Ad Wars: Special

Submitted by Sam duPont on 10/29/08

Most of this new ad from the McCain camp feeds viewers the usual tropes: Obama's just a celebrity, he's inexperienced, he's not ready to lead.  The really curious thing about the ad comes at the very end.  Take a look, then let's talk about it:

 

 

You notice what I notice? Just at the very end: "Barack Obama's not ready... yet."  Isn't that weird? The implication that comes with the "... yet," is that he will be ready, which seems like a strange qualifier to grant your opponent-- especially when your central argument against him is that he's not ready. Even if the line had just been "not ready yet," the impact would have been less, but that ellipsis really drives it home.

What do you think? Maverick tactic or nothing notable? Share your thoughts in a comment below...

Comments

Submitted by Dan Boscov-Ellen on 10/29/08.

Maybe some sort of caveat for voters who like Obama, acknowledging that he's a charismatic guy but saying that he'll still be around in four or eight years? The whole "not ready" thing on its own hasn't been working; it didn't work for Hillary, it hasn't been working for McCain. Many more people in polls say McCain has the "experience needed to lead" but that is not making them vote for him, so maybe he's just trying a slightly different angle on it.