Behind the Ad: Obama goes positive

By Richard K. Barry

(Another installment in our extensive "Behind the Ad" series.)

Who: The Obama-Biden campaign.

Where: Unknown.

What's going on: After the shooting in Colorado, it appears the Obama campaign wants to change the tone of things. First Read noted last week "how small the presidential campaign has become," and, they say, "apparently President Obama now agrees."

In this new 60-second TV ad, called "The Choice," Obama says this:

Over the next four months, you have a choice to make. Not just between two political parties, or even two people. It’s a choice between two very different plans for our country.

And then he fills in the blanks about the differences in vision and finishes by saying, “Sometimes politics can seem very small. But the choice you face, it couldn’t be bigger.”

Mostly Joe Scarborough annoys me, but I think he has a point about this ad, saying:

Barack Obama coming out and showing the Barack Obama that excited so many people in 2008 and won over independent voters — that's the guy, right there. "Forward," that's the message.

Some people, like Scarborough, haven't liked the attack strategy on Romney, though I think it is both necessary and will work in the longer term when people start to make their final decisions. Still, Obama's strength is in his big personality, as much as that is Romney's weakness. This ad reminds us of that.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)