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So I guess Obama has at least partially flip-flopped on drilling.  Given his previously strong statements against it, we can not allow him to get away with it.

If, by some happy chance, someone with contacts to the RNC or the McCain campaign is reading this, here's some possibilities for new attack ads:

The annointed one, Barack Obama, proclaimed his opposition to offshore drilling

(play montage of Obama statements)

until he had a new revelation in Florida two days later...

(play new Obama comments)

Barack Obama: False Prophet, or shameless panderer?

OR

Barack Obama opposed offshore drilling

(play montage)

until he realized that the poll numbers didn't agree (show poll numbers)

(play comments)

Barack Obama: In touch with the polls. Out of touch with the American people.

OR

Barack Obama said offshore drilling would be bad for America

(play montage)

but then the citizen of the world changed his mind again

(play comments)

Barack Obama: Politics first. Country second. 

Or something like that.  I don't know if it is too "harsh" to run. 

Either way, he shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.  The only reason I wouldn't run it is if it obscures the fact that it is a partial flip-flop.  But the whole thing is pretty obscure already.

Senator McCain's sense of humor has been both an asset and a liability over the years. It is certainly part of his basic appeal, and it is one of the reasons he relates so well at town hall meetings as his humor creates an immediate connection with the audience. His detractors will note that some of his jokes have been inapprporiate, and in some cases that's true, hence his humor as liability. It can also cause problems because in print, jokes often don't come across the way they do in person. For instance, during the primaries Senator McCain jokingly called a student who asked him a somewhat inappropriate question 'a little jerk' (clip below). There was quite a buzz in the papers until people actually saw the clip, and it was quite evident that he was joking.

So now comes the humorous and sarcastic McCain ad The One. In this case humor turns out to be the perfect remedy for an over-inflated ego. It's hard not see lines like, "We are the ones we've been waiting for" or "a light will shine down from somewhere" as flat out funny. To add to this Obama's reaction is priceless. His stern condemnation of the ads 'juvenile' just shows his inability to laugh at himself. You know that if you make a joke at Senator McCain's expense he'll likely be the first one to laugh (as he has done numerous times when teased about his age). On the other hand, Senator Obama blew it by taking this joke and himself so seriously.

The One

WMUR - Little Jerk

Humor as a Remedy for Hubris

I am a long-time believer in the idea that the McCain campaign must hang Obama's celebrity status around his neck like an albatross. The most devastating thing you can do to an opponent is make him self-conscious and afraid to run as himself. 

The ad leads off with a great first half. And the "more foreign oil" line is killer.

Where it trails off is that the portrait doesn't match the frame. After framing up Obama's celebrity perfectly, the ad transitions into a standard Republican litany on taxes and gas prices. What exactly this has to do with Obama being like Paris Hilton isn't clear.

The ad would have been more thematically seamless if it honed in on the one or two best examples of Obama's naivite or selling American interests down the river to please the adoring Berlin crowds. Obama's "without preconditions" quote on Iran would be a perfect example. The theme: Obama's celebrity naivite isn't just misguided. It's dangerous.