Third Long-Form Obama Ad Released: Boring, and That’s the Point

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Obama is continuing his run of long-form TV ads in which he speaks directly to the camera about the financial crisis — his third effort clocks in at two minutes long. Here are ads one and two.

Take a look at the link above. I tuned out at 0:42. When did you tune out? (Believe me, you’ll tune out.) I’m starting to believe that tuning out is the point. The other day I was watching TV with a friend when one of the earlier long-form Obama ads came on. We were about halfway through when my friend yelled at the television in frustration, “Okay, I get it! You know what you’re talking about!”

And that was with the volume turned down.

Obama is presenting himself as the boring choice in this financial crisis. To the extent that boring correlates with responsible, adult, and steady, Obama wins. And with Obama’s poll numbers looking the way they are, that appears to be a correlation worth betting on.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate