New Obama ad

From Salon's War Room:

Obama may be on vacation this week, but in his absence, his campaign has apparently settled its recent debate over whether to hit back at McCain's recent negative ads. This one aims at the one issue Republicans think is helping them -- gas prices -- and it uses two of McCain's potential vulnerabilities -- the war and the economy -- to do it. Quite a few Democrats worry that Obama isn't doing as well in polls as he should be, considering that generic ballot questions indicate most Americans would almost rather elect a communist than a Republican to most federal offices. So Obama's campaign has ratcheted up its efforts -- matched by the Democratic National Committee -- to link McCain and Bush, and this ad is the latest sign. [Emphasis added.]

I'm one of those worriers. Obama can't be on the defensive all the time. He needs to go on the attack. He can't come across as above the fray. People want a fighter. A lofty, "post-partisan" approach will never work against the dirty liars on the other side.

Certainly Obama knows how to play dirty. Or get surrogates to do it, like the Swift Boaters for Truth did against Kerry. They don't even need to lie to make McCain look bad.