Obama's Debate Ad: 'Zero'

Barack Obama has a new ad out today, called "Zero." The ad focuses on the contrast between McCain's tax policy, which greatly benefits the wealthiest Americans, and Obama's, which results in savings for 95% of Americans.

It's a good ad, but it raises the question of why Obama didn't hammer that message home during the debate like McCain did with his "earmarks" bit.

McCain had an advantage in selecting his weapons, since he only has two: earmarks and "The Surge." Obama would do well to isolate his top two brickbats, and use them like McCain does, to rebut anything and everything.

Here's an example. If McCain brings up earmarks, Obama should launch into it like this: "Earmarks aren't hurting the middle class like the mortgage crisis is. Earmarks aren't hurting the middle class like rising energy prices are. (On and on for several minutes.) Earmark reform is a good idea, sure, but when your house is on fire, you don't go around checking the batteries in your smoke alarms."

Something like that. The middle class is a powerful weapon. On foreign policy, his focus on Bin Laden is his strongest point. He should include one or both of them in every answer.

McCain has basically ceded the ground on the middle class tax cuts, responding by changing the subject or lying about Obama's plan, but never making the case for his own. While this ad helps to show that, Obama needs people to notice the first time around.