THE first ever political ad to air on teen-friendly MTV was a brass knuckle aimed at teen-friendly presidential hopeful, Barack Obama.
The attack ad, called “Both Ways Barack,” is from the conservative group Let Freedom Ring and takes aim at the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for what it called “a history of trying to take opposing positions on the same issue.”
The 30-second spot, now airing across several cable channels, including MTV, opens with a folksy-voiced narrator claiming, “People are saying that Senator Obama’s recent changes of position have made him a flip-flopper.” Newspaper headlines appear on the screen, stating, “Obama aide signals shift on Iraq troop withdrawal,” “Shift on war hits Obama’s liberal base, ” “Obama’s Enigma” and “Obama’s Changes Raise Issue: Can You Believe Him?”
The question “Flip-Flopper?” flashes, and the narrator says, “He’s not! Flip-floppers only hold one position at a time.” An image of Obama pointing his finger is then transposed to the other side of the screen as the narrator adds, “Senator Obama is different: He holds two positions at the same time.”
Using mirror images of Obama’s head pointing in opposite directions, the ad then claims Obama has voted both for and against banning handguns, public campaign financing and withdrawing from Iraq. It cites sources including ABC News, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. “He wants to have them all both ways,” says the narrator. “He’s ‘Both Ways Barack’ – worse than a flip-flopper!”
Let Freedom Ring describes itself as a nonprofit, grassroots organization supporting a conservative agenda. It one of many so-called “527 groups” — not regulated by the Federal Election Commission– that are allowed to spend as much as they want on commercials, as long as they don’t work with either campaign to create them.
Neither Obama or McCain’s campaigns have commented on the ad.