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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > August > 14 > Entry
Eye On Ohio: Obama’s ‘Book’ ad
By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The ad: “Book,” 30 seconds.
Producer: Barack Obama campaign.
Where to see it: It’s airing in 16 states, including Ohio. View it at DaytonDailyNews.com/eyeonohio.
Script: Obama: “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.” Male announcer: ” ‘Economics,’ by John McCain: Support George Bush 95 percent of the time. Keep spending $10 billion a month for the war in Iraq, while the Iraqis sell oil for record prices, giving Iraq a $79 billion oil surplus and hurting our economy. “Barack Obama’s plan: End the war responsibly; better schools; no more tax breaks for oil companies. Barack Obama: the middle-class first.”
Video: The “book” conceit builds the ad around a concocted economics textbook — “authored” by McCain and with, according to a badge on the cover, “forward by George W. Bush.” Five “chapters” illustrate McCain and Bush together, troops in Iraq, oil drilling and closed factories. In typical comparison-ad fashion, the black-and-white negatives turn to color after 20 seconds, as the narrator switches to Obama’s platform.
Analysis: Two staples of this campaign are (1) the war in Iraq, and (2) the economy, especially gas prices. Obama’s ad attempts to connect those dots through a Government Accountability Office report released last week. The GAO said Iraq will earn $67 billion to $79 billion in oil profits this year — mostly because of a global increase in oil prices. (The Obama campaign, of course, picked the higher number.)
“This substantial increase in revenues offers the Iraqi government the potential to better finance its own security and economic needs,” the GAO concluded.
Was the report partisan spin? Nope. Two senators — a Democrat and a Republican — requested it from the nonpartisan congressional watchdog agency. And the Bush administration’s own Treasury Department says the report “presents a credible picture of Iraq’s cumulative budget surpluses.”
The ad’s implication, however, is that Iraq should be in a position to finance its own reconstruction — without U.S. help. And that’s where there’s disagreement.
The report could be used as an argument for continued U.S. military involvement in Iraq. It noted that “violence and sectarian strife remain major obstacles” to rebuilding.
“The high level of violence contributes to a decrease in the number of workers available, can increase the amount of time needed to plan and complete capital projects, and hinders U.S. advisers’ ability to provide the ministries with assistance and monitor capital project performance,” the report said.
Which view does McCain take? He has yet to explain how the GAO report applies to his positions on Iraq and energy. Instead, his campaign released a rebuttal of the ad that focused instead on McCain’s opposition to (and Obama’s support of) the 2005 energy bill that gave tax breaks to oil companies.
Gregory Korte is a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail: gkorte@enquirer.com.
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By クレジットカード 現金化
September 21, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this
だと思わない？