President Obama Must Be Psychic

Remember this part of President Obama's speech yesterday?

As our efforts to close Guantanamo move forward, I know that the politics in Congress will be difficult. These issues are fodder for 30-second commercials and direct mail pieces that are designed to frighten. I get it. But if we continue to make decisions from within a climate of fear, we will make more mistakes. And if we refuse to deal with these issues today, then I guarantee you that they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future. I have confidence that the American people are more interested in doing what is right to protect this country than in political posturing. I am not the only person in this city who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution - so did each and every member of Congress. Together we have a responsibility to enlist our values in the effort to secure our people, and to leave behind the legacy that makes it easier for future Presidents to keep this country safe.

Well right on time I present you with one of those 30 second ads President Obama predicted fresh from the RNC.





Now most people realize that the image of the child playing in the field is taken from the infamous "Daisy" ad Lyndon Johnson released in 1964.



Of course that was a whole other level of fear mongering back then. Still the fact that the RNC thought it would be a good idea to use footage from that particular ad just serves to make it more ridiculous than actually effective. Don't get me wrong, Democrats opened the door to such attacks against them, but, at least in my assessment, using that footage will just make the RNC lose even more credibility. Let's look back at what happened back when the original "Daisy" ad actually ran.

The ad was designed to capitalize on comments made by Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater about the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Vietnam. The Johnson campaign attempted to portray Goldwater as a dangerous warmonger who would needlessly, and recklessly, escalate the conflict in Vietnam.

As soon as the ad aired, Johnson's campaign was widely criticized for using the prospect of nuclear war, as well as the implication that Goldwater would start one, to frighten voters. The ad was immediately pulled, but the point was made, appearing on the nightly news and on conversation programs in its entirety.

So to recap, the war and torture endorsing RNC used footage from an ad that was meant to scare people over Barry Goldwater's war mongering that had to be pulled almost immediately by President Johnson because of blowback from its obvious fear mongering. Yeah, just keep it up RNC. At this rate you might actually insure that Republicans don't win the Presidency again for a generation.