Most boring Presidential ad ever?

It very well could be, and that's why it's brilliant and perfectly timed... in my humble opinion, at least. If you don't feel like watching it, given such a glowing endorsement, it's 2 minutes(!) of Senator Obama sitting down and talking to the camera about our economic troubles and his plan to fix it. He's very calm and relaxed, takes no partisan shots, and instead talks about how we can solve these problems together. *Yawn* right? A waste of money because Americans can't sit still for 2 minutes let alone comprehend policy proposals, eh?

As I said at the start; I don't think so. Why? Because it was a fireside chat, brought about by a financial situation that seems nearly as dire to us today as it did to our grandparents in the 30's... and I think it will have a similar effect in calming nervous Americans, but this time it will calm those who were nervous about voting for Obama. As Kevin Drum quips:

Pretend you are an ordinary American. I know that's hard: as a reader of an elitist coastal blog you're barely even an American at all.

I continue to believe (and I'm certainly in the minority here) that all Obama needs to do is make Americans comfortable enough to vote for him... because they really want to, but they're not sure he's ready to be President. This ad is boring as hell, especially if you've been following this thing for the last two years and know his plan inside and out, but if you try to think about it from the perspective of somebody who is scared to death about their pension plan, paying their mortgage, and filling up their gas tank... I think it strikes a chord.

The current financial crisis has given Obama the opportunity to "look like a President" reassuring the country... or as Todd Beaton said:

The ad definitely passes the "do I want this guy in my living room for 8 years" test and projects Obama as caring, knowledgeable and competent, three things America is desperate for in a president.

The convention bounce has essentially receded, and we will probably be back to Obama with a narrow, but consistent, 3-5 point lead by the time the first debate hits next week... and for that debate and the subsequent ones, the goal will be the same... to look and act like a President... and he can be as boring as all get out, as long as he is "caring, knowledgeable and competent".