TEMPERAMENT and the JUDGEMENT to lead this country. Some people confuse “experience” with simply being a career politician, beholden to even more special interests. John McCain is not the man he was in 2000 and that’s why he received a “D” rating from the Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and a 20% score from Disabled Veterans of America because of his voting record. HE VOTED WITH BUSH 90% OF THE TIME, and that’s based on factual voting records, not some made up rating given by some fanatical media. NO TO FOUR MORE YEARS.By Hoping for a Sane Ohio
August 29, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
I worry about some people’s rationale. John McCain’s policies are soley based off conservative pols. Policies that created record deficits and rising fuel and food costs. Obama admitted his weakness in foreign policy and picked Biden to counteract that - exactly what PayAttention said a good leader should do. I hate to see what business PayAttention is running. if ‘experience’ is that important, exactly what experience did W. Bush have over McCain in the last election?By PayAttention
August 29, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this
I would never vote for someone who claimed to be experienced in something he was NOT. As a business man I believe John McCain said exactly the correct thing. The mark of any good leader, business, education, POLITICS, is one that surrounds himself with those who know the most of a specific subject and then listens to their opinions and makes his decisions based on that. A leader does NOT base his opinions based on what’s popular or “polls well”.By PJ
August 29, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
Go back into the interviews of Obama when he became Senator. He admitted being too inexperienced to run for President in 2008. Now he’s running. What’s this experience that he’s attained? He’s done NOTHING.